Gathering to Build a Movement
At Reap Benefit, we work on building skills and agency through community changemaking. From overflowing drains to plastic waste, neglected parks to faulty water taps — these aren’t school projects. They’re real issues, and young people are learning to take them on with skill, courage, and purpose.
For over a decade, we’ve supported youth in building grassroots problem-solving skills. But in 2025, this isn’t just about solving local problems anymore. It’s about solving them with self-belief and peer support.
Our Solve Ninjas, through their consistent actions, have helped us go deeper with what’s possible when courage meets community.
Which is why this year, Reap Benefit is going LIVE.
From just a handful of folks tinkering at a single problem to city-wide gatherings for 100+ problem solvers — this year, we’re aiming for the big and the bold.
This year, our focus is simple: more in-person spaces, more shared momentum.
Going offline isn’t a shift in format — it’s a response to something we all crave. Connection, trust, and real spaces to be heard and seen.
From Solver Jams to Solve Cons, Changemaker Addas to peer mentoring circles — we’re building spaces where young people discover that they already have what they need to lead.
Solve Cons in 2025: Organising is More Powerful Than Mobilising
This summer, young people led something powerful across India. From the hills of Darjeeling in May to the heart of Bengaluru in April and Mysuru in June, Solve Cons have become living proof that when we organise with intent, we unlock something deeper than mobilisation — we build a movement.
Each Solve Con brought young changemakers together without hierarchy, tokenism, or a rigid agenda. They showed up to connect, learn, and act. These were not just events; they were experiences that centred humanity, purpose, and community-led action.
In Darjeeling, in partnership with the Eastern Himalayan Foundation, 136 students came together to work on real local issues and left asking, “What’s next?”. A virtual community was built to continue their journey in changemaking
In Bengaluru and Mysuru, over 50% of the event was driven by the Solve Ninja community itself — from co-creating activities to leading experiences.
Our no-phone experiments in Mysuru and Bengaluru sparked honest conversations, deeper focus, and human connection.
Across the three cities, over 700 young people participated, supported by more than 14 organisations from our growing network.
What makes Solve Cons different is not just the numbers, but the philosophy: organising is more powerful than mobilising.
Mobilising brings people together. Organising helps them stay, reflect, and act again — on their own terms.
Solve Cons are not events. They are entry points into a growing ecosystem of change.
Solver Jam — this time, IRL!
Change doesn’t wait for a classroom. And neither do young people.
Solver Jam is a 6-week action-first bootcamp where youth come together to lead real change by doing.
Each week brings an action challenge, peer reflections, and direct mentoring from those who’ve done it before.
Think fixing blackspots. Mapping water wastage. Using AI to audit your surroundings.
Their grade score?
Solutions. Skills. Agency.
Young people from Bangalore, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mysuru and Raipur have stepped up their action quotient — by organising cleanups, collecting hyperlocal data, talking to authorities, and getting things moving.
From April to June 2025, we hosted 6 on-ground Solver Jams across 4 cities — each one turning curiosity into capability, and action into confidence.
Follow us to hear about the next Solver Jam!
Solve Ninjas In Spotlight
These stories are part of a flywheel we’re now seeing everywhere: small acts → confidence → courage → community.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Samaaj Data Collective is a growing ecosystem of organisations using hyperlocal, crowdsourced, and open data to drive civic and climate action. What began as a Reap Benefit-led initiative is now evolving into a self-sustaining community, driven by partners, practitioners, and citizen contributors across India.
In the last six months alone, SDC has:
- Added over 400,000 new crowd-sourced data points
- Published 8 new powerful data narratives — on urban flooding, sanitation, waste, and more
- Welcomed 6 new organisations, including Buzz Women, Video Volunteers, and For Rivers
From citizen complaints to tree censuses, forgotten rivers to garbage blackspots, each story reveals how data plus community equals accountability.
If you’re part of the ecosystem — a civil society organization, researcher, policymaker, or practitioner — there’s a place for you in this network.
Entrepreneurial Mindset Development Program: Research Meets Reality
We believe in action first. But we also want to see ground insights inform policy.
An attempt in this direction was our collaboration in the Entrepreneurial Mindset Development Program (EMDP) — a large-scale intervention across Andhra Pradesh, co-designed with Udhyam and Aflatoun, and rigorously evaluated through a randomized controlled trial (RCT).
In large part, our work with state and local governments in Assam (34 districts), Nanded (Maharashtra), and Faridkot (Punjab) validated what we’ve seen for
he program reached thousands of 22,500 Grade 9 students across government schools across 75 sub districts in Andhra Pradesh, helping them apply entrepreneurial skills to real-life civic and environmental challenges in their communities.
Reap Benefit’s action-learning curriculum was at the heart of community problem-solving initiatives by the students.
Results of the EMDP RCT:
Treated students showed 7–10% higher likelihood of strong agency and confidence to solve problems.
Girls experienced the most transformation — confidence in public spaces, better pitch delivery skills, an 18% increase in financial decision making, and 9.5% higher entrepreneurial thinking than the control group.
All of this — at just ₹45.33 (~$0.52) per student. A high-impact, low-cost model built for scale.
Reap Benefit in Media
Goals for FY 2025-26
Our goals aren’t new. They followed naturally from what we’ve learned over the years. This year, we aim to build on that foundation to deepen civic action, expand access, and support every young person who chooses to solve.
1. 64,000 Solve Ninjas to invest 40–50 hours of grassroots action through our tech platforms
Our hypothesis is simple: if a young person solves for 40–50 hours a year, and does it for three years, the mindset shift becomes irreversible.
2. Nurture 150 Civic Leaders to take the mission forward
Over three years, we’ll identify and invest in 150 youth who are ready to lead with purpose — whether they rise from within or join laterally.
3. Changemaker Portfolio to become a one-stop solution for youth incentives
From mentoring to seed funds, we’re reimagining how we support 2,000+ Solve Ninjas — with tools and networks that grow with them.
Behind every number is a young person who stopped waiting — and started acting.
Let’s build with them.