Author: Smile Team

~Social Entrepreneurs trained on Mobilizing Support~

New Delhi, January 28, 2022: Continuing with its commitment to build the capabilities of social entrepreneurs in the non-profit sphere, Smile Foundation, through its Change the Game India (CtGI) program, has completed Phase II of its training exercises on Mobilizing Support, for its Mission Education partners.

The virtual classroom course on mobilizing support is meant for social entrepreneurs and people running grassroots initiatives. It will enable them to gain an appreciation of the usefulness and importance of efficient resource mobilization for sustainability initiatives.

The training focused on equipping participants with skills to network, collaborate and raise varied support for programs from citizens and governments to strengthen their organizations.

This training was organized specifically for eight selected Mission Education partners from as many states of the country.

The course aims to help participants understand how to solicit support and commitment from a large group of stakeholders and decision makers, including governments. It then teaches them ways to involve these stakeholders meaningfully to ensure accountability and credibility.

Speaking about the initiative, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-founder and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “Social entrepreneurs and grassroots organizations have been playing a crucial and complementary role with the government by creating impact on the ground. Their sustainability will serve a great purpose in achieving developmental goals of the nation.”

Smile Foundation, through its Change the Game India capacity building program, has been organizing training workshops that aim to educate non-profit sector professionals on best practices and skills to mobilize support and funds for their respective social interventions.

Change the Game India has developed an innovative blended-learning program that helps change-makers from civil society organizations and social entrepreneurs from all over the world learn and imbibe fundraising best practices.

The goal is to help social entrepreneurs working at the grassroots navigate challenging times by attracting funds from diverse sources. Smile Foundation is committed to bring ‘Civic Driven Change’ and to inculcate practices that empower people.

To achieve this, Change the Game India has curated a series of unique virtual classroom learning experiences for fundraising professionals and social entrepreneurs. Through these courses, Smile Foundation is building capabilities and empowering social entrepreneurs to diversify sources of funding and deepen organizational capacities.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:

Sreeparna Chakrabarty: sreeparna.chakrabarty@smilefoundation.email | 9811502059
Website: https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

Bringing Good Cinema from across the globe

New Delhi, February 11, 2022: Smile Foundation is back with the 8th edition of the Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth (SIFFCY). The film festival will be held from April 24, 2022, celebrating the cinematic journey of good cinema.

SIFFCY, in the 2022 edition, will be held virtually, and will bring stories from across the globe. Given the dreading situation of the pandemic, the festival aims to bring positivity and engage, educate, and empower children and youth by screening of meaningful films, and by hosting interactive sessions, capacity building activities and workshops. The festival will screen more than 100 films from 50 countries, from different categories and genres, through its online platform. The films showcased will include award-winning new releases, and international classics. The bouquet of films will range from professional feature films, short films and documentaries to experimental films made by children. The festival will also host multiple workshops and discussion forums for children and the youth.

This edition of SIFFCY will have a special focus on cinema from Germany, Iran, the Czech Republic, and Latin America. With an international jury from 15 counties, the festival brings global perspective. The festival will be instrumental in cultivating an understanding of other cultures, lives, and experiences through the medium of film and will become a catalyst for critical appreciation and creative pursuit of cinematic art amongst children and the youth.

“Children and the youth shape the future of the society. Good cinema is a powerful tool for sensitizing them. With SIFFCY 2022, we aim to create conversations among children and youth through good cinema that highlights social issues and values of empathy. In addition, we wish to encourage budding filmmakers with special categories of entries and organizing interactive workshops for them as part of the festival,” says Mr. Santanu Mishra, Chairman, SIFFCY and Co-Founder, Smile Foundation.

“With the impact that the pandemic has had on everyone especially the children and the youth, it is key to address the issues and create conversations of positivity. In this 8th edition of SIFFCY, through different formats, we bring several interesting stories from across the world to engage with the children and the youth. The festival will allow children and the youth to interact with international industry experts through our online platform,” says SIFFCY director, Mr. Jitendra Mishra.

