M. S. SWAMINATHAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Last year, the Board of Trustees commissioned an independent mission and management review to help us chart a path for the next 25 years. The following are the main recommendations made by the Review team led by Professor V. L. Chopra:
Agree on Social Good Objectives: In line with the idea of re-aligning the work of the Foundation, integrating social, science and technology goals, the Foundation should consider reassessing its programme labels from the existing scientific identifiers to a combination that describes both desired
social and scientific/technological outcomes.

D e v e l o p C o h e s i v e I n t e g r a t e d Programmes: Develop screening systems that ensure projects are compatible with core Foundation objectives.

Articulate a Comprehensive 3-5 year Strategic Plan: The Plan should be in
line with the overall social objectives and integrated programmes. The critical elements of institution building must be addressed both at the Foundation and grassroots level.

Active Board Involvement in Executing Reshaped Agendas: The Board of Trustees should be actively involved in initiating and guiding the re-orientation of work in the Foundation and necessary reorganisation.
However, it should work towards eventually limiting its role to broad governance and allow the Foundation’s work to be internally and professionally managed in collective fashion.

Raise Funds against a Comprehensive Strategic Plan: Projects and programmes compatible with the overall plan should be presented to donors with matching concerns.
Remain an Autonomous Institution: The Foundation has the potential to be a pioneer in the field of sustainable development. It should not consider becoming either a government entity or be dependent on a
single funding partner. To this end, building and managing a corpus should be given priority.