• Department of ITE&C, Government of Telangana

Impact Labs

Impact labs is a platform that focuses on co-creation and experimentation in social innovation. The lab curates programs for the various stakeholders of the Social Impact Space like Social Startups, NGOs, Multilateral Organisations, CSRs and Researchers to tackle complex social challenges and explore novel methods to drive social innovation.

The objective of the lab is to identify strategic opportunities for convergence in order to maximise social impact in Telangana. Impact Labs creates a space for interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral collaboration where various organisations are provided with a platform to innovate and experiment

Why Impact Labs?

Collaboration b/w third sector (NGOs) and social startups can create mutual benefits.

Institutional, financial, legal and cultural barriers prevent such partnerships.

First of its kind to establish strategic partnership between NGOs and Startups, maximize social impact in Telangana.

To leverage on the benefits and bridge the barriers between NGO – Startup collaboration.

Why participate in impact labs?

for Startups

Collaboration between the third sector and startups can bring a wide range of benefits. For example, collaboration can result in new products, process or approaches to serve design as well as new revenue streams – ultimately making the third sector organisations more efficient and effective, resulting in greater impact. At the same time, startups can benefit from collaborating – gaining, for example, market knowledge, expertise, visibility and potential investment.

The following modes of collaboration are possible between startups and the third sector:

This initiative focuses on two modes of collaboration between the startups and NGOs :

Gain insights into end users, processes context and DATA.

Access to relevant connections in third sector, corporates and Government.

Receive technical, business and financial support.

Pilot, test and develop evidence-based solutions.

for NGOs

Exposure to new technology - cut down on engineering cycle.

Develop new
revenue streams.

Intrapreneurship - change employees behavior.

Help develop innovative solutions that can scale and see the commercial market.

Participating NGOs

Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation, connected to a network of other Greenpeace offices in over 55 countries. They believe in non-violence, personal action, bearing witness, financial independence and to force the solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future.

Focus Areas

  1. Campaigns
  2. Climate & Energy
  3. Sustainable Agriculture
  4. Clean Mobility
  5. Govt. Schemes Implementation
Problem Statements to Startups

  1. Technology: How can we bring recreational and non recreational cyclists together? How can a new cycle user access the cycle related utilities easily? How can city authorities work with the local communities, CSOs and startups to make a cycle action plan to promote cycling in cities? A technology that can bring all these stakeholders together to build a strong and engaging cycle community in Hyderabad.
  2. Climate Change: How can we build a stable climate resilient and adaptive system of agriculture in partnership with science/technology and farmers. How can we address the reality that Farmers are looking for reliable and timely information around weather and changes in climatic conditions, which can enable informed decision -making around agricultural operations. A lot of the information available in multiple spaces including from the Meteorology Department, Agriculture Department, rural Development department and other private agencies and civil society needs to be brought together in a readily usable form. A tech-enabled solution that is nimble, multi-form and user appropriate is required.

Plan India will focus on girls and young women (under 24 years) primarily from families challenged by social, economic, geographic, and attitudinal vulnerabilities, which is further aggravated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. It will operate in 100 out of the 739 districts in India, which have the poorest girls’ rights and gender equality index, and that sees the need for advancing girls’ rights through gender-transformative programs

Focus Areas

  1. Promote Girl Leadership
  2. Strengthen Civil Society Organisations
  3. Tech for Girls’ Rights
  4. Mobilisation of Indian Middle Class for Girl Empowerment
  5. Accelerate Gender Equality
Problem Statements to Startups

  1. Digital Literacy: Children especially girls have limited or no access to digital literacy more specific in the context of Covid-19, denying their right to inclusive and quality education. The challenges faced by the families due to loss of livelihood and closure of schools has put girls more at risk in dropping out of school and discontinuing their education, thereby increasing the chances of becoming child labourers or getting married early.
  2. Women Empowerment :Low awareness, poor access, less affordability and poor menstrual hygiene management practices result in loss of schooling of girls, restricts women’s participation in economic activities and makes girls and women vulnerable to health risks thereby affecting their productive engagement in learning, economic and social opportunities.

World Vision India is one of the country’s largest child-focused humanitarian organisations. With over six decades of grassroots experience, they employ proven, effective development, public engagement, and relief practices empowering vulnerable children and communities living in contexts of poverty and injustice to become self-sufficient and bring lasting change.

