What is this track about?
The challenges of the day is a call for new ways of managing social and economic change. In a globalized era, growth is more unequal and the lines of demarcation are even more deeply drawn. The irony presented by the bottom of the pyramid is that of failure of past strategies and a new way for positive change that is engineered by innovation.

Evidence proves that the poor are willing to buy basic services and products. It points to innovations and entrepreneurs addressing gaps in a system, led by NGO-driven development activities and state-backed interventions.

When we delve deeper into innovative mechanisms – whether they are for delivery of services, generation of livelihood or entrepreneurs targeting sharply felt needs – we see,

1. Traditionally marginalised communities generating livelihoods
2. Women engineering economic change
3. Shift in traditional patterns of economic change

And others, all of which have resulted in the creation of positive social impact.
This track is dedicated to driving conversations around market-based models that are driving social development in areas such as micro-lending, micro-franchising, public-private partnerships, housing, communication etc for social impact, sanitation initiatives, and others.

Defining social impact:
In the context of Sankalp 2009, we realise that over and above agriculture and rural innovations, healthcare inclusion, education for all, and clean tech and energy, there would be other enterprises that address sharply perceived demands and may also result in positive social impact. These enterprises could

1. Be driven by and employ women
2. Be instrumental in mainstreaming marginalised communities
3. Utilize locally available resources, skills and knowledge in their businesses
4. Generate local employment
5. Address geographies in tier 3 cities, towns and villages

Please note, this is the general framework and we invite models that go beyond the above definitions.

Sankalp Awards for Highly Scalable Social Models
Enterprises that meet the following guidelines and do not address issues listed in the other four categories are also invited to submit nominations for the Sankalp Award:

1. Demonstrable social impact at scale
2. Commercially viable business model that impact positively on environment
3. Help create opportunities and arrest rural to urban migration on a large scale