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Anna Hankimaa, an HR professional from Finland is finding herself both challenged and satisfied through helping Atma Partner Masoom develop their HR management & processes.

Thorough HR systems for Masoom will create a strong work force with lower staff turn-over, allowing Masoom to maximize their resources and spend more time focusing on programs. Atma has been supporting Masoom on strengthening their HR processes over the past quarter, and brought Anna in at a key time to be able to carry the development of HR documents and programs, and the implementation of new systems. Anna is a training and marketing expert, having taught marketing and worked as a consultant providing trainings. Since Anna began as an Atma Volunteer two months ago, this HR strengthening process has truly taken off. Here is Anna’s report on her experience as an Atma volunteer with Masoom.

“A challenge in the beginning is to try to understand the organisation’s culture and their way of working, thinking and collaborating. For that, you need someone from the organisation who has time to teach you and work with you. I’ve been lucky to have such a person, Lakshmi Jayakar, who knows Masoom in and out. We’ve been working as a team on this project.”

Masoom has been an Atma Partner since April 2010. When Atma volunteers are placed with partners, Atma remains a holistic support to the volunteer, allowing them to concentrate their efforts on their partner progress. The Atma Volunteer orientation ensured that Anna was well equipped to take on the HR requirements for Masoom. In addition to all the necessary information about the Atma Partner to start work there, Anna received constant aid and direction from Atma in her work with Masoom.

“I’ve worked in many organizations in the corporate and education sector, including consultancy which I think has provided me tools to do this. However, this is my very first time working in India, in the NGO sector and as a volunteer in organisations like Atma and Masoom. These factors have provided a great and enjoyable opportunity to learn.

The change that the new HR documents and programs will bring about will be seen in the coming weeks and months as the new handbooks, templates, induction programs and HR processes are being implemented. The implementation is quite concrete as there are a few new employees joining, and the processes, documents and HR responsibilities are now on ‘real life trial’. There’s definitely a learning curve, but so far, it looks good! The long term impact depends very much on consistency in adapting and following the new ways of working. I’ll be overseeing this as much as possible during March & April.

Atma has been consistent and supportive, providing a space for me to share my HR expertise with an Atma Partner who requires it. My experience with the Masoom team has also been very positive. Getting to know them has inspired me in the project since I’m working for them in trying to create structures, processes, templates that make their work more effective.  Knowing the organizational culture gives context, and hopefully has helped me to make solutions fitting to the organization’s reality. I’ve done nothing alone: everything has been through teamwork with Masoom, and especially with Lakshmi. Conversations with Lakshmi have been very fruitful, and crucial to the success of this project. The CEO’s constant feedback has been important in guiding the project. It is in the end her who makes the change happen, or not by believing in the project and requiring the organization to adapt and follow. Thus, I feel the outputs cannot be said to be provided by me although I’ve written them. The input from others has been huge!”

Atma is excited to announce the arrival of our 2010-2011 Annual Report!

Atma Annual Report 2010-2011

Our Annual Report is a broad overview of Atma’s activities and growth over the past financial year. It includes Atma Partnership updates, reports on Partner beneficiaries, and a special focus on Atma volunteers. Atma’s annual income and expenditure statements are also featured in an effort towards full transparency and disclosure.

Atma is grateful to everyone who made 2010-2011 a fantastic year for Atma and our vision of Quality Education for all children. We look forward to completing another impactful year.

Before getting into the details of my experience with Atma Graduated Partner CHIP, I feel obliged to tell you a little bit about how I caught the bug for philanthropy and volunteer work. It all started in the 12th grade when I went on a school-organized trip with my classmates. There were two components to the trip: a service/school rebuilding component and an adventure/safari component. The latter was the main selling point for me prior to the trip. However, something about spending time with the children at the school ignited a spark in me. This spark was enough for me to convince my friends to head out on a similar, but highly service oriented trip to Cambodia. AfterCambodia, the spark developed into a flame.

Going into college, service became a big part of my life on campus and I was heavily involved in a lot of social justice groups. But this wasn’t enough. I had to step it up a notch, so I decided to major in Social Entrepreneurship to look at possible career paths. It was with this goal in mind that I came to India and accepted an Atma Volunteership.

The first day I walked into the Atma office, I saw three words on a small whiteboard; ‘Sustainability’, ‘Impact,’ and ‘Scale.’ It is then that I knew that I was in the right place. Through Atma Graduated Partner CHIP, I was given the freedom to run and perfect the model of a face-to-face fundraising campaign at Hypercity, one of India’s largest hypermarkets, and was able to attend meetings with some of CHIP’s highest and most important donors. In addition to this, I was entrusted with designing a Diwali Camp program for the children at CHIP schools, developed grant proposals, designed fundraising and marketing media, and assisted in any other school-related activities. This diverse array of responsibilities gave me a holistic view of what it is like to work for and run an educational NGO, which is crucial for an aspiring Social Entrepreneur like myself. My favorite moments were whenever we counted the money raised from the CHIP fundraisers. It all comes back to one of those words on that board: ‘Sustainability.’ Money doesn’t just make the world go round, it makes the NGO sector go round. Sure, you learn about it in textbooks but to experience it first hand is something else. I never expected to be in such an intellectually and professionally stimulating environment, but Atma and CHIP definitely delivered.

The Atma Volunteer experience wasn’t just part-time volunteering: it was a valuable work experience, fostered by an intelligent, experienced, and supportive team of people who have made service their career. To be able to share an office with them and learn from them was all I asked prior to this experience. The way I see it, I got a pretty sweet deal. So would I consider doing this again? Read this article right from the top and you will realize that this question answers itself.

