Top 5 lessons a non-profit can learn from the Indian elections

The new Government of India was sworn in yesterday with much fanfare. The election results this year have broken precedents, surpassed expectations, and proven the election pundits wrong. 

The astounding win for a single party shows that it has done many things right and we can get some insightful takeaways from its strategy.

#1] Your work will speak not just your image

The last government of 10 years didn't do substantial work and received the voter’s ire. All efforts to give its image a face-lift by announcing popular employment and welfare schemes with constant advertising didn't work in its favour.

So whether your non-profit is 10 years old with many celebrity endorsements or you are a 10 month old start-up your work on the ground will give you the credibility NOT glossy photos or attractive advertising alone.

People will see through the claims in the long run.

#2] Have measurable and verifiable outcomes

Simply saying "we have done a lot to improve the country or we had projects that potentially could benefit millions" DOESN'T WORK. Sorry.

For a NGO having quantifiable outcomes that are verifiable and sustainable are critical for long term success. For instance- If you claim to benefit 1700 students in 20 schools please indicate how one can arrive at those figures.Be Genuine. 

#3] Spread the word about what you do

One of the possible reasons given by the outgoing government for their failure was lack of communication on their part about the work done during their regime.

        The most successful non-profits worldwide have a well-thought and strategic policy to communicate effectively about their initiatives, projects, impact stories and challenges. Unless you tell people what you plan to do and how they can participate ,How do you expect them to come on board?
Use social functions, parties, luncheons to tell people about the cause you are supporting. 

Many people what to do something beneficial for the society,but don't know how. Why don't you tell them to join you?

Today communication has become better, faster, and cheaper than ever thanks to the social media. 

So to be a well-known non-profit and increase your donor & volunteers base you should leverage social media effectively. 

As they say communication is the key!

#4] Take everyone together

Networking and synergy may be the buzzwords. But does your organisation put them to practise? Working with people from different backgrounds with varied strengths and beliefs isn't easy but the more people you have on board the better you can delegate and divide tasks. 

   The key is to find common ground and common purpose for what you do.  Networking with like-minded individuals and other non-profits is essential to build a collective voice to make change happen. Thus taking public representatives and government officials on board with what you are doing will help change the system from the inside. 

Confrontation should be replaced by cooperation.

Forming strong alliance ahead of elections was one of the contributory factors of success for the current government. Network..get more people on board.

#5] Be Humble and persevere

Humility and Honesty are still one of sort after factors in any organisation (and individuals).However old and successful history an organisation may have but its future will be linked to its current projects and impact. It should be remembered that bringing about a systemic change isn't an easy and quick process it takes time, efforts and perseverance.

  One mustn't loose heart when one fails and one mustn't let success go to the head either. 

The people didn't give a mandate to a government that was too arrogant to listen to their opinion. 

Cheers!

Richa_CACR

The author is a team member of Citizens Association of Child Rights, a non-profit working to improve the quality of education and functioning of public schools in India.

Dealing with Disability in Our Schools

The quote above truly explains the mission behind the project that Citizens Associations for Child rights has undertaken with ADAPT (Able Disabled All People Together). Inclusive education for disabled and special children is a must in all public schools of India as per RTE-Right to Education Act. 

Moreover, the more awareness we create on the issue of dealing with disability the more people we involve in the process of inclusive nation building. 

Few days ago in order to sensitize and educate the school head masters (principals) and administrative 'Beat officers', ADAPT (formerly known as Spastic Society Of India) conducted a training session.
Mrs. Sharmila Donde from ADAPT gives a brief description about the program :

 "On 21^st, 22^nd and 25^th April 2014 ADAPT in collaboration with CACR (Citizen’s Association for Child Rights) conducted Sensitization and Awareness Program for 1250 Principals and 125 Beat Officers of Municipal Schools. The program was conducted at the BMC Education office, Dadar,Mumbai  over three days with 2 batches of three hours daily. Each batch was attended by 250 participants.

School Principals listen to the insights given by the expert

The content included :

• Introduction to Inclusion, 
• Inclusion and Social model, 
• Experiencing Disability,
•  Preparation for Inclusion and
•  Simple classroom strategies for inclusion and Concessions for Children with disabilities. 

The sessions were interactive where lot of personal experiences were shared.  The principals asked queries about CWD in their schools. Film‘Mil Jul ke’ was also screened during the program. The participants were given handbooks on Inclusion in Marathi. Pre-session and post-session questionnaires were filled by the participants.

ADAPT Representative interacting with the school Head Masters 

The program was well appreciated by the principals. Some of them personally came and expressed that the program has created awareness and changed their attitude towards persons and students with disabilities.

We hope to have many such educational and awareness programs in future with CACR and education authorities. "

Write up by our Partners ADAPT (Mrs.Sharmial Donde)

Happy Faces and Bright Smiles..My Volunteering Experience

Happy Faces and Eager Eyes awaited our return each time-

"Teacher when will you come again. We all will wait for you", said a 12 year old in his enthusiastic voice.
 All of us volunteering for the Computer Literacy project were motivated and moved by witnessing  the drive of these small kids going to Municipal schools to learn from us.
Even though they came from poor background without access to technology, their desire to pick up a new skill was far reaching. 

Citizens Association for Child rights also got student volunteers from H R College of Commerce and Economics on board to volunteer in this initiative. 

