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Ahaana Ma­hanti

Research Assistant

Subjects
Project management Sustainability Non-profit Partnership Social responsibility Global goals

Primary research areas

Cross-sec­tor Part­ner­ships
In­vest­ig­at­ing the mech­an­isms by which donors, busi­nesses, NGOs and rur­al com­munit­ies col­lab­or­ate to real­ize glob­al SDGs (spe­cific­ally SDG 6 and SDG 14) at the loc­al level.
Cor­por­ate So­cial Respons­ibility
How CSR pro­jects can be lever­aged as a tool to real­ize per­tin­ent SDGs for mar­gin­al­ized com­munit­ies.
Non-gov­ern­ment­al or­gan­iz­a­tions
The role of loc­al NGOs bey­ond ser­vice de­liv­ery, and as act­ive agents in nav­ig­at­ing power dy­nam­ics and ad­min­is­trat­ive and in­fra­struc­tur­al de­fi­cits and en­sur­ing sus­tained out­comes for mar­gin­al­ized com­munit­ies when states re­cede and donor fund­ing stops.
Rur­al com­munit­ies
Com­munit­ies are not just pass­ive be­ne­fi­ciar­ies of ser­vice de­liv­ery pro­jects and ad­opt an act­ive role in de­vel­op­ment in­ter­ven­tions.
Place-based ap­proaches
Place is not just a geo­graph­ic­al loc­a­tion but also a so­cial con­struct with its own his­tory and power re­la­tions. Glob­al South NGOs can use dif­fer­ent place-based ap­proaches to ad­apt de­vel­op­ment mod­els to the loc­al needs of the com­munit­ies.

I ques­tion seem­ingly in­vis­ible power dy­nam­ics in the sustain­ability dis­course

My research helps understand 

- How SDG 6 (clean water & sanitation) and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) are realized and translated into sustained outcomes for remote Indian communities amidst active or passive involvement of the state and irregular donor funding.  

- The mediating roles of local NGOs in development projects. Focusing on a decade-long Danish Foundation funded water access initiative, I look into the roles of local NGOs in cross-sector partnership projects beyond their capacities as implementation partners but as active agents in navigating power dynamics, fragmented local governance structures, infrastructural deficits and complex social dynamics like caste and gender hierarchies. 

- How place-based dynamics feed into the success or failure of such service delivery projects 

Interests and exploration 

I love putting together case studies, teaching and moderating classroom discussions around important topics like sustainable development. Additionally I am also exploring alternative ways (beyond journal articles) to do impactful research as a way to give back to stakeholders that contribute to my research and to connect with a non-academic audience.

Recent research projects

Op­por­tun­it­ies to Scale Cli­mate Tech­no­lo­gies in In­dia

This white pa­per ex­am­ines the factors that con­trib­ute to or hinder the scal­ing of cli­mate tech­no­lo­gies in In­dia. It fo­cuses on four key sec­tors and presents case stud­ies of emer­ging cli­mate tech­no­lo­gies with­in these sec­tors that ad­dress spe­cif­ic en­vir­on­ment­al and so­cial chal­lenges in the coun­try. These case stud­ies demon­strate the po­ten­tial for fin­an­cing mech­an­isms to provide ac­cess to low-cost cap­it­al and sup­port In­dia's net zero am­bi­tions. It ex­plores the chal­lenges and op­por­tun­it­ies as­so­ci­ated with achiev­ing net-zero emis­sions in In­dia while ad­dress­ing so­cio-eco­nom­ic con­cerns. It em­phas­ises the need for scal­able cli­mate tech­no­lo­gies and in­creased private sec­tor in­vest­ment to de­couple eco­nom­ic growth from emis­sions.
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