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On 2nd May 2012, Dharavi had a high profile visitor.

(Image Courtesy: Reality Gives)

During his one-week visit in India, His Royal Highness, Prince Andrew, Duke of York came to see Dharavi, one of Asia’s biggest slums. He came to learn about the benefits and challenges of industry, the issues related to vernacular medium schools in Mumbai, and how art programs are allowing children to explore themselves and their worlds in Dharavi.

The Royal Highness chose to visit Dharavi with Reality Tours and Travel, an ethical tour company to learn more about the strengths and issues of the slum community as well as to see the impact of the social programs run by Reality Gives, its sister NGO. Since 2006, Reality Tours and Travels has run educational tours through Dharavi to break down negative stereotypes about its residents and raise social awareness. Eighty percent of its profits go towards Reality Gives, an NGO founded to provide social services requested by the community. Reality Gives is an Atma partner providing services in education and extra-curricular activities such as arts and sports with the goal of personal and community development for the residents of Dharavi.

Summer Starr,Executive Director at Reality Gives said,“We spoke with Prince Andrew about our art program and our work English support for vernacular schools.It was an honor to host the Prince and explain the work we are doing to raise social awareness about Dharavi as well as the work we are doing in the community.”

A huge congratulations to Reality Gives from Atma on a successful Royal visit.

To learn more, visit the Reality Gives Blog.

Over the past year, Reality Gives has expanded their school programming to teach English in vernacular schools that teach in Marathi. Their pilot school is Kala Kila Marathi medium school, located in Dharavi.

Reality Gives is an Atma Partner organisation that works to support and connect projects to improve the quality of life for people in their communities. Reality Gives currently works in Dharavi, running a Youth Empowerment Program for young adults and a progressive kindergarten for children.

Reality Gives has taken over the English classes at Kala Kila for standards 1 and 2. In place of the regular BMC English classes, Reality Gives teachers are teaching English to about 250 students in total.

“Our English programming has been designed to make learning active and experiential. At Kala Kila, we have adopted the Marathi syllabus and qualitative evaluation processes based on Right to Education norms and are seeing great results. It has been a great journey for our teachers in the teaching-learning process and we have managed to enrich the syllabus in ways that engage the students.” Summer Starr, Reality Gives Executive Director

Reality Gives is looking to expand their community interventions and will be taking on Standard 3 at Kala Kila as well as Standard 1 at a local Urdu school in the next academic year. Reality Gives’ goal is to mobilize resources and quality educational programs for more children and young adults. Working in conjunction with the BMC and local schools will provide that opportunity, allowing Reality Gives to scale their programs across the many existing schools in the Dharavi area and reach out to exponentially more children.

Rabiya is 12 years old, and the best English student in her class. Since becoming a student at CHILDReach, an Atma Partner school, Rabiya has been able to excel in subjects that were previously inaccessible to her. This is because CHILDReach offers Rabiya a classroom environment and specialized attention that supports her unique learning style.

Photo by Neha Kumthekar (more…)

What if you could volunteer from home to support projects anywhere in the world? What if you could complete a piece of a project in 30 minutes to contribute to a larger project for an NGO like Atma based anywhere across the globe?

Professionals all over the world recognize the value of volunteering, for both personal and professional development. However, volunteer opportunities that are time consuming and require an upfront commitment aren’t accessible to everyone.

Micro-volunteering, otherwise known as virtual or e-volunteering, is defined by working online to complete specific tasks that may fall under the umbrella of a bigger project. Micro-volunteering engages individuals with skills across the areas of IT, blogging, fundraising, HR, research, design and social media. A micro-volunteer can put his or her specific technical expertise towards an NGO project, from anywhere in the world, contributing as much or as little time as they have available.

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The Foundation for Mother and Child Health India (FMCH) improves the lives of mothers and children by providing programs focused on preventative healthcare, education, and nutritional interventions to underprivileged communities. Founded in 2005 in Indonesia, FMCH believes that a child’s development in the early years of their life is a foundation for their future educational and personal development.

Malnutrition in children is the result of several factors, most of which fall under a lack of access to resources and education. A limited family income, poor knowledge of basic nutrition and hygiene practices, and limited access to medical support, safe water and proper accommodation all contribute to the issue of child malnutrition. FMCH’s mission is to tackle malnutrition in innovative ways. Through medical clinics, health talks, home visits and cooking and parenting classes, FMCH approaches early childhood development and health from multiple angles. By addressing health issues and malnutrition in pregnant women, infants and young children, and by teaching proper nutrition, they focus on the holistic development of the child and empower women to make smart health choices for their families.

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On Sunday August 7th 2011, Atma was featured in the Midday News as a leader amongst the hundreds of NGOs that participate in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon every year. The Mumbai Marathon provides a fantastic platform for fundraising and cooperation between NGOs across India. Read the complete article, or write to Bronwyn or Lisa at  marathon@atma.org.in to sign up for Mumbai’s largest community event!

An open letter from Summer Starr, Atma Partnerships Director

In 2004, I graduated from the University of Washington. Armed with a BA in International Development, I flew to Kenya to “change the world”. What I discovered was that neither I nor the organisation I went to work with were prepared to utilize my skills in the most effective manner.  As a young person with minimal work experience, I lacked the perspective and skills the organisation truly needed, and the organisation was not prepared to use the skills I did have.

In not being able to make the impact I wanted, I felt disillusioned. This experience pushed me to “step up my game”. I realized that passion was not enough: I needed to gain experience so that I could maximize my impact and contribute in a meaningful way. In addition, I needed to look for volunteer opportunities with clearly defined roles that fit my talents and expertise.

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In 2011, The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon raised 12.16 crores towards charities and NGOs across Mumbai. Through their participation in the Marathon, 138 corporate companies played a large role in the fundraising effort.

Over the past 11 years, the Marathon has grown into a fantastic event for NGOs, corporates and individuals to come together towards creating social impact. Why should a corporate company take advantage of the incredible exposure and community engagement opportunity that comes with the Race day?

Photo by Cory Goldberg

The Corporate Challenge is a category which allows corporate companies to participate in the Mumbai Marathon on behalf of a nonprofit organisation of their choice. Besides the visibility and exposure provided by the large scale event, there are multiple other benefits for corporate companies that choose to engage in the Marathon.

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Atma Partner Masoom is an NGO that focuses on illuminating Mumbai’s night schools. Night school students attend classes at night after working during the day, and must make do with fewer resources than regular students. Founded by Nikita Ketkar, an Unltd India Investee, Masoom exists to improve the classroom infrastructure and educational offerings in Mumbai night schools, allowing night school students to excel academically.

Click to learn more about Masoom and Atma’s other Partnerships.

The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is Asia’s largest marathon, and one of India’s single platforms for fundraising. [1]

In the past, the Mumbai Marathon has served as an incredible event for awareness and fundraising for NGOs across India, as well as to help showcase the social issues they address. In 2010, 107 NGOs chose to participate in the Mumbai Marathon. In 2011, 179 NGOs were registered in the Marathon, collectively raising Rs 12.16 crore. Based on the growth witnessed over the past few years, NGO involvement is expected to continue to grow exponentially.

The key to a successful Marathon campaign for any NGO is having an extensive planning process and clear goals. Preparing for the Mumbai Marathon encompasses much more than showing up on Race Day: planning requires a large investment of time and energy in marketing your cause, finding participants and corporate teams, and completing the registration processes. However, approaching the Marathon preparations in a strategic way guarantees an incredible outcome for an NGO.

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