“A T-shirt designing competition was conducted amongst local children as part of a national contest”
They were ready to take the art world by storm: thirty giggling children in a muggy room, armed with Natraj pencils, stencil sets and felt pens in vivid reds, purples and greens. With freshly-scrubbed faces and neatly-pinned ID cards, the children of Ashray-Akruti let their pictures do the talking.
The children had been assembled as a part of a promotional event for the Cotton Council International’s pan-India t-shirt design competition, ‘TeeZing’, on the topic My Cotton World. Inviting multiple entries from across the country, CCI is also organising local painting competitions in various centres of the Smile Foundation to inspire young children to participate as well.
Hyderabad’s edition of this competition saw local designer Asmita Marwa coming forward as a judge and to provide the children with words of explanation and encouragement. Rather depressingly, most of the shutterbug attention shifted in favour of photographing this young celebrity rather than the fidgety children sitting before them. The kids put down their canvasses and listened solemnly as Asmita gave them advice on how to proceed. “Paint from the heart,” she said. “Use bright colours. Paint with happiness.”
These trite words aside, the little group seemed to soak in the sentiment of what she said. A blue-pinafored girl with tightly plaited hair bound in black ribbons covered an entire sheet of paper with patterns of neat green trees, with ‘Go Green’ written in the centre. Another bright young spark stencilled spirals and stars in eye-popping green and blue next to the words ‘Cotton is a Superstar’. A third earnestly coloured in a massive lotus that filled the sheet, with the words ‘Feel Me Cotton’ boxed around it.
Their teachers were in constant attendance, lending a helping hand here, praising there, and sharing secret smiles with their children. Results were announced 45 minutes later, with K. Prem Kumar coming in first, Koushik coming in second, and P. Srinivas placing third.
One wonders whether these children will get to participate in the actual nationwide competition, but they seemed to enjoy themselves nevertheless. The ‘TeeZing’ competition is open till July 22. The top three national winners get cash prizes, and the best designs will be retailed by Flying Machine. Entries can be submitted online at www.allaboutcotton.com, emailed to teezing2010@gmail.com, or submitted at select Café Coffee Day stories.
Keywords: Cotton Council International, T-shirt designing
Smile Foundation, a national level development organization, had their Disaster Response Teams om ground as soon the floods started getting intense. They reached out to approximately 6 lakh people with water, food and other relief materials. Approximately 38000 kg of food and 7,56,000 litres of water provided by Pepsi Co were distributed. Water contamination was identified as an important issue, and this is what prompted the widespread distribution of safe drinking water. Smile worked in Pallavaram, Annaputtur, NaagaiKeni, Karima Nagar and Mudichur in Kanchipuram district; Ponneri, Ennor, Seethanambakkam and Minjur in Thiruninravuur district and the entire Chennai city region. Once the water abated a little, their mobile hospital, Smile On Wheels started functioning. The organization was helped by almost 500 volunteers from Chennai. Several of them were first time volunteers, and some had been rescued themselves. While there was no power in most areas in the city, the volunteers were still able to somehow coordinate and help out those who weren’t as fortunate. Mr. SantanuMisra, Co-founder and Executive Trustee, says that “The resilience, commitment and indomitable spirit of the youths of Chennai have been inspiring for us.” Smile plans to set up multi-speciality health services to aid those in the aftermath of the disaster.
New Delhi, Nov 27 (IANS) With a motive to showcase meaningful global cinema to children and youth, NGO Smile Foundation has announced a Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFFCY), which will be held here from December 21 to 27.
SIFFCY, to be held at the Siri Fort Auditorium here, will premiere over 50 independent feature-length films, short films and documentaries during the week-long gala.
Directors Nagesh Kukunoor, Hansal Mehta, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Santosh Sivan, Jahnu Barua, and Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty have come on board as the advisory members of the festival, along with noted film critics Saibal Chatterjee and Utpal Borpujari.
“Our objective is to sensitise the masses through meaningful cinema. We are curating films and selecting films with a social message,” Jitendra Mishra, SIFFCYfestival director, told IANS.
