Capacity building, training programs, and workshops form the backbone of growth and development within government and non-profit ecosystems. These initiatives are not just expenditures- they are strategic investments aimed at shaping the capabilities of employees, partners, and stakeholders.
Yet, after every such session, one question lingers in the minds of the organisers:
“Was it worth it?” – Did we achieve our objectives? Were the participants engaged? What impact did this session truly make?
A successful intervention followed by the right assessment gives organisations the answers they need. It not only validates the effectiveness of their training investments but also empowers participants to reflect on their learning outcomes.
Use Case – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)
NRLM is a flagship program in India aimed at reducing rural poverty by enabling economic and social empowerment of women through Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and other Community-Based Organisations (CBOs). Institutions like the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) and State Institutes of Rural Development (SIRD) play a pivotal role in designing and executing training content for these members.
While training programs for NRLM are extensively designed, data on training effectiveness and impact remains underutilised, leading to inefficiencies in budget allocation, curriculum design, and training implementation. With a vast membership of nearly 10 crore women under the aegis of NRLM, there is an urgent need to streamline data collection, improve training efficiency, and ensure capacity-building efforts are outcome-driven.
Missing Piece
While supporting training efforts for officials of NRLM, Veddis Foundation, a leading non-profit working at the intersection of technology and governance-faced this recurring challenge:
There was no robust, flexible, open-source tool available to conduct fair and effective assessments at scale.
Existing solutions were either too rigid, expensive, or not aligned with the needs of mission-driven organisations.
Our answer – Project Sashakt
In response to this gap, we at Project Tech4Dev are collaborating with Veddis Foundation and Avanti Fellows to build a generic, open-source assessment platform-one that could be used by any organisation to create, customise, and conduct assessments with ease.
Project Sashakt is meant to be a highly adaptable and open-source assessment tool designed for non-profits and government bodies to evaluate the impact of their training programs and enhance decision-making through data-driven insights.
Our goal is to make this a Digital Public Good (DPG), so that it can serve multiple stakeholders. Open access to the platform would enable cross-sector collaboration and contribute to a larger ecosystem of knowledge-driven governance reforms.
What can Sashakt do?
- Configure multiple question types (MCQS, open-ended, ratings, etc.)
- Tag and classify questions based on topics, skills, or regions and more
- Combine questions into custom assessments, tests, and quizzes
- Save assessments as reusable templates or deploy them directly to participants
- Allow candidates to participate anonymously or via registration
- Collect and analyse data to generate meaningful insights
All this is wrapped in a minimalistic, user-friendly interface, mindful of the diverse contexts in which it may be deployed, from grassroots NGOs to state-level institutions.
What’s Next?
We’re currently in the development phase, and our team is working hard to release the first version of the platform soon. With Project Sashakt, we hope to make assessments easier, smarter, and more accessible for everyone.
At Project Tech4Dev, we believe that when assessments are simple and insightful, impact becomes measurable; that’s when real change begins.
Access the code repository for Sashakt here
Access the documents for Sashakt here.