I’d like to thank all of the wonderful people at Atma and the CHIP office. Thanks for accepting me as part of the team. Thanks to Novela Corda, CHIP Executive Director, for giving me the freedom to be myself and do my own thing. Thanks to Summer Starr and Atma, who recruited me and facilitated my volunteership. My experience in Mumbai would be incomplete without all of you.

Amie Peiris, 18, came to Atma from Sri Lanka to do a Human Resource Management internship. Besides her month with Atma being a fantastic professional development opportunity, Amie’s HR work had some concrete impacts at Atma.

This is what Amie wrote about her Atma experience.

I was initially attracted towards Atma because of the work that they do for children and education. Though it was my first volunteering experience, there were many things that I hoped to gain from this internship. Firstly, I wanted to get some first-hand experience into Human Resource Management which is my major. Secondly, I’ll be living in India next year and I wanted to get to know a little more about the country and the educational sector.

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Photograph by Bronwyn McBride

Yesterday, Atma celebrated the work of two fantastic volunteers: Amie and Elisa. Amie from Sri Lanka has worked with Atma over the past month on HR, creating manuals and contracts. Elisa from France has been supporting Atma Partner The Foundation for Mother and Child Health in creating a workshop plan to address the dynamics of their growing organisation. We are sad to see Amie and Elisa leave us, and hope they return to Mumbai to visit!

This commentary on the Right to Education Act was written by Farida Asrani from CHILDReach and Bronwyn McBride from Atma.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act came into effect on April 1, 2010. The act serves to ensure that every child has the right and entitlement to a quality elementary education and that the State, with the help of families and communities, fulfills this obligation.

The Right to Education Act is a positive milestone for India: it aims to guarantee access to education for children for low income families and to ensure that every child completes a minimum of 8 years of schooling. However, certain sections of the Act pose challenges for schools offering alternatives to a mainstream education.

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Having worked with development NGOs in the past, I knew I was looking for a volunteer placement in education. I’ve studied education in global contexts, and wanted to get a bit of grass-roots perspective outside of Australia. The way in which Atma works in partnership with other NGOs was also attractive, as it meant that there was more scope to learn more about the industry in general.

Having never visited India before, the opportunity to work in Mumbai was too good to pass up: I finalised my travel plans and arrived in India, ready to volunteer.

One of the first things I did in Mumbai was a 3 hour tour of the Dharavi slum with Reality Tours and Travel. To see a world that is completely different to anything in Australia, so soon after my touchdown in India, made it all very real. The Dharavi tour really illustrated what volunteering with Atma is about, who it’s for, and why the work that I’d be undertaking is important.

My first week with Atma was predominantly a process of learning and being inducted into the organisation. I’ve had a lot of meetings with Summer Starr, the Atma Partnerships Director, who oversees the Searching for Goodness NGO mapping project I’m working on. This has generally outlined areas of research so that I can get up to speed with the terrain of NGO work in Mumbai.

A few meetings with Atma Partner staff have helped to get another, deeper perspective on the work. The Atma Partner initiatives are just incredibly dynamic and creative. It’s great to be around people who are so passionate about their work.

My goals as an Atma volunteer are pretty wide-ranging. The opportunity to really develop a project, as I am now with the Searching for Goodness Project, and explore the direction it can go in is a big part of the appeal. I’ll be given a lot of freedom to try and define my own solutions to challenges that arise, and present them to Summer in order to take the project forward. There are few volunteer roles in the NGO sector that give you the same degree of autonomy. It’s very refreshing. Additionally, volunteering with Atma will give me a real opportunity to see how I might enjoy a career in the sector.

So far, I’m really enjoying working with everyone at Atma. It’s a small team, but clearly works well together. It’s inspiring to see cultural issues just dealt with pretty smoothly, and usually humorously. Atma also works hard to make the learning curve as smooth as possible. They make a great effort to help you find your way around, organise your housing, provide travel advice and include you in a ready-made social circle. I really look forward to diving into this project and creating a sustained impact in the development sector in Mumbai!

I was drawn to Atma because of their professional approach. The whole application process was extremely structured, which assured me that volunteering at Atma would be valuable and the projects would be productive. Furthermore, its objective of quality education was something I wanted to work for. Keeping that in mind, I set concrete internship goals.

As a high school student, I volunteered at local orphanages: there, I would read to kids and teach them English and Hindi letters. The positive part of that volunteer work was that I got to observe children’s behaviour and interact with them. The flipside was that I could not bring about sustained change. With Atma, I looked forward to being a part of the educational program designing in working with Atma Partner CHILDReach, a school for children with learning difficulties. Here, I could take my experience in the classroom and create lasting materials that would be used even after my time at Atma was over. This would ensure that my work would have a long-term impact.

My goals from this internship were:

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Karla Kevin and Ravi Bagaria recently completed a five week Atma Volunteership. This is their Atma experience in their own words.

Ravi: After having given our Final exams for becoming Chartered Accountants, Karla and I started looking for a volunteer opportunity. We had two months in hand and wanted to utilise it to the fullest by helping non-profits with their investments, financial and tax planning.

Karla: The first thing that set Atma apart from other NGOs was the professional manner that volunteer recruitment was done. I received prompt responses to emails and we went for a meeting at the Atma office where our volunteer role were defined from the very beginning. That illustrated how much Atma values their volunteers and their resources, which was refreshing and encouraging! I instantly knew Atma would be the place where Ravi and I could make the most of the time I’d set apart for volunteer work.

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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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