Treating it more like a campaign than a festival, Mishra shared that the Smile Foundation will take the films to other remote areas of the country as well. They will project the films there so that children and youth who don’t even have access to auditoria can be exposed to the content.
“SIFFCY will not end in seven days. We plan to reach out to smaller cities after the festival. Our representatives and volunteers will travel and show the films in as many places as possible. Smaller cities have small auditoriums, but in villages, we take our projectors and players.”
“We will show films or documentaries in places where some have not even seen a film before in their lives,” Mishra added.
Some of the films will be those that are made by children and students. Mishra believes that some “five-year-old children are super talented and have been at it”.
Leading international organisations, including British Film Institute, Cinekid, Buster and Wilde Ganzen as well as Children’s Film Society, which is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Information and broadcasting, have also collaborated as partners for thefestival.
The Smile Foundation has produced films of all kinds — be it a documentary, short and feature, winning several awards for its endeavours in all the categories. The feature film “I Am Kalam” received several accolades.
Over 50 independent feature films, shorts and documentaries will be screened during a week-long festival here in December that aims to showcase diverse perspectives of world cinema to the country’s children and youth.
Noted film personalities like Nagesh Kukunoor, Hansal Mehta, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Santosh Sivan, Jahnu Barua and Resul Pookutty have come on board as the advisory members of the Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth (SIFFCY) which will cater to young people (6 to 25 years).
National award winning film critics Saibal Chatterjee and Utpal Borpujari are also part of the core team of the first edition of the festival to be held from December 21-27 at the Siri Fort auditorium.
“We have already received more than 2000 film entries from over 100 countries for SIFFCY,” says festival director Jitendra Mishra.
“During SIFFCY we will screen only inspirational films made for children and youth, with a message which could be about education, environment, cleanliness, world peace, girl child or any other social issues,” he says.
The movies will be programmed in four different categories – feature, short, documentary and students’ films which will include both live action and animation films.
“We are trying to include maximum international films so that our kids will also have exposure to the art, culture and lifestyle of different other countries through these films,” says Jitendra.
According to Santanu Mishra, co-founder and executive trustee of Smile Foundation and chairman of the festival, the aim of SIFFCY is to sensitise children and youth through meaningful cinema and create a lasting impact in their minds.
The idea behind SIFFCY is to provide a special platform devoted to a greater appreciation of world cinema which can bring change in the society by showcasing films with substance, supporting emerging filmmakers, recognising the pioneers and leaders of the film industry, and by promoting diverse perspectives of world cinema, the organisers say.
The Smile Foundation-produced feature film “I Am Kalam” won more than 30 international awards including a national award.
From Delhi, SIFCCY will travel across India. The films will be screened for children at around 3000 schools in more than 400 districts.
What happens when a young professional gave up his lucrative corporate job to empower women and bring smiles to the faces of underprivileged children in India
This section on Social Innovation is made possible with the support of Deshpande Foundation India.
Started by a group of young corporate professionals with a vision to give back to the society, Delhi-based Smile Foundation was born in 2002. The NGO reaches out to more than 4,00,000 underprivileged children, youth and women directly every year through 158 welfare projects across 25 states of India. Smile Foundation works around four thematic areas such as Education, Healthcare, Youth Employability and Empowerment of women and girls.
Says Santanu Mishra, co-founder and executive trustee of Smile Foundation, “As corporate professionals living in India at a time of economic liberalization, I settled down much earlier in life than expected. I have always wanted to give back to the society. Informal ways of doing charity paved the way for more formal and structured involvement and Smile Foundation took birth.”
For 3 years, Mishra and his team of young professionals lent external support to the NGO. But, along the way, the importance of full-time involvement and deeper commitment was recognised by the team. In 2005, Mishra quit his full-time corporate job and assumed responsibility of running the day-to-day operations of the NGO, re-structuring it to achieve his larger vision. “Since I have always focused on doing creating positive social impact, it was easy not just to leave my own career behind, but to persuade a group of like-minded friends to join in my journey.”
