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Today, Atma held a farewell lunch for Atma volunteer Jay. Jay came to Atma from Hong Kong and has been volunteering with Atma Graduated Partner CHIP over the past three months. Stay tuned for Jay’s blog post about his Atma experience!

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In 2010 Emily Quinan came to India for the first time from Canada on an AIESEC internship to teach as a volunteer at a school for children with special needs in Kerala. Through this experience, Emily glimpsed the challenges faced by the NGO sector in India. She also realized that although teaching for a short period was a rewarding experience, her time in Kerala didn’t have a long term impact on the NGO or the community.

So, when Emily graduated with a BA in psychology from McGill University, she began looking for a way to engage in capacity building that would have a more lasting impact. “I was drawn to what Atma does because I realised that there are so many NGOs in India that aren’t running to the best of their ability,” said Emily Quinan of her initial attraction to working with Atma.  Emily saw the potential of NGOs to facilitate change, but also observed that organisations often need someone to devote their time and expertise to take projects ahead. Emily was also looking for an opportunity to gain professional experience and use her expertise in the field of education. Before coming to India, Emily had done significant research in the fields of special education, effective motivation and praise, and teaching methods for children with special needs. Based on her research in the Interpersonal Relationships lab and Language and Memory lab at McGill,her background working with children with learning difficulties and her interest in curriculum design, Emily was paired with Atma Partner CHILDReach to develop an English Curriculum for children with learning difficulties.

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Virginia Tarozzi came to Atma after spending 5 months travelling in Latin America, the US and South East Asia. She was looking for a change from the life of a traveller and wanted to re-engage in the working world by contributing to a social cause. However, she was not expecting the kind of professional development experience she received from Atma. She had hoped at best to teach children and feel good about a short-term impact. However, she found herself engaged in work that stimulated her creatively and challenged her professionally. With a Master’s degree in Fundraising and many years of work experience including fundraising at Oxfam Ireland, Virginia found a good fit for her background in a marketing role with Atma partner, The Foundation for Mother and Child Health (FMCH).

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Photograph by Annemarijn Boersma

Atma Graduated Partner CHIP works in BMC schools in Mumbai to improve the whole experience of each student, focusing on classroom infrastructure and educational offerings. CHIP is currently expanding its team: they are looking for dynamic, motivated professionals to work in the areas of accounting, office administration and resource management. Write to CHIP at chip.mumbai@gmail.com for full job descriptions.

Atma volunteers come from all over the world to undertake specific projects with measureable, concrete outcomes for Atma and our partner NGOs. The profile of an Atma volunteer is a proactive, independent professional who is an excellent communicator. The Atma volunteership is an opportunity to use professional skills in the development sector, which shapes the lives of thousands of children by laying a solid foundation in quality education.

Volunteering with Atma is a way to learn and engage with the NGO sector on the ground in Mumbai and offer concrete skills towards a specific project and goal. This results in a significant personal and professional development experience. Atma reached out to a few of our former volunteers to see how their professional development experience with Atma has changed their life paths.

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After finishing her BA in International Business, Simran Daryanani began considering working in the field of development. She knew that her classroom studies could only take her so far, and was looking for an opportunity to use her skills on the ground and gain professional experience. Her search for real hands-on social sector experience brought her to Atma.

In April, Simran finished a six-month Atma volunteership. Simran assisted with organisational development at Atma’s newest partner, the Foundation for Mother and Child Health (FMCH).FMCH aims to improve early childhood development by providing underprivileged communities with health and nutrition education as well as interventions such as clinics and nutrition supplement programs.

Photo by Jacek Rezsko

At FMCH, Simran found a challenging volunteer opportunity: one that allowed her to truly work on the ground in the strategic planning and programs of an NGO.

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Photo by a CHILDReach Volunteer

This boy is a student at Atma Partner CHILDReach school in Santacruz. CHILDReach is a school that focuses on meeting the needs of students with learning difficulties that range from dyslexia to disgraphia and ADHD.

In the 21^st century, every organization is tapping into new media channels to promote and grow their businesses. New media strategy is now an integral part of an organization’s positioning and development. Recently, NGOs have also been harnessing the power of social media: to spread their mission and vision, and to engage supporters. Does social media for NGOs work in the same way that it does for corporate companies? Katya Ponkratova, a former Mosaic intern and current Atma volunteer, says it does.

“Google Adwords and Search Engine Optimisation are used by for-profit companies. The same model can be embraced and interpreted differently for NGOs.”

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CHIP became an Atma Graduated Partner this April, after completing 3 years of educational collaboration and learning with Atma. The Atma-CHIP relationship will evolve as CHIP joins the Atma Graduated Partners Program and Atma continues to play an advisory role in CHIP’s continuous growth and development.

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“I wondered if I would encounter resistance from management when it came to the direction of the organisation,” said Viren about his initial Atma volunteership expectations.

“However, the partner organization founders Chris and Krishna were very supportive of the ideas I had for the future of Reality Tours.”

Photo by Bronwyn McBride

Atma works in collaborative partnerships with Mumbai-based NGOs working in education, supporting their growth through consultancy, trainings and advocacy, and with professional volunteers like Viren.

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