Saachi Jain Jaiswal, Director of Enactus H.R College of Commerce and Economics and also our esteemed volunteer, shares her account of implementing the Computer literacy program in BMC schools

The Beginning

"Collaboration of CACR with Enactus H.R College provided a new experience not only for me but also for other students of my college. Working in the D.N Nagar municipal school and teaching children of 6th and 7th standard computer literacy was an enriching experience.

To see them understand and comprehend what was being taught,to empower them with computer literacy so that they could improve their future, and the feeling of self satisfaction for investing energy and time trying to make all this happen was truly gratifying for me.

A wonderful experience and a step towards an educated India!

The Rationale'

Computer Literacy is really important in today’s world. Before teaching these students, we attended a training sesion to understand the entire process of executing this program in schools. This session happened in the premises of my college and was truly enriching and fun. I was confident enough to go right ahead and teach these students. 

The first day was surprising because my assumption that these kids had no idea about computers was proven wrong.Lot of the students knew about power point /excel,but when it came to executing and working on the computers, they hesitated as their practical experience was limited. They weren’t sure which keys were used for what purpose.

So How was it done?

I conducted the training, three days in a row in the DN Nagar Municipal School. 

Day 1:

We started off with the basics of computers- for example the start button, the keyboard, desktop and so on. The students took keen interest and wrote down notes as we continued further into the class. We also conducted a small quiz session where the students were awarded chocolates for correct answers. We tried to make the session as interesting as possible.

Day 2:

We went a little deeper, trying to explain how to cut, copy, paste,and also some of the most important uses of word document. As the video continued, we would sometimes pause and explain to them in greater detail and also do some practice on the word document so that they understand better.

Day 3:

A practical session was conducted wherein all the students were taken to the computer labs and asked to execute step-by-step all that they had learnt.

We guided them at every step and also let them try out new things. We set a format in which they executed each and everything that they had learnt in the previous two days.

This session was a success and the students were excited to learn more. 

This initiative by CACR is truly wonderful as it is empowering the youth. These learnings will give the children a better tomorrow and a better future. Computer has become mandatory and need for the day. Even a normal job requires the basic understanding of computers.

 

HR College volunteers training students in Basic IT Skills at DN Nagar school 

A brilliant project by CACR that will truly transform the future of these children.All is needed is the right support and enthusiasm.

I am proud to be a part of such an initiative and hope to continue working towards its goal. "

Thanks,

Saachi J. Jaiswal 

H R college of Commerce and Economics 

From Mumbai to Sikkim..how education & schools differ

Since the last 6/7 years, when I started as a CRY volunteer to anchoring Mumbaiites for Child Rights (M4CR) and finally deciding to go ahead and starting my NGO Citizens Association for Child Rights(CACR),  there has not been a single day probably, when I have not spent a few hours thinking, discussing, meeting people from different walks of life and trying to sensitise them on issues related to condition of our municipal schools in Mumbai, meeting or talking to the hierarchy of the BMC Education Department, etc.

Even a holiday with my family did not allow my mind to rest, since on my way from Bagdogra to Gangtok, i was discussing with my taxi driver about the accessibility of government schools to the local children, and whether there were sufficient schools as mandated under the RTE Act, etc.
Surprisingly the taxi driver took a great deal of interest in trying to understand some of the important clauses of the RTE Act....and shared with me some very useful information like the Government Schools are managed by the State Education Department in Sikkim and not the local corporation and I was amazed.
It was a lesson for me that we should never underestimate the knowledge and understanding of people who might not be educated or qualified enough by way of degrees, etc.which they probably could not pursue due to various circumstances beyond their control...


Even when I was moving around various sightseeing places in Gangtok including a visit to the very beautiful destination of Nathula Pass, at a height of almost 14,000 feet, snow clad mountains and the proud fluttering of our Indian flag, very close to the Chinese border, there was this restless feeling and I had to request my family members to allow me the time and space to visit the State Education Department of Sikkim.
I just walked into the Office of the State Education Department and surprisingly was very well received and welcomed by the Director and Deputy Director of Primary Education as well as the Director of Secondary Education.
They were very co-operative and we had very good discussions and sharing of information on the functioning of the primary and secondary schools, managed by the Government of Sikkim, with close to 1,20,000 children enrolled in almost 350 schools.
We could discuss various important clauses of the RTE and its implementation, the mid day meal programme which is working very well and children getting good variety of meals every day including eggs occasionally.

Highlight of our discussions was the fact that they were extremely keen to know more about the IIT Computer Literacy Programme initiated by our NGO in BMC schools and she was more than happy to connect with the IIT Resource Team from Mumbai to take things forward.
I felt extremely happy with their response, since if the programme is implemented well in Government Schools in Sikkim, it will probably benefit almost 80,000 children enrolled in these schools...
This strengthens my belief that NGOs working within the framework and supplementing the efforts of authorities will make a much larger and sustainable impact.

After a very nice meeting with the authorities, I also had an opportunity to visit a Boarding School for orphan children, managed by a NGO Human Development Foundation of Sikkim, and once again it was a pleasure to interact with the Trustees of the NGO, who are doing a FANTASTIC Job in managing the school following CBSE curriculum with support from donors.

There are almost 400 children from all over the State of Sikkim, enrolled in this school.
While leaving I assured the trustees that we will try to help them by sending them information on the Computer Literacy as well as the Spoken English Programme soon and  the smile on their faces expressing their gratitude was the best thing that I will always remember.

These few hours spent well definitely made my holidays much more pleasurable giving me a very good feeling for the rest of my trip back home.

Nitin_CACR