A philanthropic fix to education? A case study of a corporate foundation in India Lianna Baur March 2016 Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Arts in Globalization and International Development School of International Development and Global Studies Faculty of Social Sciences University of Ottawa © Lianna Baur, Ottawa, Canada, 2016 Baur, Lianna ii Abstract The involvement of private philanthropic actors in education in developing countries has grown significantly in recent years. While it is the subject of much conceptual discussion, there are few in-depth studies examining the actions and influence of these actors. This MA thesis responds to that gap by conducting a case study of one elementary education program (the Satya Bharti School program) in Rajasthan, India run by the Bharti Foundation, a major Indian corporate foundation and philanthropic arm of Indian telecommunications conglomerate, Bharti Group. The study examined the Foundation’s objectives, and how it mediated and influenced regulatory frameworks for elementary education to achieve these objectives, using the embedded sub-case of the Satya Bharti School program in Rajasthan. It found that the Bharti Foundation aimed to operate as an “institutional entrepreneur” (DiMaggio, 1988) by positioning itself as a “quality expert” in education, and promoting its particular conceptualization of quality education—captured in the Satya Bharti School program—as a template of change for elementary education in India. Battilana et al.’s (2009) model of institutional entrepreneurship was used to determine how the Foundation pursued this objective. This model draws on new institutional theory, specifically the literature on embedded agency and institutional change, to explain the institutional conditions and actions organizations can take to initiate divergent changes in the institutional framework of a field. This study found some evidence that the Foundation was successful in positioning itself as an education expert and instigating institutional change in elementary education in Rajasthan. It concludes that the Foundation harnessed three enabling processes and factors to accomplish this: (1) mobilizing frames that drew on the Foundation’s association with a successful knowledge-economy related company; (2) state-enabled space through public-private partnership arrangements; and (3) the Foundation’s unique organizational position at the intersection of the institutional fields of business, education and philanthropy. This was a field-based study. Fieldwork took place in fall 2012. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews, field observations, and documentary analysis at different sites, including the Bharti Foundation’s headquarters, field offices, and SBS schools in rural Rajasthan. Baur, Lianna iii Acknowledgements My heartfelt appreciation goes to the Bharti Foundation for agreeing to participate in this study, and for generously providing me with considerable information and guidance, in the midst of an extremely busy time for the organization. A sincere thank-you to participants from the SBS program, who will remain anonymous, for giving their time and expertise, and for their patience with a new researcher. I especially thank three individuals who were particularly helpful in arranging documents, interviews and school visits. I would also like to thank the Foundation for being patient and understanding throughout delays in finalizing the case study. I would further like to thank Collaborative Research and Dissemination (CORD) for hosting me during my field research in India, and providing space, resources and guidance to complete my study. Claire Noronha, Anuradha De and Meera Samson, in particular, drew from their extensive knowledge of education research in India to provide extremely helpful feedback on my research design. They also were supportive in orienting me to a country I had never visited. I would also like to thank a number of other individuals from domestic NGOs, who will remain anonymous, who were extremely helpful in providing resources and networking opportunities to advance the study. This thesis would not have been possible without the help of numerous people. I, first and foremost, thank my supervisor Prof. Prachi Srivastava, for providing me with countless avenues to grow as a researcher and explore our mutual passion for education and development. She pushed me to do my best and believed in me in the most difficult times. I thank her for several publication opportunities and research assistantships that were crucial in shaping my professional and academic skills. Likewise, I would like to thank my thesis committee members for their expertise and support. I thank Prof. Richard Maclure, in particular for providing his expertise on education research in developing countries, and Prof. Philippe Régnier for providing his expertise on business and development issues in India. Baur, Lianna iv A special thank-you to Tiffany Carrière of the School of International Development and Global Studies for her constant assistance and timely correspondence during every step of this process. I would also like to acknowledge the considerable assistance I received in scholarships to support this study, including a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC; 2012-13), and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2011-12). I also received considerable support for this study through funds from Prof. Srivastava’s SSHRC Insight Grant. The University of Ottawa also contributed significantly through a Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies field research grant (2012), and a University of Ottawa Excellence Scholarship (2011-2013). Last but not least, I thank my friends and family, including my wonderful mother, Maureen Baur, and father, Edmund Baur, for their encouragement in this long and often challenging process. In particular, I thank my partner, David Kepes, without whose enduring moral support this achievement would not have been possible. Baur, Lianna v Table of Contents List of boxes, figures and tables ..................................................................................... viii List of abbreviations and acronyms ................................................................................ ix 1. Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Problem ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Objective and research questions .............................................................................................. 2 1.3 Thesis structure ........................................................................................................................... 3 2. Chapter 2: Context ..................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Philanthropy for education in India: History and trends ....................................................... 4 2.1.1 The Bharti Foundation and the SBS Program: A brief profile ...................................... 7 2.1.2 The SBS Program: Models of implementation ............................................................. 8 2.2 Elementary education in India: Key developments and challenges ..................................... 11 2.2.1 Elementary education in Rajasthan: Key developments and challenges ..................... 15 2.2.2 Policy context of the SBS program in Rajasthan ........................................................ 18 3. Chapter 3: Literature Review ................................................................................. 21 3.1 Situating the Bharti Foundation in the literature .................................................................. 21 3.1.1 The Bharti Foundation as a corporate foundation ....................................................... 21 3.1.2 Distinguishing the SBS program from ‘corporate social responsibility’ .................... 24 3.1.3 The SBS program as a ‘public-private partnership’ .................................................... 25 3.2 ‘New’ philanthropy in education: Key debates ...................................................................... 26 3.2.1 The ‘scarce resources’ claim ....................................................................................... 27 3.2.2 The ‘economic relevance’ claim ................................................................................. 28 3.2.3 The ‘managerial expertise’ claim ................................................................................ 31 3.2.4 The ‘innovation’ claim ................................................................................................ 35 3.3 Theoretical lens: Private foundations and institutional change............................................ 37 3.3.1 Private foundations as ‘institutional entrepreneurs’ .................................................... 39 3.3.2 The process of institutional entrepreneurship.............................................................. 40 3.3.2.a Harnessing enabling conditions ...................................................................................................... 41 3.3.2.b Framing change .............................................................................................................................