Partner organizations

Current partners

BMS College of Engineering

Founded in 1946, Bhusanayana Mukundadas Sreenivasaiah College of Engineering (BMSCE) is the first private engineering college established in India. GCIL works directly with BMS College of Engineering on content, partner development, and knowledge exchange between the students.

Biome

Biome Environmental Trust promotes ecological architecture and sustainable water management in Bangalore. Their work spans rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, wastewater reuse, and policy advocacy. With a multi-stakeholder approach involving communities, government bodies, and research institutions, Biome bridges practice and policy to enhance urban water resilience. A major initiative, the “Million Wells for Bengaluru” campaign, addresses the city’s declining groundwater by promoting recharge wells in urban areas, engaging citizens, and revitalizing traditional well-diggers’ livelihoods. Biome’s broader challenge is to mitigate Bangalore’s water crisis driven by population growth, over-reliance on borewells, and declining rainfall recharge due to urban sprawl.

Green Foundation

Green Foundation works to build climate-resilient communities through biodiversity conservation and regenerative agriculture based on agroecological principles. Their approach balances livelihood security with environmental sustainability. The foundation addresses challenges faced by marginalized farmers by conserving indigenous knowledge, promoting natural-input farming, and enhancing market access through peer certification and value-added products. Their economic model empowers women via community-run enterprises and Janadhanya, a women-led federation. The grand challenge lies in ensuring that sustainable agricultural practices not only preserve biodiversity but also secure income and agency for smallholder farmers in a changing climate.

Hasiru Dala

Hasiru Dala is a collective of waste pickers and informal waste workers advocating for their inclusion in urban solid waste management systems. Originating in Bangalore, it now operates across Karnataka, organizing workers and demonstrating decentralized waste management models. The grand challenge it addresses is the city’s vast and mismanaged waste burden, aggravated by limited municipal capacity and reliance on harmful landfills. With informal waste pickers often overlooked, Hasiru Dala empowers them to play a critical role in recycling and waste segregation, thereby making urban sanitation more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable.

India Rising Trust

India Rising Trust (IRT) is an anonymous citizen-led movement that tackles urban civic neglect through direct, visible action. Their “spotfix” campaigns reclaim neglected public spaces through collective beautification efforts, guided by the principle “kaam chalu, muh band” (stop talking, start doing). The grand challenge they confront is the widespread deterioration of urban public spaces due to apathy, poor infrastructure maintenance, and lack of citizen ownership. Through campaigns like “Adopt-Bengaluru,” IRT mobilizes stakeholders to transform eyesores into vibrant community spaces, redefining public engagement and civic pride.

Parikrma Humanity Foundation

Parikrma aims to bridge the opportunity gap for children from urban slums through holistic education from early childhood to employment. Their “Circle of Life” model integrates schooling with healthcare, nutrition, and family support. Operating four K-10 schools and a junior college, Parikrma’s work reduces dropouts and boosts learning outcomes. The grand challenge it addresses is breaking the cycle of poverty by enabling children in slums—who often have limited access to quality education—to achieve parity with their privileged peers and become confident, contributing citizens.

Rise Bionics

Rise Bionics develops affordable, lightweight, custom prosthetics and orthotics using innovative digital fabrication and sustainable materials like cane. Its patient-centric approach ensures precise, rapid service across economic classes, including free devices for children through its “Help a Child Walk” program. The grand challenge it tackles is India’s vast unmet need for assistive devices, where conventional prosthetics are often heavy, ill-fitting, or inaccessible. Rise Bionics leverages technology and inclusive business models to restore mobility and dignity for the disabled, especially in underserved communities.

Sensing Local

Sensing Local is an urban living lab based in Bangalore that empowers citizens to understand and improve their environment through co-created civic action. Focusing on air, water, and waste, they offer training, tools, and participatory strategies to enhance urban systems. Their flagship initiative, Citizen University, builds citizen capacity through thematic learning modules and data-driven tools. The grand challenge they address is the fragmentation and opacity of urban governance, which limits public engagement. By making civic systems more legible and accessible, Sensing Local fosters community ownership and collaborative problem-solving in cities.

Associates Akshaya Patra CSTEP Institute of Public Health, Bangalore Nivasa

Former partners ILK Labs St. Joseph’s College BuDa Folklore Saahas

 

Become a partner in GCIL’s mission

What does it mean to be a partner

• Share your time and expertise with the students
• Receive student input, effort, and documentation towards your organization’s current projects and focus areas

To discuss how your business or organization can partner with GCIL, contact a program director at gcil@uw.edu.

Partners engage deeply with GCIL, hosting a student team for 7 weeks and inviting the team to contribute to a project as well as propose a new project for the organization. Becoming an associate of GCIL is a smaller commitment; associates share learning and knowledge with GCIL students during 1- or 2-day learning engagements.