The role of governments in enabling social movements: Insights from the Shikshagraha Initiative
At the Government Outcomes Lab, we are exploring how governments interact with grassroots social movements to support meaningful, community-led change in public services. In partnership with ShikshaLokam, this project focuses on Shikshagraha, a growing movement across India to demand improved quality in public education.
Through case studies in Bihar, Nagaland, and Telangana, we are investigating how different levels of government either enable or constrain hyperlocal partnerships between actors such as senior bureaucrats, grassroots organisers, school leaders, and civil society groups. By examining decentralisation, power dynamics, and the role of state-society collaboration, our research seeks to understand the conditions under which community aspirations can translate into systemic education reform.
Our research will combine in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and regional focus groups to test and refine our findings. This approach will help us capture diverse perspectives from across the education ecosystem, including government officials, headteachers, and community leaders, while ensuring relevance for policy and practice.
The project will culminate in a series of outputs designed to inform action:
- A policy brief synthesising key insights on the role of government in supporting social movements
- A comparative analysis situating Shikshagraha within global experiences of collective impact
- Practitioner engagement through convenings at forums such as InvokED, the Skoll World Forum, and the Social Outcomes Conference
- Peer-reviewed academic publications
By bridging research and practice, this work aims to develop a practical playbook for district-level education reform. It will offer policymakers, civil society leaders, and grassroots advocates evidence-based strategies to strengthen state-society partnerships for education.
