NGO: Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra

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NGO: Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra

Background:

Established in 1952, Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra is a service organization dedicated to the empowerment and education of tribal populations in Jharkhand state. The organization coordinates a number of educational, health, and economic development programs to uplift the janjati and promote literacy, economic advancement, and general well-being.

IDRF Partner Since: 2002

Focus Area: Education

Location: Jharkhand

Project Title: Ekal Vidyalaya

Details:

Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra supports nearly 500 Ekal Vidyalayas, also known as one-teacher schools. These schools are extremely important in rural remote areas of Jharkhand where access to quality education is virtually non-existent.

NGO: Upakar, USA

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NGO: Upakar, USA

Upakar is an exclusive voluntary organization based in DC metro area.  It’s an organization focused on providing financial assistance to high-achieving Indian-American scholars in the United States.

IDRF partner since: 2003

  • Focus Area: Education
  • Location:  DC-Maryland-Virginia, United States
  • Project Title: University Scholarships
  • Details:  IDRF has been continuously supporting Upakar to provide scholarships to bright, second-generation Indians in USA with acute financial problems. Since its inception, the organization has awarded scholarships to high school students going to college in order to ensure awardees are able to receiving a quality university education. IDRF is one of the top corporate sponsors of Upakar and contributed more than $ 32,000 to be awarded as scholarships.

Please click on the link to learn more about Upakar.
http://www.upakarfoundation.org/

NGO: Swa-Roopwardhinee

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NGO: Swa-Roopwardhinee

Swa-Roopwardhinee is a social service organization that promotes the integrated development of students through a variety of educational activities and programs, including vocational training, a self-study center, a Montessori school, a coaching center to prepare students for university exams, and women’s empowerment programs. It was founded in 1979 with a mission to enrich the latent qualities of young, intelligent and capable children of society without any discrimination based on caste, color and creed. It is a place where future leaders are continually nurtured by providing hope, care and loving kindness through different types of informal activities and projects.

IDRF partner since: 1997

  • Focus Area: Education
  • Location: Pune, Maharashtra
  • Project Title: Mobile Science Laboratory Expansion (completed), Scholarship fund for brilliant but needy children, and Integrated Development Centers and Patient-Assistant Courses
  • Details:  In 1996, Swa-Roopwardhinee initiated a Mobile Laboratory Program to provide educational programs focused on science – a subject that was found to be in great deficit in many of the current local educational institutions. As a result of this program, both students and teachers are seeing much greater use for the integration of the sciences in education.
    IDRF and Swa-Roopwardhinee have been working together for two decades on Mobile Science Laboratory. Their goal has been to empower slum/rural children and youth through education and vocational training including coaching for various competitive exams. Till date, the Mobile Laboratory and All Round Rural Development project, has helped 12,000 students to complete High School education and teachers have received practical training.
    IDRF and Swa-Roopwardhini also aim towards identifying and developing future leaders among school-going children from different strata of the society. IDRF supports Swa-Roopwardhini in running 16 Integrated Child Development Centers in various parts of Pune, wherein more than 800 selected students are benefitting. These centers are mostly situated near areas where mostly deprived sections of the society live. 200+ college-going youth volunteers, who themselves are from these deprived communities, help administer these centers. These after-school evening centers run throughout the year and provide study tours, residential camps, leadership training and coaching for competitive exams by professional experts and retired teachers.
    IDRF is also supporting the Patient Assistant Courses for strengthening girls’ self-reliance and financial stability in the rural areas of Pune. Many girls from underprivileged communities are not encouraged to pursue education and forced to drop off during high school. Several are married off at a young age, leaving them financially dependent and vulnerable to dowry demands and harassment by alcoholic family members. Swa-Roopwardhinee has been successfully running this Patient-Assistant course for 23 years (recognized by Tilak Maharashtra University, Pune). More than 1,164 economically and socially disadvantaged girls have gained quality technical education and gotten jobs at hospitals and nursing homes. These girls are now earning decent livelihood and able to provide a life of dignity for themselves and their families.

    Unique Housing Solution: Many parents are reluctant to let their daughters travel alone or stay in urban areas to attend training programs. A unique feature of this project is that, the training program is being brought to villages to offer safe housing for participants. Girls from tribal areas, remote interior villages around the backwater and hilly areas can also attend this program as a result.

Patient-Assistant Nursing program participants

Please click on the link to know more about Swa-Roopwardhini’s programs.

http://swaroopwardhinee.org/ 

NGO: Sri Sivananda Samskrita Veda Agama Mahavidyalaya

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NGO: Sri Sivananda Samskrita Veda Agama Mahavidyalaya

Background:

An Ashram for abandoned and neglected young boys.

