The SEED career profile series was created as a way to showcase talented individuals that are affiliated with the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development. The program will feature students, professors, and guest lecturers that exemplify SEED’s mission; these individuals have developed the knowledge, tools and expertise to integrate environmental and social objectives into business or development activities.
Raju Agarwal speaking to the INDEV undergraduate class
SEED Career Profile: Raju Agarwal
After graduating from Boston University- School of Management, Raju Agarwal became the Founder and Executive Director of OneProsper International; an organization that has assisted over 300 small farmers in five states across India. Last Thursday, Raju presented to Dr. Prateep Kumar Nayak’s International Development class and we caught up with him to ask a few questions.
About OneProsper:
OneProsper International is a global platform that was organized in Canada in 2010. The objective is to provide small farmers with Drip Irrigation Kits that deliver small amounts of water directly to the plant root; resulting in more crop per drop. With little water availability in the arid parts of India, the government offers subsidies to farmers who have more than 1 acre of land. However, some the poorest of poor in India are small farmers with less than 1 acre, meaning those government subsidies are not applicable. OneProsper aims to help small farmers that cannot afford to purchase drip irrigation systems on their income of $2-3 a day. Thanks to the help of generous businesses such as Coca-Cola and TD, 100% of donations to OneProsper go towards funding small farmers with drip irrigation kits.
How did you get into this work?
My inspiration stems from one of my experiences while visiting India. I saw a young girl on the streets whose family was too poor to allow her to go to school. Her mother was a servant and she was forced to stay home and take care of her younger sister. I was touched and knew I needed to do something. Research led me to an article entitled “Irrigation for small farmers,” which spoke of a project started by Stanford University called Drip Technology. This unique work allowed small farmers to work independently without the reliance on continuous donations. Drip Technology would assist the bottom of the pyramid two fold: by allowing people to seek empowerment and sustainable solutions; and leverage innovation. After that, I began to look for grass roots field partners and ended up partnering with Bala Vilcasa Social Services Society; an organization looking at water conservation mechanisms in some of the most arid parts of India.
How is International Development changing and what is the future of this type of work?
We need to be teaching individuals new solutions and showing them new technologies that can assist them in their everyday lives. With this change, there will be a need for people that can introduce these resources; implement strategy plans; and continuously monitor progress.
Do you have any advice for students pursuing a career in international development?
Make a plan of action and follow through with it. It took me many hours of work before I was able to make any progress with this organization. There were many cold calls made to businesses, but that dedication led me to outstanding partnerships.
Do baseline studies or focus groups to ensure you will be successful. Initially a lot of small farmers were skeptical of the project, so I decided to run a pilot project involving 20 small farms. We would meet with farmers and collect their beginning crop yield, income, and current water sources on site. From the focus group, we were able to address any situations we had and remediate those problems before disseminating knowledge to a broader group of farmers.
More information:
Want to volunteer for oneprosper uclub waterloo?
Contact arsh@oneprosper.org and gain experience in Marketing, Fundraising, and Student Outreach.
Visit OneProsper for more information or to donate.