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RB, NDTV and Smile Foundation come together to combat mother and child deaths in India

RB, NDTV and Smile Foundation come together to combat mother and child deaths in India

Amitabh Bacchan to champion the Swastha Banega India Campaign

Pan India Release, 17 August 2019: With Amitabh Bacchan championing the cause of health of new mothers, Reckitt Benckiser, NDTV and Smile Foundation have come together to launch the Swastha Banega India Campaign focused on pregnant mothers or young mothers, on August 19 at Jamnabai Narsee School, Vile Parle in Mumbai.

The six-month long campaign, with the non-profit Smile Foundation as the ‘implementing partner’, will focus on pregnant and young mothers. While raising awareness on the need of health seeking behavior, good nutrition and safe and hygienic sanitary practices, the campaign ‘Swastha Banega India’ in its sixth edition aims to address a larger goal of reducing mother and child deaths in India.

Data from The Lancet’s Series (May 2014) shows that most maternal and infant deaths occur in the first month after birth: almost half of postnatal maternal deaths occur within the first 24 hours, and 66% occur during the first week . In 2013, 2.8 million newborns died in their first month of life─1 million of these new-borns died on the first day.

According to the World Health Organisation under nutrition affects mortality and ill-health along the entire continuum of care from pre-pregnancy to early childhood.

Data shows that poor dietary quality and inadequate intake of micronutrients as well as low energy intake, contributes to at least one-third of child deaths and 20 per cent deaths during child delivery.

WHO says that more than 60% of all under-five child deaths can be avoided with proven, low-cost preventive care and treatment. Preventive care includes: continuous breast-feeding, vaccination, adequate nutrition and use of insecticide treated mosquito nets. Similarly, safe sanitation practices, coupled with wholesome nutrition, which includes iron, calcium and carbohydrates can prevent 20 per cent maternal deaths.

Amitabh Bacchan, who is the brand ambassador for the campaign will be launching the ‘Swasth Box’ – which has been carefully curated by health care experts to address the health, sanitation and nutrition challenges among the underserved women population of our country.

The pan India campaign will reach out to over a 1000 women to raise awareness on the issue of mother and child deaths across India. In the second phase, Swastha Boxes will be distributed among the vulnerable populations over a three month period across states in India and in the final phase, reflections from beneficiaries- mothers and communities will be captured as an outcome for the campaign.

1. Every Newborn, An Executive Summary for The Lancet’s Series. May 2014
2. Nour N. 2008. An Introduction to Maternal Mortality. Reviews in Obstetrics &Gynecology. 1:77–81.

“Community outreach is a critical aspect of this campaign and that is facilitated by outreach volunteers as the community has low levels of awareness and poor health seeking behavior,” said Santanu Mishra, trustee and co-founder, Smile Foundation

“Smile Foundation will ensure that the kit reaches the women who need it the most and also influence the mindsets to ensure that the mother and newborns or infants are safe and healthy.” he added.

Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

FOR MORE DETAILS CONTACT:

Jaya Shroff: Smile Foundation: [email protected] | 9818194294

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Smile Trustee awarded for contribution towards human welfare

Smile Trustee awarded for contribution towards human welfare

August 30 2019, New Delhi: Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee Smile Foundation, has been conferred Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar 2019 for Smile Foundation’s committed and extensive contribution towards human welfare.

The award citation highlighted the innovative approach and extensive partnerships, with a range of stakeholders, particularly with companies and corporates, fostered by Smile Foundation to enable interventions that have benefitted 750,000 underserved children and their families.

Receiving the award, Mr Mishra, said, “If an organization created by a few ordinary people, without any experience of the social sector, could mobilize over 400 global corporate and 200,000 individuals to impact the lives of more than 1.5 million children and families in just over 15 years, it gives us hope that a positive change is happening and this may be the beginning of a new world.”

“The concept of society driven change has become more relevant today. New India is on the rise. The thought process of the millennials is different – they are aware of the social disparities around them, more sensitized towards their individual social responsibility. Increasingly, it is getting important to give access to the lesser privileged, to voice their concerns and issues, and bring a sense of empathy to the privileged.”

Former President Pranab Mukherjee who gave away the awards broke into a passionate extempore speech. He said, “I am delighted to handover the awards to such wonderful people. It’s being humane that’s most important thing in the world. Till the time we can’t become humane, we can’t become humans.