IDRF Partner Since: 2006

Focus Area: Education

Location: Bapujinagar, Bangalore

Project Title: Boys Ashram

Details:

IDRF has partnered with Sivanda Samskrita Veda Agama, to help support the costs associated with housing and educating the boys of the Ashram. Additionally, IDRF is currently helping the organization support 25 girls at the Kodehalli Orphanage near Bangalore.

Students in multi-media room

NGO: Sri Ram Gram Vikas Samiti

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NGO: Sri Ram Gram Vikas Samiti

Sri Ram Gram Vikas Samiti is an educational nonprofit, dedicated to providing quality, accessible education to children in rural villages with little formal infrastructure.

IDRF partner since: 1990

  • Focus Area: Education
  • Location: Nagauri Village, Meerut District, Uttar Pradesh
  • Project Title: Savitri Soni Vidya Mandir Inter College (Nagauri School)
  • Details:  The Savitri Soni Vidya Mandir Inter College began as one man’s dream to give back to his home! With IDRF’s vision and development strategy, the dream of an NRI to have a school in his native village could be fulfilled.
    In the beginning…the school faced tremendous opposition from villagers who believed once the children got educated, they would leave the village. The school had a modest start with two rooms, two teachers, a hand‐pump and no electricity, and provided free education to the children. Within a few years, school bought an old tractor trolley, as it could not afford a school bus. Soon, the tractor trolley had to make two trips to take the children to school. In order to save time for the students, IDRF was finally financed school bus. Now, the children from even further off wanted to attend this school, as its reputation spread. In order to provide education to more and more children, every few years IDRF financed more buses, now totalling to five.
    By now, the school expanded beyond Class 10th to include Classes 11th and 12th. Previously IDRF funding could not support education beyond Class 10th and the students were required to enrol elsewhere in order to continue their education. However, due to the villagers’ concerns about the safety of girls traveling far, IDRF initially funded private classes for them beyond Class 10th. Eventually the enthusiasm of the villagers and availability of funds through IDRF has resulted in housing the senior classes within the school premises. The multi‐storied school building has all facilities, including science laboratories, a state‐of‐the‐art auditorium and faculty apartments. Recently, IDRF grants enabled the school to build a computer lab to impart computer education and skills among the students, smart class equipment to improve teaching and wrestling Hall.

This video shows the fulfillment of the NRI’s dream to have a school in his native village.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJnW32q924Y&t=67s. The Success of IDRF’s vision and development strategy is reflected by the fact that today around 1,000 students from 30 villages are brought by 5 buses. Students of this school perform better in state board exams compared to other schools in the region. The operational costs of the school are now met by the same villagers who opposed the idea of having a school more than two decades ago.

Students in multi-media room

Students in Chemistry-Physics lab

NGO: Society for the Integrated Development of the Himalayas (SIDH)

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NGO: Society for the Integrated Development of the Himalayas (SIDH)

Background:

SIDH is a social service organization dedicated to providing holistic education to local children and youth in the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. SIDH currently operates 11 schools from pre-primary to high school level, serving hundred of children from 40 villages in the local area. The organization also offers youth courses, teacher training, educational research, advocacy, and publication units.

IDRF Partner Since: 2013

Focus Area: Education

Location: Mussoorie, Uttarakhand

Project Title: Gyan Kendra

Details:

Through Gyan Kendra, an educational center in Mussoorie, SIDH coordinates programs and seminars to understand the role of indigenous languages and traditional knowledge in the social systems of villages. SIDH also provides youths with fellowships to work and research in the areas of health, organic farming and traditional knowledge systems.

 

Skill building and training program for LILA Fellows.

Lila Girls from Wardha in a training class

Please click on https://www.lilapoonawallafoundation.com/  to know more about how Lila Poonawalla Foundation champions the significant cause of promoting girl’s education and women empowerment

NGO: Shiksha Bharati

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NGO: Shiksha Bharati

Shiksha Bharati is an educational institution that is devoted to the cause of the empowerment of girls. Shiksha Bharati runs and operates a Central Board of Secondary Education (C.B.S.E.) accredited senior secondary school (up to Grade 12th) on a 20-acre education campus. Tribal Girls’ Education and Hostel Facility, Vocational Training Centermpus, some 65 kilometers east of New Delhi. This school provides innovative and holistic education by utilizing a rigorous curriculum. The program combines academics with physical, moral, spiritual, and cultural development to empower these girls and prepare them to become financially independent to lead a life of dignity.

IDRF partner since: 2001

  • Focus Area: Education,Women Empowerment and Eco-friendly Development
  • Location: Hapur, Uttar Pradesh
  • Project Title: Tribal Girls Education and Hostel Facility
  • Details:  IDRF has been working with Shiksha Bharati to provide free education to underprivileged tribal girls who are unable to access basic education in their states. Girls from the Northeast region and other states like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Ladakh are selected by Vidya Bharati and sent to Shiksha Bharati for schooling. An IDRFsupported hostel-Banwasi Chhatrawas with the capacity to house 100 girls operates within the campus of the Srimati Brahma Devi Saraswati Balika Vidya Mandir. IDRF and Shiksha Bharati provide free boarding, lodging, and travel to all girls residing here. The hostel includes a media room, library, game room, and a room for judo practice.

