Ramblings of a Mami of Two

Recently, I was given the opportunity to attend Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia’s Malaysia-India Grassroot Innovation Workshop. It was an honor to be there listening to the Grassroot Innovation Guru, Prof. Anil Gupta himself talk. Before I proceed, lemme tell you what “Grassroot Innovation” is. “Grassroots initiatives are innovative networks of activists and organisations that lead bottom-up solutions for sustainable development; solutions that respond to the local situation and the interests and values of the communities involved. In contrast to conventional, incremental green reforms, grassroots initiatives seek to practice deeper, alternative forms of sustainable development. The initiatives involve committed activists who often seek to experiment with social innovations as well as using greener technologies and techniques in areas such as housing, renewable energy, food, and alternative money. They frequently seek to create new social institutions and ‘systems of provision’ based upon...