makkala jagriti

ANNUAL  REPORT

2013—2014

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discover the light withindiscover the light withindiscover the light within

imagine, create, believe, becomeimagine, create, believe, becomeimagine, create, believe, become

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Makkala Jagriti was born with a purpose to ignite the inner potential of marginal-

ized children, to help them bloom into fullness and emerge as individuals with a

strong sense of self identity. Over the last ten years, hundreds of children have jour-

neyed through Makkala Jagiriti’s holistic development process and there are many

more who are waiting to get started on this journey. We, at Makkala Jagriti constantly strive to improve the lives of marginalized children

and have established a number of centres across the city to achieve this objective. As

a way forward Makkala Jagriti is transforming into an organization that works deeply

with the community as a whole. Our youth initiative, Yuva Jagriti, a culmination of

several small steps taken over the years is a shift towards the deeper communal im-

pact we want to achieve. Yuva Jagriti will create exclusive spaces for youth and their

development complementing our current facilities and initiatives for children. Mak-

kala Jagriti is also expanding with other partners in capacity building and looking for-

ward to work with different agencies in order to spread its work beyond current

boundaries.

Joy Srinivasan

Chairperson and Managing Trustee

FROM  THE  CHAIRPERSON’S  DESK

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Makkala Jagriti 4 Organizational Philosophy

Core values, Vision and Mission 5 Steps up the ladder 6

Community Learning Centers

Government Schools

Juvenile Homes

Enabling transformative change 7 Harisha’s Story

Hills to Climb

highlights 2013-2014 8 Activities and programs undertaken 9 Our people 10 Path forward 11

Systems and Processes

Programs

Voices of Makkala Jagriti 12 Partners for change 13 Financials 14

CONTENTS

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Imagine, Create, Believe, Become

Organizational Philosophy Makkala Jagriti’s organizational ethos is process driven. We strongly believe in the concept of inclusion and a child centric approach within which, children have the freedom to make their own choices and receive an education. Thus Makkala Ja-griti makes no distinction between chil-dren and accepts them all, irrespective of their background, gender and abilities, and offers them unconditional love and support. Our child centric approach and activities draw influence from various the-orists such as Maria Montessori, Howard Gardener, Abraham Maslow and Daniel Goleman. Our all-inclusive development approach further enables the multiple fac-ets of their intelligence and personality to blossom, enabling them to achieve success in professional life and contentment in personal life.

We are Makkala Jagriti (Awakening of Chil-dren); a Bangalore based non-governmental or-ganization established in 2003.

India is a developing country, and while things are changing we are still battling chronic problems of poverty, illiteracy and societal inequalities, stemming from unequal opportu-

nities and regressive cultural attitudes. Recog-nizing that change starts at the grassroots is the first big step to bridge the divide and that is where the most important members of the country’s population, its children and youth,

become significant. As per the 2011 census approximately 29.5% of the country’s popula-tion was between 0-14 years of age. That is almost 1/3rd of the total population. This literally makes children and youth the future of the country and hence the mirror for change and pro-gress taking place within it.

Since inception, we have pro-vided a platform for children from vulnerable backgrounds to get educated and equipped with the life skills necessary for holis-tic development. Makkala Jagriti has been striving to bring about a positive change in the lives of these children by not only im-

proving the quality of edu-cation provided but also by instilling confidence in them through counselling and mentoring sessions. This is done through an amalgamation of facilitative education and fun outdoor activities. We also work closely with parents, school teachers and the community as a whole to make this learning experience more effective. Over the past 10+ years we have significantly impacted the lives of over 10,000 members of the communities we serve.

“Education shall be directed to the

full development of the human

personality and to the strengthening

of respect for human rights and human freedoms”

– Universal Declaration of Human Rights

(Article 26, Paragraph 2)

Makkala Jagriti

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CORE VALUES

Our mission is to facilitate the holistic development of children and diverse groups in and around the community to build a sustainable and equitable socie-ty.

Our vision is to create a value based social movement in order to empower the chil-dren and community towards a brighter future.

