Swaniti Initiative

Swaniti Initiative is a social enterprise that aims to catalyze the delivery of public services to socio-economically marginalized groups by strengthening governance processes across states and districts in South Asia. Swaniti focuses on climate change, just transition, social protection, and livelihoods and has mobilized over $100 million in government funding and supported over 50 million people by improving access to public services. This award enables Swaniti to facilitate India's just energy transition through business diversification of state-owned energy companies currently invested mostly in fossil fuels. These are some of the largest companies in India, employing millions of formal and informal workers, who will be at risk as India leapfrogs into the decarbonized world.

Swaniti Initiative is a non-profit organization that provides development solutions to improve the delivery of public services, with a focus on cross-sectoral themes such as climate change, social protection, livelihoods, and gender equity. Swaniti Initiative uses a multi-faceted approach that combines research and knowledge support, technical advisory, project implementation, and usage of data-driven insights to ensure effective citizen service delivery in underserved communities. In partnership with the government of Chhattisgarh, Swaniti anchors the Green Warriors program to mitigate and respond to climate change at a grassroots level and support the government on improving citizen services such as sustainable farming, access to water and sanitation as well as energy services. Through this award, Swaniti identifies, trains and empowers "Climate Warriors" who work with local communities and government officials to strengthen climate-specific programs on land, water, forest, and agriculture, and ensure their effective implementation in underserved areas.

Founded in 2012, Swaniti Initiative (Swaniti) is a nonprofit that supports the delivery of public services to the most vulnerable populations in India by strengthening governance and administration. Swaniti works with state and local governments and helps them overcome human capital gaps, as well as knowledge and data limitations, by providing high-quality, localized inputs. Through this grant, Swaniti works with the Chhattisgarh State government to create an energy transition roadmap by establishing model clusters of 'green' or non-polluting livelihood opportunities and promoting the use of decentralized renewable energy among vulnerable groups in coal-mining affected areas. By providing information and support, Swaniti will help the government implement pilot programs to demonstrate the viability of long-term, climate-friendly policies in the state.