Initiatives for Development Foundation (IDF)

Initiatives for Development Foundation, IDF, was established in 2001 by development bankers and social entrepreneurs who took voluntary retirement and vowed to serve the underprivileged. IDF is a non-governmental organization and registered charitable trust that forms the poor into Self Help Groups (SHGs), trains and promotes microenterprises, natural resource management, sustainable livelihoods, and offers women’s business counseling. In 2005, microfinance was added to IDF’s range of services. In these areas IDF works with Central and State Government, Public sector undertaking and Banks, Developmental Banks, developmental NGOs in the implementation of policies and programmes.

IDF vision is ‘empowerment of the under privileged’ with the mission of becoming one of the top five resource organization on sustainable entrepreneurship promotion for the developing countries by 2020. IDF believes that there are no single solution for the socio economic emancipation of the under privileged people. Hence, IDF’s larger goal is to show case ways and means of achieving its vision under various eco systems and circumstances – socio economic, agro climatic and political economies – by innovating and reengineering interventional processes in a multi stakeholder environment. In pursuit of its mission, the motivators of IDF are its shared vision, core values of participatory functioning, transparency in operations, innovation in operations and processes and building excellent team work across the rank and file along with and celebrations of achievements with the stakeholders. Institutionally it has multiple objectives, core objectives veer around promotion of entrepreneurial and self help culture, sustainable livelihoods of poor and rural people with conservation of natural resources, promoting and supporting works and organizations in these sectors supporting with studies, research and its dissemination.