Vision Mission

Unconditional acceptance

Freedom of choice

Being child centric

Respecting the child’s boundaries

Our learning centers set up in govern-ment schools, communities and juvenile homes are based on these principles. To enhance their learning experience we engage children in various activities that include reading, creative development, sports and adventure, life skills development and parent and teacher workshops. School drop-outs and youth are also part of the core focus of Makkala Jagriti. We aim at making the community and government school teachers undergo a paradigm shift in their approach from being a ‘teacher on a stage’ to a ‘guide by the side’.

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Makkala Jagriti’s programs are aimed at strengthening children’s intellectual, creative, emotional, social, phys-ical and psychological development. This is done through activities, experiments, awareness building, experiential methodology and mentoring at our learn-ing centers across the city of Bangalore. We have man-aged to achieve our vision and mission through these centres where school going children and drop-outs from the marginalized sections engage themselves in an informal learning environment.

Over the past 10+ years it has been a fulfilling experience for us to see children from community based centers, our genesis, grow into adolescents and later into enterprising youths. It has been an enriching experience for us to

engage with these children as they branch out to pursue various mainstream courses and work in IT and banking sectors. A few of them have continued their engage-ment with us as facilitators, Taekwondo trainers and gone on to work as trainers at adventure camps. Some of these children have interned with us, grown to play staff roles and now are in leadership positions at other organizations. The center has successfully managed to bring about a paradigm shift in the mind-set of the community as a whole that education is an empowering medium of change. We have also been able to extend

support in capacity building for children from small neighbouring private schools like Little Angels and Sara School. The children from these schools have benefited extensively from the spaces, facili-ties and holistic education that our community centers provide them.

Government Homes through initiatives that facilitate an envi-ronment of holistic learning for children here that can lead them to having a more hopeful and stable future. We bring a glimmer of hope into their lives. Our per-ception of children as individuals is what makes a big difference as we nurture them to be mature enough to reflect on their earlier

A large number of unaccompanied chil-dren arrive in Bangalore through trains and other means from various parts of the country. These children are looking to es-cape a life of poverty and abuse. The big city in their eyes is a place of opportunity, where they might seek and find gainful employment. Most of them are found and put in Government homes. Here they re-ceive only the very basics of education. Makkala Jagriti Strives to transform the lives of these children by working with

mistakes, and support them as they choose their own path. In this process we also help govern-ment officials revisit their biases and stereotypes and have wit-nessed encouraging transfor-mations. Despite the government revising the stay-in period to a mere three months, we believe that we will be able to bring about substantial changes in these chil-dren within that period.

Community Learning Centers

Juvenile Homes

Government Schools Makkala Jagriti’s work with government schools is aimed not only towards helping students here but also towards achieving a change in perspective among educators at these schools towards a child’s education. We have strived to shift the focus of education from merely intellectual development to a more holistic learning based approach. Learning centers have been set up at government schools to involve teachers and students, the crucial stakehold-ers, to create an environment that enhances the learning process and quality of education. On a daily basis we reach out to about 950 children across 5 schools studying in classes 1-7. Teachers and administrators at the schools we work with have realized the importance of such an approach and work with us enthusiastically on the road to change for the better.

Steps up the ladder

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Harisha’s Story

Hills to Climb In our growth phase we have faced numerous chal-lenges which include sustaining the interest of chil-dren between the ages of 6 and 13 and designing new strategies to continue engagement with youth who want to continue with Makkala Jagriti.

At the community level most of our challenges are to do with infrastructure, finances and continued sup-port of stakeholders.

As a solution to these problems we have decided to bring together children from schools and communi-ties to a center located within school premises. We are of the opinion that through this collaborative model most of our current issues will be addressed effectively.

Harisha is an outstanding example of how Makkala Jagriti has been successful in transforming the lives of children at juvenile homes. We first engaged with Harisha in the year 2007 through our initiatives. Makkala Jagriti coached him to pass his class 10 exams. He was trained in Taekwondo and went on to win Gold and Silver Medals at the state and national level. He also partici-

pated in several of our development and leadership programs. He now works as a facilitator for the Taekwondo association and is pursuing a diploma in civil work. He now volun-teers his services through the Taekwondo association at our center.

Like Harisha several children have been with us in the long term through child-hood and youth to become role models for such children.