With SIFFCY 2022, Smile Foundation is bringing cinema with a message to the doorsteps of the young Indian audience, besides the larger enthusiasts of good cinema, by providing them a never-before cinematic experience through the free online platform.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:

Sreeparna Chakrabarty: sreeparna.chakrabarty@smilefoundation.email | 9811502059
Website: https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~ Back-to-back annual certification for ‘sustaining a high-trust and high-performance culture’ ~

New Delhi, February 16, 2022: Smile Foundation has yet again been certified by the Great Place to Work® Institute as a Great Place to Work®.

Smile Foundation has been able to build upon its high-trust and high-performance culture, and the award certification stands testimony to this facet.

Smile Foundation won this recognition in 2021 also. This is the second recognition in a row for this national level non-profit organization. Coming at a time when the country continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, the certification indicates the strength of the team at Smile Foundation and the work culture that the organization has been able to nurture and build upon.

Speaking about the recognition, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “I believe that there are so many ways to create a good organization. But only people make it a great one. I have witnessed this happening in Smile Foundation since the inception. The last two years of pandemic, the associated hardship and uncertainty, both on personal and professional fronts, have been uncommon. Our people have not only stood for each other but also created life-changing impact across the length and breadth of the country. With all humility and great pride, I can say that the very people have also created a caring and supportive work environment despite challenges all around,”

Every year, more than 10,000 organizations from 60 countries partner Great Place to Work Institute for assessment and benchmarking. Great Place to Work Institute’s methodology is recognized as rigorous and objective and is considered the gold standard for defining great workplaces across organizations.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:

Sreeparna Chakrabarty: sreeparna.chakrabarty@smilefoundationindia.org. | 9811502059 Website: https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~Films from countries like Iran, Belgium, Chile, Cuba, Argentina to be highlights~
~India’s entry to Oscars ‘Village Rockstars’, Priyanka Chopra’s ‘Pahuna – The Little Visitors’ among films to be screened to inspire young minds~

New Delhi, April 14 2022: The eighth edition of the Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth (SIFFCY), which will be held virtually from April 24-30, will screen over 100 films from more than 50 countries like Germany, Iran, Argentina, Cuba, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland, among others. The festival will feature a special curation of five Hindi and regional feature films produced by the Children’s Film Society, India, 10 films from Germany, made in collaboration with Schlingel, Chemnitz, and five Iranian films made in collaboration with the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults: Kanoon, Iran.

The films being screened will include several unreleased titles and will feature a special curation of five Hindi and regional feature films produced by the Children’s Film Society India. India’s official entry to the Oscars – ‘Village Rockstars’ and Priyanka Chopra’s ‘Pahuna – The Little Visitors’ and Chuskit, a film directed by Priya Ramasubban will be screened as part of the Extra Smiles – Best of SIFFCY segment, which will also feature films like The Flying Trunk and Famous in Ahmedabad.

Some prominent films from other countries that would be screened include Birds of Passage from Belgium, Ballad from Tibet from China, King’s Day from The Netherlands, My Second Eye from Germany, Jordan and Palestine, and The Best Sound in the World from Brazil.

“SIFFCY aims to provide healthy entertainment to children. It supports good cinema for the benefit of children and youth. We are glad to have nurtured such a platform to bring quality films from across the globe. Good cinema for children and youth must be encouraged so that this medium can help us build an empathetic society and a better planet,” says Mr. Santanu Mishra, Chairman, SIFFCY, and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation.

SIFFCY seeks to provide wholesome entertainment to children and help build their character through good cinema. The eighth edition of the film festival will also give a platform to films made by film students from India, Greece, Hungary, South Korea, and France. Films made by children from Portugal, Spain, Malaysia, and Slovenia will also to be screened.