A lifecycle approach to development
The primary objective of Smile Foundation is to improve the well-being of underprivileged children by ensuring their maternal welfare. Mishra explains,
“While education is the cornerstone of children’s progress, children can only go to school regularly when the family, particularly the mother, is healthy and empowered, and the family has decent livelihood opportunities and a steady income.”
Realizing this, Smile Foundation, with its basis in education, adopted a lifecycle approach with intensive programmes focused on family health, livelihood and women empowerment, which address the needs of children, their families and the larger community.
The development initiatives by Smile Foundation are:
Mission Education: Through this national level initiative, Smile Foundation promotes universal education by enabling streamline underprivileged children into mainstream schools in a sustainable manner. More than 2,00,000 children have directly benefited from Mission Education programme since 2002.
The Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP) is an employability programme for underprivileged rural and urban youth. The programme aims at creating a pool of young and independent people from marginalized communities through skill enhancement congruous with market requirements. It is an effort towards bridging the gap between demand and supply of skilled manpower in the fast emerging services and retail sectors of modern India. Over 12,000 youth have been trained and have been placed in over 150 brands through 45 operational projects across India.
Smile on Wheels (SoW): A national level mobile hospital programme taking curative, preventive and promotive healthcare to the doorsteps of urban poor and underserved villagers benefiting 3,10,000 lives directly every year through 22 projects in 265 remote villages and urban slums across India.
Swabhiman: The programme focuses on empowerment of on girls and women. It uses the highly effective ‘4 S Model’ which aims to develop healthcare-seeking as a behaviour, build support through education, encourage male involvement and support and sustain change in the community. Over one lakh girls and women have benefited from four intensive operational projects including mobile health clinic, health camps, awareness on reproductive and sexual health issues, scholarship support for secondary and higher education, and community engagement.
Smile Foundation’s Disaster Response Programme was designed to enable quick action and response to the immediate needs of the affected during natural calamities in a sustainable manner that helps them rebuild their lives by facilitating their education, healthcare and livelihood. By way of its relief and rehabilitation projects during the tsunami, the Kashmir earthquake, the Mumbai and Bihar floods, and the Nepal Earthquake, around 1,00,000 affected families have benefitted.
To create awareness among privileged urban dwellers, Smile Foundation introduced its Child for Child programme through which over 6 lakh school children are sensitized to be responsible citizens and participate in the development process.
Mishra said that when they began the journey, the chief lesson they learnt was that development is a slow process where input is not always equal to the output. “Finding the right grassroots NGO partners was tough as was creating a culture among those with resources of giving for development work”, says he.
Good governance is the key to impact and scale
As important as developing society is the process adopted to develop it. With this as its motto, Smile Foundation focuses on being knowledge and technology driven. It designs programmes and deploys the best methodology and technology to help achieve the ideal social return on investment and ensure scale. In order to maintain transparency of process and impact, the Foundation employs the principles of good governance in its management, monitoring, and audit processes, adopting a stringent four-tier audit system to determine the impact of the investment and accountability in utilization of funds.
Smile Foundation has evolved and operates through two different operating models:
A. Social Venture Philanthropy (SVP): This model adapts the successful model of Venture Capital in conventional business to the social and development sector. Under the SVP model, Smile Foundation identifies and partners with suitable grassroots organisations following which it handholds, and builds capacities of genuine grassroots NGOs to achieve accountability, sustainability, scalability, and leadership. The Foundation provides seed money for the launch of new projects and the expansion of old projects. It also emphasizes regular counselling to improve the productivity, enhance the efficiency, and build capacities of grassroots NGOs.
B. Outreach: In its outreach model, Smile Foundation directly implements various development initiatives like Mission Education and Smile on Wheels for underprivileged rural and urban communities by partnering with corporate bodies, PSUs and international development organizations.
On taking the movement forward, Mishra says, “Its relentless efforts have given Smile Foundation the experience and expertise in creating successful development models. We now wish to expand our impact to include underserved communities in across South Asian and African countries. This will also help us continue bringing desirable and sustainable changes in lives of as many people as possible, with the best possible social return on minimum investment as there is always a resource constraint for development work”.