Two of our alumni and ex-staff, Murali and Ravi are now getting trained to be Taekwondo trainers at the Taekwondo Association of Karnataka.

All our programmes are designed to

supplement the RTE norms and focus

on ensuring education for all, especially

the drop-outs.

enabling transformative change

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During the year 2013-2014 we have reached out to approximately 1800 children on a daily basis. They have gone through our initiatives for spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, creative and cultural development at our 10 centers spread across community learning centers, government schools and juvenile homes. This year our activities ranged from organiz-ing puppet shows to adventure camps. We organized a visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium for children from our communi-ty centres. Over 500 students participated in Summer Camps during April and May across

all our centers. Storytelling, sports, educa-tional games, theatre workshops and arts & craft sessions were part of the camps; the activities were a blend of fun and learning. The crafts made by the children during the camp were later exhibited at the juvenile home for boys. We also organized an exclusive adventure camp for girls and boys separately at Honne-mardu, Shimoga where 43 youth participated. Six of our Adugodi community children took part in the South Zone championship which was held in Calicut and did us proud by win-ning gold, silver and bronze medals. The

highlights 2013-2014

winners will be taking part in the National level champion-ship and we are sure they will make us proud again.

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Activities and programs undertaken

In all approximately 1,800 members of the communities we serve were impacted by the programs, activities, workshops and events conducted by Makkala Jagriti.

4 young members of our staff will be re-ceiving Black Belts in Taekwondo. One member of out staff won the Gold Medal at the National Level Taekwondo Champi-onship held in Guja-rat.

Serial  No. Program Number

1 Youth  Leadership  Program 65  Youth

2 Parent’s  Workshop  and  Mee ng 56

3 Children’s  Workshop 60  Children

4 Sports    Program Taekwondo 131 48  youth  (47  boys  &  1  girl)

83  Children  (71  boys  &  12  girls)

5 Puppet  Show 76  (41  boys  &  35  girls)

6 Excursion  to  Puppet  Show 62  (40  boys  &  22  girls)

7 Educa onal  trip  Aeronau cal  Museum 40  (25  boys  &  15  girls)

8 Crea vity  Talent  Compe on                                 150  Children

9 Teacher’s  Training 30

10 Adventure  camp  at  Honnemardu 43  youth  (26  boys  and  17  girls)

11 Summer  Camp 500  Children

12 Special  Events

Debate 55  Children

Essay 70  Children

Quiz 30  Children

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At Makkala Jagriti everybody is a learner. We believe in igniting the spark of inner potential and trans-formational leadership amongst its entire staff. Every month the entire team meets to reflect on themselves as individuals and as teams and sets goals for the month ahead. Administrators, Anchors and Project leaders are the three pillars that form the supportive latticework that makes all the change we achieve on the ground possible. To do the indispensable groundwork we have associates, volunteers, interns and resource people who give us their valuable time and expertise.

tems and Child Reach Foundation, Target India brightened up our year by painting the walls of com-munity centers.

Volunteers also conduct activi-ties around sci-ence, art and craft and sports to motivate the children at the centers. Approximately

Volunteers form an inte-gral part of Makkala Ja-griti and we welcome them from educational institutions and corpo-rates or as individuals alike. They are involved in every aspect ranging from designing, executing and implementing programs. We ushered in 2014 with a musical performance put up by volunteers from Valley School for children of the Adugodi centre. Appnomic Sys-

150 volunteers gave us their valuable time this year.

Volunteers

forward to en-hance and expand our programs. Here Brinda shares with us the experience of her journey with Mak-kala Jagriti so far and her future plans.

Welcoming Brinda Pancholi as Associate Director This year we welcome Brinda Pancholi into the team as Associate Direc-tor. It is a handing over of leadership of the Or-ganization to Brinda who comes to us with a vast amount of experience in the social sector. We be-lieve that she will compe-tently guide us as we look

Our people

“Makkala Jagriti staff’s commitment to the development of every child and the practice of values attracted me to join the organization. Caring for and reaching out to the most needy children makes Makkala Jagriti’s work more mean-ingful and relevant in today’s time. Our focus in the future will be to reach out to a large number of children through partner NGOs and provide them with holistic development opportunities. We will also be working with youth from marginalized communities by helping them become aware of themselves, their dreams and challenges, and take charge of their own lives.” - Brinda Pancholi

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Systems and Processes

Programs

We have proposed to roll-out the following three programs in the coming year as a result of our strategy revision and expansion phase:

In the coming year our focus is going to be on closely monitoring, reviewing and revising our programs to achieve deeper impact with stronger stakeholder involvement.