“SIFFCY 2022, which is being organized virtually, will expose young minds to high quality cinema from across the world. It will shed light upon the way the world approaches cinema and films in general,” says Mr. Jitendra Mishra, Festival Director, SIFFCY.

Films screenings at SIFFCY 2022 have been divided into six categories namely, International Competition (Feature Films), International Competition (Shorts/documentaries), Extra Smile: Best of SIFFCY, 70 MM Smile : World Panorama, The Yellow Carpet: Indian Panorama, Next Gen: Films Made by Film Students, and Take One: Films Made by Children.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:

Sreeparna Chakrabarty: sreeparna.chakrabarty@smilefoundation.email. | 9811502059
Website: https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

New Delhi, April 22: A pioneer in applying successful management practices in the social sector, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation, was awarded with the Business World Social Impact Leader Award.

His contribution can also be described as a convergence of good governance, championing entrepreneurial spirit at the grassroots, leveraging emerging technologies, encouraging innovation, creating a high impact model, and imbibing the philosophy of real work and real change.

Mr. Mishra received the honor at the inaugural edition of the BW Disrupt Social Impact Summit & Awards 2022.

A management and legal consultant by profession, a company secretary by qualification, and an entrepreneur by passion, Mr. Santanu Mishra is also an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Born and brought up in Sambalpur, Odisha, he made his way up in the corporate sector before dedicating himself fulltime and voluntarily into nurturing Smile Foundation which he had founded along with a group of friends two decades ago.

His single-minded effort has made Smile Foundation impacting lives of 1.5 million children and their families directly across 26 states of India, every year through life-cycle approach of development.

Amalgamation of a high impact development model with the performance driven corporate world, fuelled by the selfless passion of social entrepreneurs and exemplary community connect at the grassroots have been the hallmarks of Smile Foundation.

Smile Foundation, the organization he nurtured, is known for evolving and applying various path-breaking models in the sector such as Civic Driven Change, Social Venture Philanthropy, Sensitization of Privileged Children, use of art in driving change etc. He is the producer of the path-breaking feature film I Am Kalam. Mr. Mishra is also the chairman of Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth.

Mr. Santanu Mishra dedicated the Business World Social Impact Leader Award to the 2600 people of Smile Foundation who work relentlessly on the ground round the year.

“The award will act as a motivation for me and an encouragement for our people in the endeavor to create meaningful impact in the lives of children and their families. Active participation of the civil society is imperative in the mission to create an equitable future for our children, besides building an empathetic society and a happier planet,” said Mr. Santanu Mishra.

The BW Social Impact Summit and Awards 2022 hosted social welfare professionals and organizations in the domains of education, health, women empowerment, and sustainable development.

The jury for the award comprises of industry luminaries such as former NASSCOM President Dr. Kiran Karnik, BW group editorial director Noor Fathima Warsia, Air Marshal Naresh Verma, AVSM VSM (Retd); Chairman 5F World Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Founder Crux Management Dr. Vikas Singh, BW Chairman & Editor-in-Chief Dr. Anurag Batra, among others.

Sadhguru, founder Isha Foundation, Kunal Kapoor, actor & founder Ketto, Shekhar Mehta, President Rotary International, Atul Satija, founder & CEO the Nudge Institute, Shridhar Venkat, CEO the Akshaya Patra Foundation, Mathew Cherian, Chairperson Care India were among the speakers during the summit & awards, which also included Mr. Santanu Mishra.

About Smile Foundation

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 26 states.

New Delhi, April 27, 2022: Smile Foundation, a leading Indian development organization, is hosting the 8th edition of the Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFFCY). SIFFCY, which is being held virtually from April 24-30, will screen over 100 films from more than 50 countries like Germany, Iran, Argentina, Cuba, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland, among others.

The film screenings will be available on the festival’s online platform, siffcy.org, for viewers on registration.

