Social Policies: Institutions, Governance and Civil Society
A large number of studies covering different aspects of education, health, empowerment of people, governance and civil society were undertaken by the researchers at the Institute. Conceptual framework of social assessment has been part of development discourse and empirical study in the field situation. Apart from the rigour of statistical analysis, the researchers have used PRA, social mapping, participatory observations, focussed group discussions and case study methods for social assessment studies.

The major thrust of the Institute in the area of social policies has been on primary education, women's education and non-formal education. The Institute has been involved in the design and participatory evaluation of the DPEP and DPIP. This apart, the Institute has under taken several studies relating to elementary education and literacy. The Institute has done social assessment for District Primary Education Project (DPEP) in 19 identified districts and for DPIP in seven districts of the state. The Institute was involved in concurrent evaluation of Total Literacy Campaign (TLC) in the state, which provided important feed back for mid-course correction in the campaign besides a composite view of external evaluations of TLCs. The Institute has also undertaken studies and organized dialogues on role of PRIs; communities in co-existence; impact of ICDS; role of NGO sector and self-help groups; pro-poor urban planning; child labour; street children; fertility and migration; development of scheduled castes, malnutrition and health education of adolescent girls. The Institute provided bench marks for DPIP and DPEP. It is also involved in process monitoring of DPIP and Integrated Child Labour Project of ILO in Rajasthan.

Women and Gender Studies
Identification of Women and Gender Issues as a thrust area of studies and dialogues grew out of the recognition of gender based subordination in society - an injustice, which needs to be, countered both at the individual and collective level. The attempt of the Institute has been to examine, question, address, alter and redefine those mechanisms through which subordination is legitimized, taken for granted and internalized as personal destiny. The Institute is trying to create a research base to dispel deep-seated attitudinal biases and create fresh knowledge through data, logic and cognitive interpretations. The efforts have been to bring rural, poor women's perceptions on social, economic and political issues into policy and planning discourse.

The Institute's faculty actively contributed to the Women Development Programmes of the State. The faculty participates and contributes to the trainings at village, regional and national levels on gender issues. Women in decision making and local governance; malnutrition among women and children; empowerment of adolescent girls through health education; situational analysis of women and children; women in literacy campaigns; violence against women; training in gender planning; gender in education; women and children's health; gender and food security; gender and natural resource management; gender and cultural issues and gender and poverty have received emphasis in Institute's studies, dialogues and trainings. The Institute has effectively contributed to the women's movement; capacity building on gender issues and mainstreaming gender concerns in policy and planning discourse. Childhood poverty, trafficking of women and children, girl child and child protection received added emphasis.

NGO and Panchayati Raj Centre
Apart from the core research oriented areas, the Institute has an important unit called NGO and PR Centre. The NGO and PR Centre was established with a view to maintaining close contacts with NGOs and representatives of PRIs for pursuing a better understanding of development processes, to provide a forum for reasoned debate on issues concerning them and their dialogue with policy planners, experts and thinkers and to strengthen and facilitate the development efforts of NGOs by way of training their personal and information sharing.

The specific activities pursued by the Institute in this area include advocacy, skill development, networking and undertaking research studies related to voluntary initiatives and PRIs. The advocacy role of the Institute has been mainly in the area of poverty alleviation, empowerment of local institutions, gender equity, child rights, early childhood care, gram and ward sabhas, women members of PRIs, reproductive and child health, and violence against women. The Institute has been contributing to the development of skills of PRI representatives and NGO workers in the area of project formulation, documentation, report writing, community mobilization and leadership, training needs assessment, development of training modules and training of trainers. The Institute has been providing a fora to NGOs and PRIs to interact with state government, national organizations and international development agencies on areas of mutual concerns. The Institute's faculty has been undertaking several studies with the help of grassroots NGOs on several aspects related to their role in development programmes and initiatives. It has developed or helped the state government and international agencies in developing training modules for PRIs in the area of general role of panchas, sarpanches, education, early childhood care, nutrition, and adolescent girls. The Institute has a regular feature of bringing out and updating a directory of voluntary organizations functioning in the state. The Institute's faculty actively associates in various dialogues and training programmes for elected representatives of PRIs and on decentralized planning organised by the state government.