Building Social Capital Through Mentoring Programmes At The Goa School In India

Invited Speakers: Jonathan Burton, Advisor to The Goa School and Madhuri Dass Woudenberg, Founder-Director of The Goa School The Goa School started as a social impact enterprise, with a light-touch but effective approach to building social capital in India — a country beset with inequalities as it develops into the third largest economy in the world. Some Indians have jobs, income security, housing and access to healthcare and education, while the majority of others, quite simply, do not. Those being rapidly lifted out of poverty have little access to modern, development ideas in practice, such as gender justice or sustainable living, and also lack the knowledge and networks to survive except at the fringes of society, where life continues to be a struggle. The Goa School chooses Fellows from difficult circumstances, with a penchant for changemaking, and takes them through a five-day immersion program designed to make them reflect on themselves, as well as the rights and circumstances of others, to help them design change within themselves/their community, and to participate in civic life as global citizens. The immersion program is followed by a year of 1:1 mentorship, and graduation to The Goa School HIVE Mind, an alumni group which allows for collective learning and brainstorming as well as networking across batches of Fellows, Mentors and Speakers, all of whom ‘give back’ to society by investing their knowledge and resources back into the group. The Goa School has demonstrated a mixed bag of results in three years of operation as a social impact enterprise, and is carrying its learnings into its new avatar as a public Trust. Jonathan Burton and Madhuri Dass Woudenberg will present the work of The Goa School, and gather inputs from the audience about how to sharpen their efforts to build social capital via the mentoring programme at The Goa School. About the presenters: Jonathan Burton is an advisor to The Goa School, and has orchestrated hundreds of mentoring and capacity-building interventions throughout his career, empowering communities, building international solidarity and understanding. Today he on-boards new mentors to The Goa School and follows their work, in addition to working as a part of an advisory group reporting to The Board Members of The Goa School Trust. Jonathan lives and works in Geneva, Switzerland. Madhuri Dass Woudenberg is Founder-Director of The Goa School, and brings 20 plus years of experience and connections from an international career in communications for sustainable development to each program at The Goa School, where she curates spellbinding mentoring and learning experiences for young Indian changemakers, designed to help them pursue compassionate and fulfilling lives. Madhuri lives and works in Goa, India, for a large part of the year. The webinar was on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by the International Social Capital Association https://www.intsocialcapital.org/