The festival features more than 50 short films and documentaries made by children from over 30 different countries. Many of them were made during and about Corona virus pandemic. Some of the films which are part of the International Competition Section include ‘The Blue Girl’ a film from Iran, Fritzi, A Revolutionary Tale from Germany, ‘The Club of Ugly Children’ from Netherlands and Indian film ‘Dostojee’.

The festival also includes a special curation of five Hindi and regional feature films produced by Children’s Film Society India, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India that will be part of the Yellow Carpet Section.

Awarding and encouraging cinema for good, this year, SIFFCY has more than 15 awards in various categories including prestigious ‘European Children’s Film Award’, ‘CIFEJ Award’ and ‘Film Critics Circle of India Award’.

Inaugurating the Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Chairman, SIFFCY, and Co-founder & Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “The very purpose of SIFFCY is to enable our young citizens to build a better society where they can dream and work towards realizing those dreams. Over the past few years, technology has changed our world having both positive and negative impacts. Our children have been the most vulnerable, having had to face the brunt of excessive use of technology. Exposure to endless streams of content through digital media has often misled and misinformed children. From the glorious days of innocence, they are now faced with issues of mental health. As an optimist, I firmly believe that the right always overcomes. Art and culture can be instrumental in helping children and the youth fight back. Art can induce new ideas and shape thought processes. Cinema is one of the most influential and creative tools that can promote positivity. We aim to empower and educate children and the youth about societal problems and about the way to resolve these through goodcinema. I hope platforms like SIFFCY become a deterrent to the negative communication that is influencing children worldwide.”

Mr. Jitendra Mishra, Festival Director, SIFFCY, said, “Several unreleased but critically acclaimed films are part of the official program of SIFFCY this year, many of them will have their international and/or India premieres at SIFFCY. We are honoured to collaborate with the Center for the Intellectual Development of Child and Adolescent KANOON, CIFEJ, and the Schlingel International film festival, Chemnitz, Germany, to bring films from across the globe to our SIFFCY platform. We are glad to provide a platform for filmmakers to screen their films and documentaries that follow the theme of ‘Cinema for Good’. Our goal is to engage young minds to learn and understand the impact that films can have and participate in conversations that drive social change.”

Some prominent films from other countries featured at the festival include Birds of Passage from Belgium, Ballad from Tibet from China, King’s Day from The Netherlands, My Second Eye from Germany, Jordan and Palestine, and The Best Sound in the World from Brazil, among others.

• Festival Dates: 24-30 April 2022
• Award Ceremony: 30th April 2022

Join the Smile International Film Festival: https://siffcy.org/siffcy-2022-online

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families every year through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 26 states.

Contact:

Sreeparna Chakrabarty: sreeparna.chakrabarty@smilefoundation.email | 9811502059
Website: https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~ Smile Foundation only non-profit to be awarded at Healthcare Asia Awards 2022 ~

New Delhi, April 29, 2022: Smile Foundation’s extensive and multi-pronged effort during the coronavirus pandemic in India was recognized as the COVID Management Initiative of the Year at the Healthcare Asia Awards 2022. The Foundation received this prestigious recognition for COVID-impact mitigation, healthcare service delivery and relief work it did over the past two years. Smile Foundation was the only non-profit organization among healthcare organizations, hospitals and institutions from across the globe to be awarded at the prestigious Healthcare Asia Awards under various categories.

Smile Foundation, through its Health Cannot Wait initiative, reached out to the nook and corner of the country and provided doorstep delivery of healthcare services through mobile healthcare and telemedicine mechanism, tele-counseling and awareness services, providing urgent necessities like PPE kits to health workers, strengthening the existing public health infrastructure through supply of oxygen and medicines, reducing the load of primary healthcare facilities, providing hygiene kits to masses, and spreading awareness to contain the spread of the virus. The initiative covered 14 states of India and reached out to over a million beneficiaries across India.

