Educational Resource Unit is a research and consulting group was established in 1996 by Vimala Ramachandran with the objective of working in an interdisciplinary manner on education, public health and child development. Our unique strength and expertise is in taking a holistic social development approach with a strong gender and equity perspective. We have special expertise in qualitative research, impact assessment of developmental interventions (including gender and social audit), process documentation, monitoring & evaluation.
 
 ERU is the first virtual (electronically networked) research group. We have the capability to work in several states and in different language zones of India and across South Asia. We have researchers in New Delhi, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow and Mangalore – with capacity to work in Hindi, Telegu, Kanada and Tamil.
 
 Strategic planning and programme development has been a running theme in our work and in particular we have focused on operationalising policy by working with government and donors to move from macro policies to concrete programmes and projects.
 
 Educational Resource Unit has done evaluation, review and research projects with a wide range of agencies and organisations – including Government of India, bilateral and multilateral agencies, corporate foundations and NGOs. Almost all our partners have worked with us over several years as we are committed to delivering good quality outputs and on time – there have been no time or cost over-runs in ERU executed projects.

Unlike conventional research institutes, the ERU research and documentation team comprises a core team of professionals and a number of independent researchers who come on board for specific assignments / projects. The team is hand picked to suit the specific requirement of an assignment. We bring in people from research institutions when required. We are networked via the Internet and are able to work with researchers across the country and in different languages. Our core panel of researchers include the following persons:

Vimala Ramachandran has worked on education, public health and child development for over 25 years and has extensive experience in qualitative research, policy and programme development and process documentation. She was the first National Project Director of Mahila Samakhya (1988-1993), a founder Trustee of HealthWatch (1994-2007) – a network of social activists and researchers working on women’s health issues. Vimala has significant experience of grant making, programme design, appraisal and evaluation and is based in New Delhi.
 

Kameshwari Jandhyala has worked on women’s education, empowerment and livelihood issues for over 20 yeas. She is the first Director of Mahila Samakhya Andhra Pradesh and Consultant to the National Office of Mahila Samakhya in Department of Education, GOI. A keen researcher with significant experience in qualitative research and programme development in education (women’s education), women’s studies and gender and development issues and appraisal and evaluation. Kameshwari is based in Hyderabad.
 

Nishi Mehrotra, has worked on sustainable agriculture, watershed development, rural development and women’s empowerment issues. She is the first State Programme Director of Mahila Samakhya Programme in Uttar Pradesh. She has significant experience in the area of water and sanitation and is a highly skilled qualitative researcher and has extensive fieldwork experience. She is based in Lucknow and has significant ground level experience in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand. Nishi is based in Lucknow.
 

Bharat Patni, an engineer from IIT Roorkee with an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, has 32 years of domestic and international experience in the corporate sector. He then transited into the development sector and spent six years with Pratham, Mumbai providing full time support on issues related to general management, donor coordination, MIS, finance and programme planning / development. He has travelled extensively in the country in connection with Pratham interface with the government in Primary Education. He joined ERU group in 2006 and has anchored / managed multi-state research projects. He brings quantitative research skills to the ERU management team. Bharat is based in New Delhi
 

Harsh Sethi, Consulting Editor of Seminar Magazine with over thirty years of engagement with civil society issues, non-party political formations and non-governmental organisations. He has special expertise in analysis and interpretation of qualitative and quantitative data. He oversees ERU projects with a view to ensure quality of outcome. He is based in New Delhi.
 

ERU hires researches for specific projects in order to enable us to draw upon people with local knowledge and expertise. We have worked with Mahila Samakhya Gender Resource Centre in Andhra Pradesh; with research institutes like Sandhan and IDS Jaipur in Rajasthan and SchoolScape in Tamil Nadu; with voluntary organisations like Agragamee in Orissa, the national network of Pratham network, Suvidha in Maharashtra, Vidya Bhavan, Udaipur, and Centre for Education, Planning and Research (CERP) in Jaipur. We collaborate with education departments of different Indian universities – working with research students and faculty members in carrying out evaluation and research studies in different language zones.