Mr. Mishra was one of the ten awardees who were honoured on August 30, 2019 in the national capital by former President Shri Pranab Mukherjee. The list of awardees also included: Padma Shri awardee Arunachalam Muruganantham; Padma Shri awardee Anu Aga; Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey; Animal Rights Activist Menaka Gandhi; Rani Laskhmibai Stree Shakti Puraskar awardee Mansi Pradhan; Actress and social activist Nafisa Ali; International Women Empowerment Award winner Lakshmi Agarwal; Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Prakash Baba Amte; Conservationist and recipient of Officer of the Order of the British Empire Belinda Wright.

The awardees were selected by an eminent twenty-four-member jury.

Website – www.smilefoundationindia.org

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National NGOs look at leveraging domestic fundraising and innovation for sustainability

National NGOs look at leveraging domestic fundraising and innovation for sustainability

With international funding slowing and domestic fundraising taking off strongly, local NGOs have to up their game to win hearts and donations from local supports and companies. A five-day workshop by Smile Foundation in association with Wilde Ganzen’s Change the Game Academy in Kolkata seeks to help organization crack the local fundraising.

Kolkata, 31 August 2019: Over the past decade or so dependence on foreign funding for national NGOs has been erratic and is on a slow down. As per a recent report there has been a decline of 40 percent in foreign funds for NGOs over the past five years. This coupled with global economic slowdown and emergence of corporate social responsibility and individual giving, is making local organizations look for ways to raise resources and support for the cause they champion within the national markets.

But this is easier said than done as most organization that are working at state level and rooted in the community also called community-based organizations or (CBOs) lack resources, mentoring and skills to leverage this opportunity.

Various new ideas and tools that are being tried out to raise funds and Change the Game Academy (CtGA) is one such programme, funded by the Wild Geese Foundation to empower the smaller nongovernment organizations in methods to become self reliant and sustainable.

“Funds from foreign are shrinking due to valid reasons, corporates are more systematic and in better control to invest, NGOs by and large lack with the skills and mainly the attitude to complement the policies of Government in place by either improving or setting them anew. As a result ‘Self-Sustainability’ is a big question for them,” said Mukesh George, a trainer working with Smile Foundation, who is part of the CtGA programme.

“Change the Game Academy (CtGA) addresses these issues through its Classroom Course approach by focusing on the aspect of Local Fundraising. The course brings forth the paradigm shift to the participants that Local Fundraising is more sustainable option in a longer run and they leave the room equipped with skill-set, ready with an event plan to fundraise,” he explained.

“We have seen that the Indian’s are giving, hence we are seeing a growing trend in donations by individual philanthropists. They have ensured that the role of private funding continues to grow despite slowing foreign fund inflows. Similarly, funding under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is maturing, which has seen a growth of 12 percent the recent times, but a lot more needs to be done,” said Gargi Kapoor, In-charge, CtGA, India.

“These workshops help the civil society to rethink their business models, think strategically about its financial models and adopt new and innovative approaches that will help the sector maintain its independence and still be sustainable. The idea exchanges that happen through the workshops empower these smaller units with long term and short-term fundraising goals,” she explained.

The legislative environment and the policies related, economic downturn in the top-tier funding countries and changing donor priorities have made dependence on foreign funding a verytricky option. The need for smaller NGO’s is about finding financial stability, by diversifying their resources to have a healthy mix of long and short term funding, Financial sustainability is about diversifying financial resources in order to have a healthy mix of long and short-term funding, CSR donations, foreign and local donors as well as internally generated resources by events, fundraisers etc.

Jaya Shroff: Smile Foundation: [email protected] | 9818194294

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is a national level development organisation reaching out to more than 600,000 underprivileged children, youth and women directly every year through more than 250 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, youth employability, and women empowerment across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.

Website – www.smilefoundationindia.org

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Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar given to Smile Foundation co-founder & nine others

Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar given to Smile Foundation co-founder & nine others

Awardees felicitated by Bharat Ratna Shri Pranab Mukherjee, 13th President of India, for their exemplary contribution in the field of public service and human welfare.

2 September 2019, New Delhi: Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder & Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation, has been conferred Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar 2019 for Smile Foundation’s committed and extensive contribution towards human welfare.

Mr. Mishra, recipient of Prestigious Odisha Living Legend Award, hails from Sambalpur and Odisha. Mishra is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, an Associate Member of Institute of Company Secretaries of India, and a lawyer. In 2005, Mishra quit his full-time corporate career and got completely involved in advancing the non-profit Smile Foundation.

Nine individuals have been given the award for “building a brand of faith and hope through their conviction and actions while remaining committed to bringing about a change in the society and championing the cause of equality, humanity, social justice, and human welfare.”

The award ceremony held on 30th August 2019 in New Delhi was graced by Bharat Ratna Shri Pranab Mukherjee, 13th President of India.