“You are here: Cotton Council International reaches Kolkata with the second edition of ‘TeeZing’ – its Pan India T-Shirt design competition ~ “
The hunt for the best cotton design is on.
~ Renowned designer Pali Sachdev was present to encourage kids participation from Smile Foundation and give them tips on the contest~
Kolkata, Wednesday, July 14, 2010: Cotton Council International (CCI) has announced the second edition of its pan India T-Shirt design competition TeeZing on the theme “My Cotton World”. The competition offers every participant a chance to showcase their creativity and sketching skills. The competition is open to young and old to express what cotton means to them. To inspire participants, CCI is organising visits by fashion designer to various centres of Smile Foundation across 6 cities namely Delhi, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad. Today, renowned designer Pali Sachdev who has won accolades for her designs visited a Smile Foundation centre in Kolkata. Pali shared tips with the participants to help them bring their cotton world to life in their designs. The designer also shared her experience with cotton and how she has showcased cotton as a fashion fabric in her creations.
The competition will run from June 28th through July 22, 2010. Entries can be submitted online at www.allaboutcotton.com, via email to teezing2010@gmail.com or submitted at select Café Coffee Day stores in 9 cities throughout India – Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chandigarh. CCI has assembled a formidable team to judge the contest. The jury for this season will include leading names from the creative, design and fashion fraternity.
The top three national winners of TeeZing will be awarded cash prizes of Rs.1,00,000/, Rs. 75,000/- and Rs.50,000/- respectively. In addition, the best designs will be retailed by Flying Machine, a popular brand in the ready-to-wear segment. To increase the chances of winning for each participant, CCI has also allowed multiple entry options.
Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Sachit Bhatia, Senior Manager Representative, South Asia, Cotton Council International, said, “TeeZing is based on the premise of creativity, fashion and fun with cotton. We hope the competition will reignite India’s passion for cotton, showing how it touches every part of our lives. We are hopeful to get a fantastic response across all cities and expect to see a lot of unique designs in cotton.”
He further added, “Cotton has inspired a lot of creations in the Indian fashion industry and to take this association to a new level, we have on board a group of fashion designers from various parts of the country who are traveling to different cities and mentoring the kids of Smile Foundation for participation in TeeZing so that they can come up with their best cotton creations.”
Speaking on this occasion, renowned designer Pali Sachdev, said, “I am thankful to Cotton Council International for giving me this interactive platform to mentor the participants of TeeZing from Smile Foundation in Kolkata. Cotton has always been an all time favourite fabric of designers in India. Though cotton is perceived as a summer fabric, it is truly a fabric for all seasons. Cotton reminds me of comfort and hygiene. I have used cotton in many of my creations and have a strong affinity for it. ”
The competition was first held in 2009 as part of the International Year of Natural Fibers celebration. The competition was held simultaneously in 10 countries including India, with the objective to develop a positive disposition toward cotton, especially amongst the youth. The theme of the competition in 2009 was “Cotton’s Natural World”. It is one of the many popular outreach activities undertaken by CCI globally.
About Cotton Council International (CCI) CCI is a non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of cotton in India. It runs a “Generic Cotton Education”’ program, which strives to increase the demand among end-consumers for products made from 100 percent cotton, so that retailers, manufacturers and spinners could be encouraged to produce a higher percentage of 100 percent cotton products to meet this consumer demand.
CCI launched the campaign in India in 2003 under the Cotton Gold Alliance (CGA) program. The CGA program was launched at the trade level in October 2002 and at the consumer level in May 2003 under the “New Face of Cotton” campaign.
In 2006, CCI made some strategic adjustments in the CGA program and renaming it as the “Generic Cotton Education” program in India. Through its education program, CCI reaches out to various stakeholders including consumers of cotton, industry, media and the fashion fraternity.
For its activities in the past, CCI has successfully collaborated with leading fashion designers, trade bodies, Bollywood celebrities, media and design students for effective delivery its messages. The organization carries out these activities in metros and Tier II cities.
