Shashank Mittal Apt

Shashank Mittal Apt. 18/1102, Heritage City, MG Road, Sector 25, Gurgaon- 122002. Haryana. India. [email protected] | +91 9312090827 | +1 347-688-3840 Faculty Director International Innovations Corps The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy 1155 East 60th Street #285 Chicago, Illinois 60637 Dear Professor Malani, I am delighted to apply for the Project Associate position at the International Innovation Corps (IIC), for the upcoming 2018-19 cohort. My first interaction with the IIC was in 2014-15, during my time at the Young India Fellowship (YIF), a year long multi-disciplinary liberal studies program at Ashoka University. As part of my Experiential Learning Module project, I worked closely with the IIC-CEL team, working on the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (Model Villages scheme). We studied the gaps that existed between the promised and actual performance of the welfare programs across several villages in North India. Having conducted extensive field research through surveys, structured and unstructured interviews, focus-group discussions and resource mapping in Dhankya village near Jaipur, we presented recommendations to Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Member of Parliament, and his team for remedial actions and furthering the development of the village. My team was awarded the Outstanding Experiential Learning Module award for the project. This project also provided me my first exposure to the rural realities of India and motivated me to build a career around empowering disadvantaged communities who are being left out of the development paradigm. After graduating from YIF, I worked with marginalized tribal communities at Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS), a grassroots organization working in the Central Indian drylands. As Program Officer, I managed product design, production management, marketing and fundraising for ‘Kumbaya Producer Company Limited’, a social enterprise supported by SPS that empowers local women through the art of stitching. I gained first-hand experience of leading a ‘producer company’, an effective policy tool that enables small producer collectives to attain greater financial and administrative autonomy. I also observed how SPS’s initiatives in natural resource management and community empowerment consistently leveraged existing policies through organized collective action. Thousands of women, as members of Self Help Groups came together to collectively navigate markets, hold government officials accountable and achieve better implementation of government policies and programs on livelihoods, health and education at the local level. These experiences have offered me a significant understanding of some of India’s critical developmental challenges. I have also learned that rigour, drive and perseverance are required to create and sustain positive change. Importantly, I have acquired a nuanced understanding of the difficulties in securing women’s participation in highly patriarchal and male-dominated social spheres and potential solutions to address them. I now want to further my career as a development practitioner to find innovative and scalable solutions to developmental challenges and create lasting social impact. I believe that the IIC fellowship program, uniquely positioned at the intersection of grassroots work, while also informing and influencing public policy in the country, is an ideal next step in my career. I am excited at the opportunity to work with public sector enterprises and leading nonprofits on carefully curated projects that align with the government’s development agenda, providing quality support and effective action. Being placed within University of Chicago’s reputed Harris School of Public Policy, I am keen to gain the analytical tools provided during the induction training program to be effective in the field. As witnessed during my prior engagement with IIC fellows, being a Project Associate gives one unparalleled access to academic experts, policy makers, practitioners and government officials. I am keen to capitalize on these opportunities to broaden my understanding of development and economic processes and develop the skills required to be an effective changemaker. My training in design has enabled me to think methodically and take a human-centric approach in conceptualizing solutions. In a prior internship with Habitat for Humanity, India, I designed low cost housing for informal settlements in Delhi and disaster relief housing for the flood affected villages in Uttarakhand. I look forward to bringing my project management, community engagement, research and design-thinking skills to the IIC Fellowship program and making an effective contribution to the projects led by interdisciplinary teams. I thank you for reviewing my application materials and look forward to hearing from you about the next steps in the process. I am happy to furnish any additional details you may require as part of my candidature for the program. Sincerely, Shashank Mittal. .

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