We also aim at designing a clearer, more efficient assessment mechanism for children to track their progress and to identify their interest areas.

We have mapped our strengths and challenges in all the areas we work in and we look forward to addressing the challenges strategically. With this agenda we have also decided to expand by offering capacity building support more systematically.

Path forward

YUVA Jagriti – an exclusive focus on youth We realize the importance of continuing our association with children even after they grow and leave our centers. Despite already engaging with youth through various programs, Yuva Jagriti will partner exclusively with youth on a long term basis and empower them to take charge of youth development centers within their communities and have their own identities.

In collaboration with many other organizations we have proposed to design youth leadership programs. Through these we aim to help the youth in making career choices, continuing their education, seeking employment, dealing with emotional stress and taking up responsibilities.

Expansion Model through Capacity Building Programs In collaboration with India Educate we intend to set up learning centers in Koppal district, Karnataka. We aim to offer capacity building support to institutionalize holistic learning centres in rural schools. We view this initiative as an excellent opportunity for Makkala Jagriti as an organization to expand and grow; this expands our capabilities as well as our geographical reach.

Bridge Learning Centers Our bridge learning centers will be set up as per the RTE norms, as a platform to bring together children from schools and communities. The rationale behind the setting up of these centers is to go beyond the restrictive environment of schools and design an inclusive atmosphere to involve all stakeholders. This model will continue to have our already existing programs redesigned and enhanced to be more effective in reaching out to the children. We strongly believe that our learning should be highly effective in sustaining the interest of children in continuing their education in schools, thereby having a negative impact on drop-out rates. We also consider collaborating with the government as a very essential factor in retaining students and improving the system.

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Children “I have been coming here for many years and there are many activities here. My favourite ac-tivity is to draw and cut. I like Taekwondo also. I have learned English and Kannada here. Also whatever I have learned here has been very helpful to me.” – Manjula, 11 years (Mysore Road Center)

“Everyone is my friend here and I like to draw and do glass painting. I enjoy all games here and like to do Taekwondo also.” – Tulsi, 9 years (Adugodi Centre)

“I like glass painting, colouring and love Taekwondo. I have made many friends here. They do many activities here which I like.” – Sheeba, 8 years (Adugodi Centre)

Voices of Makkala jagriti

“I have been coming to the cen-tre from past 5 years. I came to know about the centre through the school I was going to. My experience here has been very nice and helpful. This centre has helped me a lot and I have al-ways enjoyed doing activities. The activities have helped me in my studies a lot. I have also learned a lot about taking up re-sponsibilities. What I like the most about this center is that everyone is very friendly includ-ing the staff” – Renuka

Youth “I have been coming here for five years, then and now I keep coming. I have to go to work also so whenever I find time I come here. I like the computer and library activities. The center has helped me a lot in learning English.” – Shivraj

“I have been coming to the center for 3 years. The center has helped me a lot in my studies. Before I did-n’t know how to read or write properly, I had failed in my 10th but after coming to this center I have learned English and Kannada and also passed 10th standard” – Vinay

 “I have been working with Makkala Jagriti for 5 months now. My experi-ence here has been really good. As I like children a lot, I really enjoy my time spent with them conducting activities and teaching them. When children first come here we accept them. Then we see how much the child already knows and then decide where the child needs improvement. If it’s a drop out student we’ll see where they need more improvement and motivate them to read. If the students are interested in a particular thing like art or computers we help and encourage them to learn more in that. We have introduced online teaching classes which helps stu-dents. We have a library and  encour-­‐age  students  to  read  more.”  –  Vimal  

