The vast institutional space that the development sector has grown to occupy has a wide spectrum of organisational and institutional arrangements with small local level NGOs at one end to large regional and national organizations and complex partnerships at the other. More importantly, the globalizing forces have added complex dimensions to Indian development context – demanding collaborative partnerships among multiple stakeholders. Having set up alternative and sustainable models, the NGOs and even civil society organizations have begun to partner with government to mainstream their models and influence policies in large-scale development projects. Again, in the recent past, corporate social responsibility has gained currency, which has resulted in several companies partnering with the government and NGOs for development purpose. It is against this background that the many dimensions of human and institutional development have gained considerable relevance in terms of sustainable institutional practices, structures, systems and policies. There is no denying that several leaders, organizations and partnerships in the development sector have promoted models that have established good practices in leadership, governance and sustainable institutional growth.
Against this backdrop, research and knowledge building gains considerable significance to capture the many changes that are underway, the challenges that the practitioners are experiencing and above all to create platforms for pushing the frontiers of creative thinking..