The list of awardees also included: Padma Shri awardee Arunachalam Muruganantham; Padma Shri awardee Anu Aga; Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey; Animal Rights Activist Menaka Gandhi; Rani Laskhmibai Stree Shakti Puraskar awardee Mansi Pradhan; Actress and social activist Nafisa Ali; Acid attack survivor and activist Lakshmi Agarwal; Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Prakash Baba Amte; Conservationist and wild photographer Belinda Wright.

In his powerful and poignant speech to mark the award ceremony, Former President Pranab Mukherjee invoked the spirit of humanism and equality that underline the Constitution of India and added that: “I am delighted to hand over the awards to such wonderful people. It’s being humane that’s the most important thing in the world. Till the time we can’t become humane, we can’t become humans.”

The award citation highlighted the innovative approach and extensive partnerships, with a range of stakeholders, particularly with companies and corporates, fostered by Smile Foundation to enable interventions that have benefitted 750,000 underserved children and their families.

Receiving the award, Mr Mishra, said, “If an organization created by a few ordinary people, without any experience of the social sector, could mobilize over 400 global corporate and 200,000 individuals to impact the lives of more than 1.5 million children and families in just over 15 years, it gives us hope that a positive change is happening and this may be the beginning of a new world.”

“The concept of society driven change has become more relevant today. New India is on the rise. The thought process of the millennials is different – they are aware of the social disparities around them, more sensitized towards their social responsibility. Increasingly, it is getting important to give access to the lesser privileged, to voice their concerns and issues, and bring a sense of empathy to the privileged.”

Power Brands: Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar (BMVP) is a distinctive initiative, a unique stage of some of the most powerful and humane minds from across the nation. BMVP is a platform for leaders from the sphere of Politics, Business, Academics, and Entertainment.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is a national level development organisation reaching out to more than 600,000 underprivileged children, youth and women directly every year through more than 250 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, youth employability, and women empowerment across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.

Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

FOR MORE DETAILS CONTACT:

Jaya Shroff: Smile Foundation: [email protected] | 9818194294

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Smile Foundation Announces Smile International Film Festival (SIFFCY) 2019

Smile Foundation Announces Smile International Film Festival (SIFFCY) 2019

5th edition of SIFFCY will focus on films from Sweden, Germany and Czech Republic

New Delhi November 11 2019: Come December, the National Capital will welcome the fifth edition of Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFFCY). The festival that is one of India’s most unique film festivals for children and youth boasts of a carefully curated roster of cinema with 150 titles from 50 countries in over 30 languages, to be screened from 9-15 December in the heart of Delhi – the Siri Fort Auditorium.

SIFFCY serves as an international venue for different cultures around the globe to screen, celebrate and honor the filmmakers that create the distinguishable cinema. The week-long festival brings together internationally recognised artists to promote and share their love of cinema and the filmmaking process. The festival will host several panels and workshops on pressing social issues by international experts.

Over 20,000 children and youth from all over the country are expected to come for the screenings.

Mr. Santanu Mishra, Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation & Chairman, SIFFCY, says, “Bringing good cinema to children is more important than ever before. With internet penetration and easy technology access, online videos – both good and bad—are increasingly the most consumed medium by children these days. Whereas film festivals like ours brings them select, age-appropriate content from all over the world. This exposes them to good content and helps them differentiate it from all that’s not right for them,” he said.

Mr. Jitendra Mishra, Festival Director, SIFFCY, says, “SIFFCY 2019 is going to be an absolute feast for everyone, irrespective of their age, as the event would alchemise and produce an ideal combination of varied genres and niches including family, passion, kinship, self-assurance and others. A major part of the festivals and corresponding panel discussions will focus on climate change, environment and cleanliness.”

The latest edition of SIFFCY will have a panel of international jury to present unbiased perspective on the featured films. Supporting various allegiances, the event would represent collaborations with the leading film festivals of Europes – BUFF Malmö, Sweden, Schlingel IFF, Germany and Junior Fest, Czech Republic. The festival will celebrate their partnership with all three countries by dedicating a day in their honour.

International Competitive Award, Next-Gen (Student Films) Award and various other accolades will be given to good films in respective categories. The festival intends to serve as a platform which not only acknowledges good cinema but also honours them with well-deserving laurels. The festival will host the most prestigious European Children Film Association award and the CIFEZ award. SIFFCY is the only non-European country to host the ECFA award.

For more MEDIA queries/ interviews:

Contact: Jaya Shroff: 9818194294 | [email protected]

Website – www.smilefoundationindia.org

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Madame Tussauds Hosts Launch Of Latest Motu Patlu Comic Book

Madame Tussauds Hosts Launch Of Latest Motu Patlu Comic Book

~Amaze your kids with the new series of Motu Patlu Comic~

New Delhi, November 14 2019: Madame Tussauds, the world’s most famous wax attraction, hosted the launch of India’s beloved cartoon character Motu Patlu’s comic book series, at the Delhi attraction here today.