“The hunt for the best cotton design is on…. ~8 best designs submitted by the participants of Smile Foundation were awarded and will now be judged on a Pan India level ~ “
For_Immediate_Release: Ahmedabad, Wednesday, July 21st, 2010: Cotton Council International (CCI) has announced the second edition of its pan India T-Shirt design competition TeeZing on the theme “My Cotton World”. The competition offers every participant a chance to showcase their creativity and sketching skills. The competition is open to young and old to express what cotton means to them. To inspire participants, CCI organized competition among kids of Smile Foundation – charity partner for the event in Ahmedabad today. Smile foundation is a national level development organization that works towards the education and health of underprivileged children across 21 states in India. The participants were given tips to help them bring their cotton world to life in their designs. 8 best designs submitted by the participants of Smile Foundation were awarded and will now be judged on a Pan India level. The top three designs created by Smile Foundation participants were awarded cash prizes worth Rs. 4,500, Rs.3,000 and Rs. 2,500 respectively. Five additional designs were awarded consolation prizes worth Rs. 1000.
The competition will run from June 28th through July 22, 2010. Entries can be submitted online at www.allaboutcotton.com, via email to teezing2010@gmail.com or submitted at select Café Coffee Day stores in 9 cities throughout India – Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chandigarh. CCI has assembled a formidable team to judge the contest. The jury for this season will include leading names from the creative, design and fashion fraternity.
The top three national winners of TeeZing will be awarded cash prizes of Rs.1,00,000/, Rs. 75,000/- and Rs.50,000/- respectively. In addition, the best designs will be retailed by Flying Machine, a popular brand in the ready-to-wear segment. To increase the chances of winning for each participant, CCI has also allowed multiple entry options.
Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Sachit Bhatia, Senior Manager Representative, South Asia, Cotton Council International, said, “TeeZing is based on the premise of creativity, fashion and fun with cotton. We hope the competition will reignite India’s passion for cotton, showing how it touches every part of our lives. We are hopeful to get a fantastic response across all cities and expect to see a lot of unique designs in cotton.”
Speaking for the Smile Foundation, Mr. Pabitra Banerjee, General Manager, Programmes, Smile Foundation said, “Children are in the core of Smile Foundation’s heart and child education, as we believe, is a panacea for any impactful development. We believe in this and work with the community for underprivileged children to make an impact in their life. We are thankful to Cotton Council International for the opportunity it has given us to reach out to children with another joyful intervention which demonstrates CCI’s commitment to the cause of children.”
The competition was first held in 2009 as part of the International Year of Natural Fibers celebration. The competition was held simultaneously in 10 countries including India, with the objective to develop a positive disposition toward cotton, especially amongst the youth. The theme of the competition in 2009 was “Cotton’s Natural World”. It is one of the many popular outreach activities undertaken by CCI globally.
About Cotton Council International (CCI) CCI is a non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of cotton in India. It runs a “Generic Cotton Education”’ program, which strives to increase the demand among end-consumers for products made from 100 percent cotton, so that retailers, manufacturers and spinners could be encouraged to produce a higher percentage of 100 percent cotton products to meet this consumer demand. CCI launched the campaign in India in 2003 under the Cotton Gold Alliance (CGA) program. The CGA program was launched at the trade level in October 2002 and at the consumer level in May 2003 under the “New Face of Cotton” campaign. In 2006, CCI made some strategic adjustments in the CGA program and renaming it as the “Generic Cotton Education” program in India. Through its education program, CCI reaches out to various stakeholders including consumers of cotton, industry, media and the fashion fraternity.
For its activities in the past, CCI has successfully collaborated with leading fashion designers, trade bodies, Bollywood celebrities, media and design students for effective delivery its messages. The organization carries out these activities in metros and Tier II cities. About Smile Foundation
Smile Foundation is a national level development organisation reaching out to more than 100,000 underprivileged children & youth across 21 states of India through more than 130 welfare projects on subjects like education, healthcare, livelihood, women empowerment, and advocacy. Following philosophy of Social Venture Philanthropy (SVP), Smile Foundation identifies genuine local grass root initiatives doing exemplary work and empowers them and extends financial support, technical expertise and capacity building of these initiatives.
For more information, please contact: Vaishnavi Corporate Communications Geetika Gupta
