Blogs & Op-eds
Urban Water
Rural Futures
Technical Consulting
Futures Research
Every Practitioner Has a Playbook in Them
A playbook turns expert knowledge into something anyone can act on. The real challenge isn’t simplifying it; it’s making it travel.
Closing the Water Gap: Why Raichur Needs Systems Transformation, Not Fragmented Efforts
Despite massive investments, Raichur’s agriculture continues to be defined by water inequities. What is needed now is a systems transformation that aligns infrastructure, governance, labour, inputs, and markets into a coherent whole.
Green Manuring: A Sustainable Agricultural Practice to Improve Crop Productivity
Continuous cultivation and heavy reliance on chemical fertilisers have severely degraded soil systems. Green manuring offers a natural, sustainable alternative to restore the soil health and improve crop quality and yield.
A Monsoon Shield for Every Farmer: Why Protective Irrigation Must Become the Centrepiece of India’s Water Strategy
Published in Down to Earth
Three Years of Rural Futures: Reimagining Water, Land, and Livelihoods
The Rural Futures programme was designed to answer a deceptively simple question: how can we increase rural income without degrading land and water quality? As WELL Labs turns 3, we look back at the programme’s journey and impact across Karnataka’s Raichur and Chikkaballapur districts.
When Power on Paper Isn’t Power in Reality: Women’s Leadership in Panchayati Raj Institutions
Despite many women holding elected positions in Panchayats, the decision-making power largely rests with their male relatives. Our training sessions showed that reservation alone does not ensure empowerment; it also requires knowledge and solidarity.
Three Years of Designing Water Resilience
The Urban Water Programme was designed to tackle the issues of water security and resilience in urban areas. As WELL Labs turns 3, we look back at the journey and impact this programme has had on Bengaluru’s water story.
Tracking Effectiveness of a Systems Transformation Non-Profit
In the final part of the seven-part series on learnings from three years of running WELL Labs, Veena Srinivasan shares how we track the effectiveness of WELL Labs as a systems transformation non-profit
Co-Creating Change with Partners and Government
In part six of this seven-part series on learnings from three years of running WELL Labs, Veena Srinivasan shares how radical collaboration can help move the needle
Creating a World-Class Team that is High-Trust and High-Performance
In part five of this seven-part series on learnings from three years of running WELL Labs, Veena Srinivasan shares how to create a high-performance, high-trust organisation
Sustaining Culture in a Systems Change Non-Profit
In part four of this seven-part series on learnings from three years of running WELL Labs, Veena Srinivasan shares how the organisation builds and sustains culture.
Managing Non-Profit Finances Effectively to Deliver Impact
In part three of this seven-part series on learnings from three years of running WELL Labs, Veena Srinivasan shares how the organisation manages finances.
Matching External Commitments to Internal Accountability
In part two of this seven-part series on learnings from three years of running WELL Labs, Veena Srinivasan shares how the organisation stays accountable.
Staying Mission-Oriented in a Project-Funded World
WELL Labs is three years old. Veena Srinivasan, our Executive Director, writes about the journey, and what we have learnt from it in a series of blogs. This is part one of seven.
Designing Climate Resilient Futures in Raichur
Raichur’s resilience to climate change is not built on a single path, but through the conscious navigation of multiple, co-existing hydro-social pathways. This makes the landscape of possibilities visible so that communities, researchers, and policymakers can together decide which futures to pursue.
India Research Corps: Research that Delivers Change
India Research Corps aims to close the evidence gap in the water sector by curating critical research questions that have a clear pathway to impact, and matching them to early-career research scholars, who then produce action-oriented knowledge.
Unpaid, Unseen, Unending: The Workdays of Rural Women
Published in Deccan Herald
Seed Treatment: A Step Towards Sustainable Agriculture in Raichur and Koppal
Seed treatment is a simple, low cost, and highly effective method of improving seed germination, root health, and nutrient uptake across cotton, maize, pulses, and vegetables.
Empowering Rural Women Through AI for Sustainable Agriculture
To ground-truth and ensure accuracy of satellite data and AI models, rural women in Chintamani are locally collecting soil moisture sensor readings, supporting drought identification and targeted investments in water-saving interventions.
How Can We Scale Wastewater Reuse in Urban India?
The workshop “Closing the Loop: Strategies for Decentralised Water Reuse in India” explored how robust and affordable treatment solutions, reliable monitoring systems, a supportive business ecosystem, and enabling policies around wastewater reuse can be developed