Focus Areas

  1. Education & Nutrition
  2. Gender & Development
  3. Disability
  4. WASH
  5. Emergency Assistance
  6. Livelihood & Advocacy
Problem Statements to Startups

  1. Water: Communities across India are increasingly facing water shortage and water quality issues owing to various factors. Every community deserves clean water with adequate access. With rural communities accessing water from natural sources such as water bodies, ground water etc. they need to be empowered and equipped with the knowledge, skills and required tools for testing the quality of water accessed by them.

Youngistaan Foundation is an NGO based in India that works to improve the lives of the most underprivileged and disadvantaged people through 6 programs that focus on 7 UN SDGs and address: hunger, homelessness, poverty, education inequity, gender inequality, taboos on menstruation, emergency responses, animal rights, environment, climate change, capacity building, and many more issues. Registered in 2014, Youngistaan Foundation has provided a platform for 50,000+ young people to connect with other socially aware individuals and effect real change in our neighborhoods and communities through our programs as volunteers. 

Focus Areas

  1. Food & Nutrition
  2. Rehabilitation
  3. School Education
  4. Gender Sensitisation
  5. Emergency Response
Problem Statements to Startups

  1. Waste Management : Food Wastage: How do we bridge the gap between food donors (Hotels/Restaurants) and beneficiaries (Orphanages/Civil Society Organisation) to minimise the food wastage and enable efficient food management in the GHMC limits.
  2. Education: Expanding the scope and depth of teacher training, our training initiative is looking at nurturing teacher mindsets that will contribute to healthy school environments and favourably impact student-teacher relationships. How might we reframe teachers’ mindsets for subsequent teacher training sessions and coach them to welcome change in their methodologies and attitudes towards students, so that they are receptive to authentic and sustained change in the classroom?
  3. Livelihoods: How do we build an inclusive digital platform for the city’s youth including LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and those belonging to underserved communities/ low income households so that they have access to existing livelihood opportunities matching their qualifications and can navigate the employment market with ease.

Save the Children works in development and humanitarian contexts with children and partners to help families, communities, and governments identify and use innovations to ensure all children survive, learn, and are protected. Save the Children is India’s leading independent child rights organization, which works in 16 states of the country. They strive to build a world where every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation.

Focus Areas

  1. Underprivileged Children Empowerment
  2. Child Safety
  3. Children Rehabilitation
  4. Community Empowerment
  5. Child Development Campaigns
Problem Statements to Startups

  1. Education & Skilling : Youth between the age group of 18-21 years enters adulthood with absolute lack of vocational or life skills to deal with the challenges posed by lack of skill, education and financial deprivation. It is witnessed that these potential young lot enters in various hazardous and non-hazardous activities in organized and un-organized sectors and end up with very low earnings and falls into the vicious cycle of poverty.

ActionAid India is part of a global federation and a full affiliate of ActionAid International with poor and excluded at the center of their actions and discourse. ActionAid works in solidarity with the most marginalised communities to further Social and Ecological Justice. They believe in equality and justice for all and support the leadership and empowerment of the marginalised communities in their struggle for a life of dignity as an equal citizen of India.

Focus Areas

  1. Girl & Women Empowerment
  2. Holistic Child Development
  3. Livelihoods Promotion
  4. Humanitarian Response to Disasters
  5. Civil Engagement for Democracy
Problem Statements to Startups

  1. Livelihood: Covid 19 has resulted in unprecedented shrinkage of economy. This has caused in loss of livelihood for millions. Most impacted are migrant informal workers. The migrant workers have been forced to return to their home states from where they had moved because of lack of sustainable livelihood opportunities. Can technology help in pschycosocial counselling, motivation, re-skilling/skilling., building collective/support groups, managing small enterprises and marketing the produce?
  2. Women Empowerment: In India, 85% of rural women are engaged in agriculture, yet only about 13% own land. About 60-80% food are produced by rural women. The situation is worse in Bihar with only 7% women having land rights, though women play an important role in various agricultural activities. Women are not recognised as farmers therefore cannot access resource and benefits accorded to farmers. ActionAid has been striving to bring marginalised rural women as collective, form cooperatives support them as farmers. Can technology help in forming the groups, in rural integrated farming, connecting with stakeholders seamlessly, reduce time & effort spent in drudgery management of enterprise, low cost processing technology, marketing of produce and skills associated with it?
  3. Informal Sector: Waste pickers and sanitation workers in urban are vulnerable to serious health hazards and face challenges in accessing health services due to lack of information and availability of required infrastructure at local/community level. Sanitation workers and waste pickers lack the knowledge and practice of WASH and often suffer from related health problems. There are also incidences of death of sanitation workers due to non-adoption of preventive measures while doing sanitation work such as cleaning of drains, cleaning of sewage tanks and pipes etc. How can waste pickers and sanitation workers access improved health facilities at local level and access health related information using technologies, linked to entitlements through local level intervention and acquire knowledge and skill of hygienic practices.

