Alumni Feature | Vidhi Narang, Master’s in Public Policy ‘22

Born and raised in Indore, Vidhi holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from NMIMS, Mumbai. The intersection of economics, data analysis, and social sciences made her curious to delve into the policy and development sector. She found gender related issues to be her calling while volunteering with a local NGO, working on educating girls about menstrual hygiene, and skill development of women and girls from local urban slums. Soon after her graduation, she started interning with Nikore Associates (a youth led policy think tank) where she probed further into policy research through a gendered lens. Being promoted to be among the youngest Research Advisors in the firm was a testament to her proficiency, interest and indomitable work ethic. In the same capacity, she worked on multiple policy projects such as urban transport financing, MSME cluster development and skills training. She also led a project which involved tracking of the fiscal and monetary aid provided by the government of India in lieu of COVID-19. To enhance her knowledge of policy design and implementation in various sectors, she decided to pursue the MPP programme at NLSIU. She was fascinated by the interdisciplinary approach of the program, which in turn enabled her to adopt an as holistic as possible approach to a problem before designing policy solutions. To gain insight into the qualitative methods of research and to explore other domains of policy making, she did her Client Led Project with GRAAM, where she worked on the assessment of Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres. She also undertook a research internship at UNICEF, India where she worked on more technical and logistical sides of policy implementation. She also co-authored a paper on women’s labour force participation in India and the impact of COVID-19 on the same, which she presented at the 2021 Annual Conference of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE). Vidhi is also the Class Representative for the 7th Cohort of MPP, displaying her leadership qualities time and again by initiating, formulating and implementing positive change for both the batch and the programme in general. Following her interest in gender, economics and public finance she wishes to write her dissertation on the formalization of domestic workers in India and the multiple challenges faced by them.