We received 49 grant applications - 41 for Direct Service Delivery and 08 for Capacity Building. Following the Grant Selection Committee recommendations, five organizations were selected for funding - two for Direct Service Delivery and three for Capacity Building.
Profiles of REACH India's North Karnatana NGO Grantees:
| 1. | Agastya International Foundation [Direct Service grantee] |
| Agastya will replicate in Raichur district of Karnataka, its innovative education project that it is implementing in Chittoor and Cuddapah districts of Andhra Pradesh. Under the project, Agastya will implement a multi-pronged strategy comprising mobile labs, science fairs, science centres and teacher training to spark interest in learning among disadvantaged children.
The organization focuses on science since it believes that science can be a gateway to catalyzing children’s interest in learning as well as spreading the scientific temper among India’s poor. Through this project Agastya will reach out to 21,700 children and 1,105 teachers in remote rural areas of the district. |
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| 2. | Akshara Foundation [Capacity Building Grantee] |
| As part of the REACH India program in Karnataka, Akshara will adapt its tested 45-day Accelerated Learning Program in Math and English for at-risk children. In-school children who are slow learners will first be taught through the 45-day learning module approach which will be followed by a learning program aimed at ensuring comprehension and retention of skills learned in the first phase. For out-of-school children, centres will operate on flexible schedules and once children attending these centres attain a certain level of competency they would be given the option of joining formal school or taking an open school exam.
To implement this project Akshara intends to work with eight local organizations in six districts of North Karnataka. Each of the identified partner organizations will work with Self Help Groups (SHGs) and parent organizations at the village level. Akshara intends to involve SHGs in owning and monitoring various programs implemented at the village level. The project aims to reach 9600 children - 6400 in-school children and 3200 out of school children. |
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| 3. | The Teacher Foundation [Capacity Building Grantee] |
| The Teacher Foundation (TTF) uses a practitioner approach to provide teacher support and professional development. In this project, TTF will not only directly train and support school teachers but also enable four NGOs in Raichur and Gulbarga districts to be better equipped in terms of infrastructure and human resources to effectively deliver education services.
The core team members of the NGOs will undergo a train-the-trainer course along with recently recruited TTF trainers. The sub-grantees will shadow TTF facilitators during the direct training phase. This will be the start of developing the professional capacity of the local NGOs, whose core competency may not be education. While preliminary work for capacity-building would begin in the first year, the concerted Capacity Building of the four sub-grantee NGOs will commence in the second year of the project. They will be trained for offering education-related services to local school teachers, at-risk children and the community. The training would focus on classroom observation, mentoring and self reflection, designing and conducting heads and master trainers’ training and methodologies of research and evaluation of training. TTF will cover a total of 7500 children and 500 teachers in the duration of the project. |
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| 4. | Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) [Capacity Building Grantee] |
| SVYM will partner with 10 NGOs to provide quality education to disadvantaged children in Bijapur, Raichur and Bagalkot districts of North Karnataka. Capacity building of these NGOs in management and technical training on education will be undertaken. The program will seek to build capacities in several areas including grant administration, project management, financial accounting and management, community mobilization, building partnerships, documentation, monitoring and evaluation, quality education, assessment techniques, life skills education, child rights, use of mass campaign materials, and gender and equity issues. The project will also support its sub-grantees in working with government schools and centres, School Development and Monitoring Committees (SDMC), and Panchayats.
Each NGO will prepare education intervention plans detailing strategy, project philosophy, activities and a project calendar. Under the project, SVYM will cover 10,000 children. |
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| 5. | Tropical Research and Development Centre (TRDC) [Direct Service Delivery Grantee] |
| In order to reduce the high incidence of child labour in Haveri district, TRDC will run bridge schools for children engaged in work and labour so that they are able to enter the school system and get mainstreamed in the formal education system. Also, the NGO proposes to provide supplementary education to slow learners and mainstreamed working children to help them remain in school.
TRDC’s approach to getting child labour and school dropouts into school will include a variety of interventions including organizing awareness drives for parents, implementing local development programs for children and their communities, working with school authorities and school betterment committees and the education department. In addition to this, the organization will build the capacities of primary school teachers, SDMC members and community leaders on child rights and school management. The project will reach out to 2500 children. |