Children from SMILE FOUNDATION unveiled the comic book alongside the figures of their favorite cartoon characters at the attraction. The book launch was followed by a brief comic-reading session for the enjoyment of the kids.

The comic book, is a special Madame Tussauds edition and chronicles the adventures of ‘Motu Patlu’ at the wax attraction. Earlier this year, Madame Tussauds had unveiled the figures of the most loved cartoon characters at their Delhi attraction located at the iconic Regal Building.

Motu and Patlu illustrate the imperishable bond between two friends living in an imaginary town. Both Motu & Patlu have a strong fan following with Kids and parents due to their clean and fun content that has led to many memorable adventures for the Duo. They are noted for getting into hilarious situations from which they manage to extricate themselves only through luck. The iconic characters, created by Mr. A.P Bajaj of the lotPot Group in 1969, now also a popular kids series on Television.

Over the last 50 years, the comic characters have won numerous accolades like the ‘Best Animated Character at BAF Awards’, Best Animated Character for 3 consecutive years at the Kids Choice awards and the Best Animated Characters at the Delhi CG awards.

Mr Anshul Jain, General Manager and Director, Merlin Entertainments India Pvt. Ltd. Said, “Madame Tussauds Delhi is a fun entertainment destination for families. The Motu Patlu figures are very popular with children, which has made us want to offer something more to the fans. I’m sure kids will enjoy reading the adventures of Motu Patlu at Madame Tussauds Delhi. Also It was a delight to have the kids from smile foundation here for the launch of the comic series. We hope they had a memorable time.”

Mr Santanu Mishra, Executive Trustee and Co-Founder, Smile Foundation said, “Smile believes that inculcating today’s morals to children, is one of the best ways to bring about civic driven change. Motu Patlu and their stories have a unique way of spreading messages of hope and persistence, and this gives their audience an exceptional format to learn. Thanks to Madame Tussauds, kids from Smile’s Mission Education School have been given the opportunity to visit and experience one of the most iconic attractions in Delhi and be part of this comic series launch.”

About Madame Tussauds:

Welcoming a fabulous 10 million guests through our world-famous doors every year, Madame Tussauds gives you the chance to experience the ultimate fame experience.

Madame Tussauds has over 23 unique locations around the globe, from New York to Shanghai, Amsterdam to Sydney – and of course London, where the story began. Throughout its 250+ year history, Madame Tussauds has brought to life thousands of celebs, stars and heroes – in mind-blowingly accurate detail – giving visitors the opportunity to brush shoulders with their idols and literally reach for the stars!

Truly immerse yourself in Madame Tussauds famous worlds and get a taste of the life of the rich and famous, as in 2018, the opportunity to become the star continues! Through a combination of its historic artistic methods (that date back centuries, by the way!), immersive sets and pioneering modern tech – guests can experience fame and get closer to the action like never before…

Welcome to the Stage.

Welcome to the Spotlight.

Welcome to Madame Tussauds – it’s where stars are made!

About Merlin Entertainments Plc

Merlin Entertainments plc is a global leader in location-based, family entertainment. As Europe’s Number 1 and the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator, Merlin now operates over 120 attractions, 18 hotels and 6 holiday villages in 25 countries and across 4 continents. Merlin’s purpose is to deliver memorable experiences to 67 million guests around the world, through its iconic brands and multiple attraction formats, and the commitment and passion of its c.28,000 employees (peak season).

See Merlin Backstage ( www.merlinentertainments.biz/backstage or www.facebook.com/merlinbackstage) or visit www.merlinentertainments.biz for more information.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is a national level development organisation reaching out to more than 600,000 underprivileged children, youth and women directly every year through more than 250 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, youth employability, and women empowerment across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.

Website – www.smilefoundationindia.org

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Smile International film festival announces official selection of films in competition for SIFFCY’19: Kung fu Panda director John Stevenson heads the Jury panel

Smile International film festival announces official selection of films in competition for SIFFCY’19: Kung fu Panda director John Stevenson heads the Jury panel

  • SIFFCY to feature 150 films, encouraging talent from all over the world
  • Best works from 50 countries to be featured during week-long extravaganza from 9-15 December
  • Event to be attended by global cinema icons, including Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson

New Delhi, 19 November 2019: Bringing the best of world’s cinema for children to the national capital, Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFFCY) is all set to launch its fifth edition in December.

