Giving Compass' Take:

• An article in India Development Review (IDR) argues that India's social sector is an exclusionary, walled-off community of academics and doesn't adequately seek out viewpoints of the constituents it represents.

• The faults pointed out in this IDR piece could apply to organizations in the U.S. as well. Are we doing enough to make sure that all voices are heard? How can we do better?

• When it comes to tackling the important challenges of diversity, let's not forget the important role that gender plays, as this article explains.

A common thread across the spectrum of India’s social sector organizations and the development professionals I have interacted with is a passion for social equality, a sense of purpose, and academic and professional skills required to advocate, innovate and contribute to improving lives of the marginalized in our society.

Also common is the glaring absence of voices from those very marginalized communities and historically underprivileged groups at funders summits, civil society forums, CSR conclaves, foundation boardrooms, and strategy sessions.

Though the PowerPoint presentations, annual reports, and conference talking points repeatedly use the —  "marginalised," "underprivileged," "backward" — most within the social sector and anyone who looks into the numbers will immediately identify who make up the majority of the population groups that India’s social sector interacts with.

So, it is particularly disappointing that though the sector is interacting with Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi (DBA) communities all the time, professionals from those communities don’t find adequate representation in the sector and its decision making.

Not only is there a lack of representation but also a lack of conversation about it. And any attempts to fix it will have to start by examining how the pipeline for candidates entering the sector inadvertently excludes individuals from social groups who form the majority of its constituents.

Read the full article about India's diversity problem in the social sector by Benson Neethipudi at India Development Review (IDR).