Felicitation of Smile Foundation

Smile Foundation was felicitated as the Best NGO for its contribution to the cause of education for underprivileged children across India by Mukti Foundation. A total of 10 NGOs were awarded for their exemplary contributions in respective fields.

On the occasion of completion of ten years of Mukti Foundation, Mumbai, Ms. Smita Thackeray – Founder chairperson of Mukti Foundation felicitated 10 NGOs of India for their outstanding contribution in their respective fields. Mr.Sudesh Bhonsale, the renowned singer and entertainer and Ms. Sameera Reddy, the actress were also present on the occasion.

Around 100 children from Smile supported projects in Mumbai attended the felicitation ceremony. Smile Children celebrated the occasion with a joy ride from Thane to Cinemax Andheri. They were shown ‘Air Buddies’, a movie for children at Cinemax. They also got an opportunity to interact with the celebrities present on the occasion. Smile Foundation thanks Mukti Foundation for the honour bestowed on it.

Swabhiman, meaning self respect in Hindi, is a programme from Smile Foundation focusing on Health and Empowerment of Girl Child and Women.

Smile Foundation, through its Swabhiman initiative, celebrated Girl Child Week in different communities of Delhi which are also the intervention areas of this programme.

The week long event culminated with celebration of International Girl Child Day. Ms. Nita Malhotra, ACP – Crime Against Women Cell, Delhi was the Guest of Honour. Dr. Lalitendu Jagatdeb, Joint Director (M & E) of Population Foundation of India (PFI) and Mr. Sudhir K Rai from Centre for Social Research were special guests.
             
About 5,000 Swabhiman girls and women from more than a dozen Smile communities participated in the week long event. The celebration included various advocacy campaigns, awareness drives, street plays and other innovative programmes.

Team from Vietnam visits Swabhiman

A delegation from Chia Se Poverty Alleviation Program, Yen Bai Province, Vietnam visited the project area of Swabhiman to study the success of the girl child centric programme.

The main objective was to learn about women empowerment and poverty alleviation approach in India and exchange experience in management of projects in community development, implementation of grassroots initiatives on democracy and gender equity.