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Our story
We came to work in development and public policy as outsiders.
We learned our first lessons in the field, alongside district administrations.
One thing stood out: the lack of freedom and agency for individuals and communities.
We asked ourselves: can we contribute through evidence-based policies and interventions?
Nayaneethi Policy Collective was born out of this conviction.
2021–2023
It began in the field
Six of us met as fellows of the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship, each posted to a different district of Kerala. Day after day, we watched good intentions stall: schemes that looked right on paper broke down on the ground, while decisions were often made without the evidence to back them.
By the end of the fellowship, we were convinced that better development needs both better evidence and better action. We wanted to build an organisation that could work with civil society organisations and governments alike: to generate evidence, shape better policies and interventions, and help see them through.
We left the fellowship with 15 statewide recommendations to strengthen Kerala's skill ecosystem, and took them to policymakers to push for change.
Our edge
Outsiders, by design
When we began, we had little clue about the world of public policy. We were partial outsiders: our experience came from district offices, panchayats and villages, not from academia.
That turned out to be our advantage. We had seen first-hand where good ideas break down in implementation, and what it takes to make change work across a system. Academic and research expertise came later.
Today, we bring both perspectives together: ground-level experience and rigorous research.
Thinking without action is incomplete, and action without thought is reckless.
From November 2023
Earning our place
We registered NPoC and got to work with civil society organisations and governments in equal measure, taking our ideas off paper and into practice.
Nobody handed us a niche. We built our expertise and skills project by project, and through that effort found the areas where we are strongest: research and consultancy, impact assessment, capacity building, project management and advocacy.
Today
Where we are now
Our work has taken us from anganwadis in Attappady and coffee farms in Wayanad to the river island of Majuli in Assam and a panchayat in Tamil Nadu.
We are consultants to the Government of Kerala on several projects, partners of the Atlas Network, the international network of independent think tanks, and we work alongside think tanks and civil society organisations across India. Along the way, we have built our own courses, games, a podcast and India's first bilingual public policy newsletter.
- 30Projects, across five kinds of work
- 28Partners we have worked with
- 17Districts in 3 states: Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu
- 18,000+People reached through our programmes, courses and events
This is our story so far. It is only the beginning.