After completing their education some of the girls have returned to their native places, where they teach local girls, thus, contributing to breaking the cycle of gender discrimination and poverty in their communities.

The education of tribal girls at Shiksha Bharati can be supported through two distinct funds:

  1. Endowment Fund: a one-time donation of $ 10,000 endows one permanent educational seat, in perpetuity
  2. Annual Support: an annual donation of $ 550 per girl

Your donation will provide food, clothing, lodging, school supplies, medical expenses, utility charges, etc. The tuition, educational expenses, and counselors will be supported by partner Shiksha Bharati.

At present, 66 students are living at the IDRF Tribal Girls’ Hostel. To fill the hostel’s capacity of 100 students, and to educate girls belonging to economically disadvantaged backgrounds, we need your support! Your donation for educating a girl will give her financial independence allowing her to lead a life of dignity and self-respect.

IDRF also supports the higher education of these girls once they complete their schooling. The girls are also helped by IDRF volunteers with language skills, counseling, and guidance for college and higher studies. 

 Skill development and vocational training for IDRF-hostel girls and marginalized women

To improve their employability skills, students at the IDRF Hostel and other local marginalized women, are offered free computer and tailoring courses at the “Monica Gautam Vocational Training Center” named in memory of the late sister of an IDRF donor.  The training center is located on the education campus of Shiksha Bharati in Hapur.

 

Students at the IDRF Tribal Girls’ Hostel

Hostel students are also provided computer literacy

Girls learn various vocational activities while living at the hostel

Please click on the link to learn more about Shiksha Bharati https://www.shikshabharati.com/

NGO: Rashtrothanna Parishat

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NGO: Rashtrothanna Parishat

Background:

Rashtrothanna Parishat is a wide-reaching social services organization, whose activities span from the focus areas of education, to health, cultural programs, and rural development. The organization’s programs are primarily intended to benefit the disadvantaged of Karnataka state.

IDRF Partner Since: 2000

Focus Area: Education

Location: Bangalore, Karnataka

Project Title: TAPAS Training

Details:

TAPAS is a join initiative of Rashtrotthana Parishat and BASE – a well-regarded student training organization. The objective of the project is to provide free formal pre-University education and IIT Entrance training for a period of two years to deserving and underprivileged students from Karnataka. IDRF’s support of this project also extends to the provision of food and hostel facilities for beneficiaries.

NGO: Nayantara Memorial Charitable Trust

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NGO: Nayantara Memorial Charitable Trust

Nayantara Memorial Charitable Trust (NMCT), a public charitable trust, has worked since 2002, to extend a helping hand towards the deprived and the destitute. NMCT was established to carry out sustainable development programs to empower and engage the Santhal Tribe of Chaupahari jungle, Birbhum, West Bengal. This tribal population is amongst the poorest and most disadvantaged section of the society and over the years NMCT has been working in the field of Education, Basic Health care, and Livelihood in order to bring about an integrated development.

IDRF partner since: 2013

  • Focus Area: Education
  • Location:  West Bengal,Rajasthan
  • Project Title:  Student Scholarships
  • Details:  The core purpose of NMCT is to change the plight of the tribes who do not have control over their own lives, by empowering them with tools and trainings that are necessary for shaping their own destiny. NMCT currently provides vocational training in a number of disciplines, scholarships for disadvantaged students, trainings on safe drinking water and proper hygiene practices, as well as a number of other programs.
    IDRF has worked with NMCT to provide university scholarships to a number of promising students enrolled in prestigious engineering programs. IDRF has also been able to support several tribal girls (first generation learners) by providing them with free tutorial facilities through short stay sessions at Nayantara premises. Most of these students have been able to appear for 10th grade State Board Exams and intend to make a difference in their lives.

Students in a Vocational Training Class

Please click on the link to learn more about Nayantara Memorial Charitable Trust’s projects.
http://nayantaratrust.com/

NGO: Maharaja Agrasen Technical Education Society

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NGO: Maharaja Agrasen Technical Education Society

Background:

Created in 1998 by a number of professionals, businessmen, and other supporters, committed to education in the field of technology, Maharaja Agrasen Technical Education Society operates a number of educational institutions committed to this endeavor.

IDRF Partner Since: 2014

Focus Area: Education

Location: Himachal Pradesh

Project Title: Auditorium/Sports Facility Construction

Details:

IDRF is currently supporting Maharaja Agrasen’s expansion project, which includes the construction of an auditorium and sports facility for student use.