SOPAR-Bala Vikasa is a non-profit organization founded with the mission to support and strengthen the development process of India’s poor communities, particularly in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. With community-driven development programs, they are ardently involved in building the capacities of development professionals, entrepreneurs, and the corporate sector in best practices of sustainable development.

Focus Areas

  1. Water Conservation
  2. Sustainable Agriculture
  3. Rural poor children & Women Development
  4. Model Communities
  5. Disability Welfare
Problem Statements to Startups

  1. Organic Farming/Sustainable Agriculture problem statements: a)Weeding, Pest control: Many of the practices existing involves chemicals in controlling weeds and pests, so we are looking for a low cost solution. b)A common market place for organic products (grains like rice, wheat and millets etc.)c. Preparation of Organic fertilisers: Existing organic fertilisers are not price friendly for farmer. Importantly, farmers are willing to prepare their own fertilisers, which is again consuming more man power and the existing preparation mechanisms are not standardised and simplified – A solution which can at least support farmer to prepare fertilisers at ease or a ready made low cost fertilisers availability.

HelpAge India is a leading charity in India working with and for disadvantaged elderly for the past 42 years.HelpAge advocates for the needs of an estimated 106 million elderly in India It advocates for elder-friendly policies and implementation thereof with Central and State governments. HelpAge India works hand-in-hand with 5000+ Senior Citizens Associations and Elders Self Help Groups understanding elder needs working with and for them, with the aim of serving felt needs of the elderly in a holistic manner, enabling them to live active, dignified, and healthier lives. Over the years, HelpAge India’s focus progressed from Welfare to Development and Rights and Entitlements towards self-reliance.

Focus Areas

  1. Mobile Healthcare
  2. Cataract Surgeries
  3. Livelihoods
  4. SAVE- Students Action for Value Education Programme
  5. Working Senior Citizens Association
Problem Statements to Startups

  1. Healthcare: Inadequate healthcare facilities in general; almost non existent geriatric care facilities.Many chronic diseases become more prevalent with age : type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Alzheimer’s disease, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, prostatic hypertrophy, cataracts, macular degeneration and cancer and health challenges are componded due to poverty and inadequate access to health care facilities.
  2. Informal Sector: Elderly worked in unorganised sector does not have income security as well as no guaranty of Social Security (Old Age Home) by Government or opportunity to age appropriate livelihoood activity.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India headquartered in Bengaluru. The organisation strives to eliminate classroom hunger by implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in the government schools and government-aided schools. Alongside, Akshaya Patra also aims at countering malnutrition and supporting the right to education of socio-economically disadvantaged children.

Focus Areas

  1. Zero Hunger Quality
  2. Education Eliminating
  3. Classroom Hunger
  4. Nutritional Support
  5. Reduce dropout rate
Problem Statements to Startups

  1. End Hunger: There is a serious malnutrition case in India with the World Bank’ estimate of 60 million children in India, being underweight. Hunger is an obstacle to child’s health, education and survival.A recent UNICEF report states that more than 80 million children drop out before completing 8 years of age and over 8 million children are out of school. Akshaya Patra is focused on eliminating classroom hunger and attracting more children (enrollment) to schools and ensure to keep them in school (reduce dropout rate) by feeding a filling, nutritious mid-day meal, every school day.
Apply Now

Supported by

BVIC

Incubation Partner

AWS

Supported by

Eligibility Criteria for Startups

Social startup from Telangana or willing to set up base in Telangana.

Have at least one Founder work on it full time.

Should be registered as for profit or section 8 social enterprise

Social startup from Telangana or willing to set up base in Telangana.

Have at least one Founder work on it full time.

Should be registered as for profit or section 8 social enterprise

Program Benefits

Tech Support and Cloud Services by AWS

Access to Telangana Social Startup Ecosystem

Access to Funding
network

Showcase opportunity to Government, Administration, and CSRs

For more details, reach out to Akshita Kanthala at akshita.tsic@telangana.gov.in