“I have been coming to the cen-tre from five years and I like many activities here. I like glass painting a lot and I like speaking in English. I like to go to school and study. I come to the centre every day because I get to learn a lot.” – Rakesh, 12 years (Mysore Road Center)

Anchors

Parents

“My son’s behaviour has improved a lot after joining Makkal Jagriti. He is very active and shows a lot of inter-est to learn new things. After attend-ing the parent’s workshop, my ap-proach towards my child has changed” - Leela, Parent-Mysore Road Community Center

Volunteers “Working with young children who are so spirited to learn is an excite-ment in itself! Their curiosity to speak a few words in English or to get to sit at the computer for a few minutes and type their names and small sen-tences makes me feel that there is so much that can be done for these re-ceptive children. We have miles and miles to go before we can claim any success and thousands of such children in and around us whom we can help in the smallest of ways that we can. Not a whole lot can be done over a short duration as we get barely about 40 minutes per class each week, but yes it is a small step taken in the right direction and every step takes us that much closer to the greater goal of Makkala Jagriti” - Uma Krishnamurthy, Volunteer

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Partners

Sponsors

Our sponsors have supported us in the holistic growth of our children for over 10 years. They have shown their commitment to our work with an open heart and mind, and their belief and confidence have been a great motivation for us.

Appnomic India Pvt Ltd

Global Fund for Children

Target India Corporation

ING Vysya Foundation

Professional Access Software

Development Pvt Ltd

Way to Wealth

Individual donors

We work with our partners in an inclusive way towards a shared vision. We have collaborated with partners with varied expertise which we believe is one of the ways to bring about a social change and development.

Partners for change

Adventurers – Life skills programme at Hon-nemardu, Shimoga

Explorer Outdoor Education – Adventure camp at Ramnagara

Hippocampus Reading Foundation – Reading Programme

Children’s movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) – Civic Awareness

Dhwani Foundation – IT Solutions

Enfold – Understanding body and Sexuality

iVolunteers – Volunteer Programme

Agastya Foundation – Science Education

Target Corporation India – Volunteers

Child Reach

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Financials

INCOME 4366947 Grants & Donations 3352167 Bank Interest 277807 Excess of Expenditure over Income 736973 EXPENDITURE 4357649 Depreciation 9298 Program Expenses Education Aids 135267 Educational Programs for children 443961 Printing & Stationery 19246 Personnel Cost 2457499 Honorarium Expenses 365550 Learning Centre Rent 456800 Telephone Expenses 78900 Website Charges 6741 Water Charges - Learning Centre 8306 Electricity Charges - Learning Centre 10146 Facilitators Meeting Expenses 23734 Facilitators conveyance 109352 Operational & Administrative Expenses 0 Head office Maintenance 73561 Staff Welfare 57111 Bank Charges 98 Stationery, Printing & Postage 1295 Computer Maintenance 32055 Membership Fees 0 Audit Fees 19663 Conveyance & Travel Expenses 58364

ASSETS Fixed Assests 73495 Cash and Bank Balances 795144 Advances & Deposits 3042200 Loans & Advances - TOTAL ASSETS 3910839 LIABILITIES Capiltal Fund 3909838 Corpus Fund 1001 Other Liabilities - TOTAL LIABILITIES 3910839

Balance Sheet as on March 31, 2014

Income and Expenditure Account for the year ending March 31, 2014

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makkala jagriti

Joy  Srinivasan   Chairperson  and  Managing  Trustee Vishwanath  G Trustee Shaheen  Ali Trustee Rangarajan  Padmanabhan Board  Member

Makkala Jagriti #385, 1st Floor, 6th Cross,

BTS Main Road, Wilson Garden, Bangalore – 560027

Phone: + 91-80 -22111535 E-mail: headoffice@makkalajagriti.org

Website: www.makkalajagriti.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/

MakkalaJagriti

Makkala Jagriti is a registered Trust with 80G exemption. Trust Deed Registered Under Government of Karnataka Vide No: IV/188/03-04 80 G Exemption Certificate No. DIT(E)BLR/80 G® 91/AABTM2340N/ITO (E)-2/VOL 2009-2010 12A No : DIT(E)/12A/Vol.ll/M-604/W-2/2004-05 FCRA Registration Number - 094421333

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