“We are honoured and humbled to receive such an encouragement in the form this prestigious award. The pandemic has been a monumental public health challenge. During the peak of the infections, as the situation worsened with every passing day, the need of the hour was to complement the government and public effort, and support the most vulnerable people. The accolade belongs to our entire team who turned Covid warriors displaying commendable resilience and selflessness,” said Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation.

As the world begins recovering from COVID-19, the healthcare sector has proved its resilience by manifesting ability to overcome challenges and continue serving the most vulnerable sections of society. Healthcare providers have innovated to devise breakthrough products, initiatives, and robust COVID management frameworks. Swift incorporation of these breakthroughs in day-to-day operations is helping manage crises and provide quality healthcare to patients.

The Healthcare Asia Awards 2022 recognized entities that have risen above the challenges caused by the pandemic and innovated to better serve customers. This year’s nominations were chosen by an elite panel of judges consisting of Chris Hardesty, Pureland Venture Partners; Partha Basumatary, EY-Parthenon Director, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Strategy Lead; and Sarah Butler, PwC Global Health Service Leader.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families ever year through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 26 states.

Contact:

Sreeparna Chakrabarty: sreeparna.chakrabarty@smilefoundation.email. | 9811502059
Website: https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~Project Manzil is creating a career path for adolescent girls so they can dream big and become independent~

New Delhi, May 11, 2022: Smile Foundation, under its Project Manzil initiative, has now provided employability training to around 14,000 young girls and enabled on-the-job training of another 5,000 girls to secure their future. The Foundation has encouraged the girls by enrolling them in vocational education courses.

Manzil’s girl-centered initiatives (both in-school and out-of-school) based on skills, information, stakeholder engagement aid significantly in addressing the socio-economic constraints that contribute to early marriage. For instance, evidence shows that adolescent girls with employability skills and prospects of employment are less likely to marry early. Economic empowerment of women also helps girls exercise more influence within the household and on issues like age of marriage.

Project Manzil is a five-year project funded by Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and is implemented by IPE Global. The in-school component of training is implemented by Smile Foundation. This initiative aims to increase retention of girls in schools and ensure effective transition from school to higher studies and/or work by making available training in vocational skills in schools, along with apprenticeships and jobs for out of school adolescent girls (15-19 years).

By imparting practical knowledge to students, over and above theoretical knowledge through Project Manzil, Smile Foundation is taking yet another step forward to provide quality education to young girls across Rajasthan.

NEP 2020 reinforces the need to address skill development through vocational training. Skill-based training is a vital component of our education system, from schools to universities. Vocational education serves as a tool to help girls who want to learn skills quickly but cannot afford a university degree. This training opens many job opportunities for girls. By introducing vocational training at the school and college levels, the project seeks to check girls’ drop-out rate.

Manzil aims to improve the quality of vocational education through three approaches focused on schools, students, and industry. These approaches improve the overall effectiveness of vocational education by helping the girls make informed decisions on their careers. Manzil provides training to girls in streams like IT, healthcare, beauty & wellness, security, retail, automobile, apparel, home furnishing, agriculture, tourism & hospitality, and electrical & electronics. Project Manzil aims to empower adolescent girls to realize their career goals and aspirations.

Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee Smile Foundation said, “Academic and vocational learning are complimentary to one another. When practical industry-based skill training becomes part of schooling, especially for girl children, it empowers them to make informed choices in life. This project has been showing inspiring impact.”

Project Manzil offers student counselling and aspiration-mapping services, regularization of on-the-job training and industry exposure, industry tie-ups for schools, mapping of local industries and employers on the Manzil app, employability skills and services to improve enrollment in vocational education. Currently, the project benefits 90,000 adolescent girls between 14 and 19 years pursuing vocational education in grade 9-12 across 182 Government schools in 6 districts of Rajasthan.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:

Sreeparna Chakrabarty: sreeparna.chakrabarty@smilefoundation.email. | 9811502059
Website: https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/