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WRI India’s Sustainable Cities programme gets INR 12.6 crore (US$ 1.8 mn) boost from an Omidyar India Network grant

The funding will inform the urban planning process in leading cities using geospatial data.

New Delhi, December 4, 2019: The World Resource Institute (WRI) India’s Sustainable Cities programme announced today that they’re partnering with Omidyar Network India to pursue urban planning initiatives. The work, enabled through a three-year grant, will be focused on making planning processes more data-driven, at the neighborhood, city, and regional scales through the use of geospatial information. The overall objective is to advance integrated planning, in leading Indian cities, by leveraging WRI India’s expertise in transport, urban planning, and water.

Speaking on the association, Bharath Visweswariah, Investment Director at Omidyar Network India, said, “At Omidyar Network India, one of our primary goals is to drive data driven discourse to help create better policy and governance. The WRI India Sustainable Cities programme’s focus on solving urban issues like transportation has been hugely impressive. We believe, through this grant, the team can make a similar contribution to helping us understand the scale of these issues as well as improve livability of our cities through their urban planning work”.

WRI India Sustainable Cities Director, Madhav Pai, said, “We are very excited to receive this grant which will enable us to leverage the potential of data to bring multi-disciplinary inputs to cities, and support integrated projects across transport, land use, blue-green networks that will in turn enable economic development for all.”

WRI India’s Sustainable Cities programme has been working in the space of urban development, transport planning, sustainable cities design and capacity building for over a decade in India.

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About WRI India

WRI India is a research organisation with experts and staff who work closely with leaders to turn big ideas into action to sustain a healthy environment - the foundation of economic opportunity and human well-being. We envision an equitable and prosperous planet driven by the wise management of natural resources. We aspire to create a world where the actions of government, business, and communities combine to eliminate poverty and sustain the natural environment for all people.

About Omidyar Network India

Omidyar Network India invests in bold entrepreneurs who help create a meaningful life for every Indian, especially the hundreds of millions of Indians in low-income and lower-middle-income populations, ranging from the poorest among us to the existing middle class. To drive empowerment and social impact at scale, we work with entrepreneurs in the private, nonprofit and public sectors, who are tackling India’s hardest and most chronic problems. We make equity investments in early stage enterprises and provide grants to nonprofits in the areas of Digital Identity, Education, Emerging Tech, Financial Inclusion, Governance & Citizen Engagement, and Property Rights. Omidyar Network India is part of The Omidyar Group, a diverse collection of companies, organizations and initiatives, supported by philanthropists Pam and Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay.

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