One of Delhi’s most stellar events for children and youth-SIFFCY- will feature varied genres and categories of films from all across the globe, roping in the healthy competition in the infotainment industry as it acknowledges the efforts of the worthy with awards. The festival, screening from 9 – 15 December, will curate 150 films in 30 languages from thousands of international films and short-features from around the world.

The fifth edition of the unparalleled film festival will emphasise on applauding young talent and boosting their spirits as it features nine films from – Poland, USA, Cyprus, Australia, Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Germany, Canada and India – in the International Competition Feature Section. Five of these films will be recognised and qualify for the other award categories, including the ECFA Award, the CIFEJ Award & the FCCI Award (Film Critics Circle Award).

The complete list of the feature film official election includes:

  • Binti by Frederike Migom (Belgium)
  • Phantom Owl Forest by AnuAun (Estonia)
  • Fight Girl by Johan Timmers (The Netherlands)
  •  Inventing Tomorrow by Laura Nix (USA, India, Indonesia, Mexico)
  • Underdog by Seong-Yun OH and Chun-Baek Lee (South Korea)
  • Measure of a Man by Jim Loach (USA)
  •  Too Far Away by Sarah Winkenstette (Germany)
  • Here My Village by Abas Aram (Iran)
  • Musk by Vinod Kamble (India)

SIFFCY will appreciate several notable works of the artisans of cinema as it presents the International Competition Shorts Section, further including 18 different films from 13 different countries. Admiring the masterpieces created by students, the event will feature the Next-Gen Section, a category curated to recognise the endeavour of students, presenting 16 films made by film students from 10 countries.

Mr. Jitendra Mishra, Festival Director, SIFFCY, says, “As usual, this year’s festival will treat the audience with more than 150 films from different genres including both live action and animation from more than 40 countries. Diverse array of compelling feature films, documentaries, short films, includes variety of films on important global issues like climate change, immigrants, war and peace, friendship, family values will be showcased. While the best of children films from USA, UK, Canada & major European countries like Germany, Sweden, France, Norway & Czech Republic will be celebrated, we have also curated films from culturally diverse countries like Columbia, South Africa, Iran & Korea. We also have several interesting Indian regional films in the slate this year.”

Influencing the new-age generation and conveying messages of substance through the films enacted and curated by children, the festival will comprise of a Take One Section, showcasing 36 different short films made by children from 20 different countries.

Mr. Santanu Mishra, Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation & Chairman, SIFFCY, says, “We are quite proud of the film listings and are excited to showcase it. Jitendra has put in a lot of hard work to bring good content from all over the world.”

Renowned stars from across the world, including Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson, will come together to form the international jury and panel at the event.

Website – www.smilefoundationindia.org

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National NGOs look at leveraging domestic fundraising and innovation for sustainability

National NGOs look at leveraging domestic fundraising and innovation for sustainability

With international funding slowing and domestic fundraising taking off strongly, local NGOs have to up their game to win hearts, minds and donations from local companies. A five-day workshop by Smile Foundation in association with Wilde Ganzen’s Change the Game Academy in Chennai seeks to help organizations crack the local fundraising.

Chennai, November 26, 2019: With its commitment to work towards ‘Civic Driven Change’, Smile Foundation has teamed up with Wilde Ganzen’s Change the Game Academy to bring in best practices and help grassroots organizations take forward their development mandate. Through a unique classroom learning course, NGOs get to hear from experts on how to tackle fundraising issues and comply with the processes of due diligence from stakeholders to avoid abrupt shut downs.

This is particularly important in today’s context as over the past decade or so dependence on foreign funding for national NGOs has been erratic and is on a slowdown. As per a recent report, there has been a decline of 40 percent in foreign funds for NGOs over the past five years. This coupled with global economic slowdown and emergence of corporate social responsibility and individual giving, local organizations are looking for new ways to raise resources and support for the causes they champion within the national markets.

Only recently, around 1800 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in India have been banned by the government from accepting foreign funds for allegedly violating norms of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). “In our experience of over 16 years in the sector, we have realized that most of the times, the smaller organizations lack the basic know how of dealing with funds,” said Santanu Mishra, co-founder and trustee, Smile Foundation.

“Sometimes they don’t know how to raise resources, and many a times when they have funds, they don’t know the compliance processes. Foreign funds are shrinking due to valid reasons –corporates are more systematic in how they want to invest, NGOs by and large lack the skills and the attitude to complement the policies of Government in place by either improving or setting them anew,” he said.

“Self-Sustainability is a big question for these smaller NGOs. Change the Game Academy (CtGA) addresses these issues through its Classroom Course approach by focusing on the aspect of local fundraising. The course brings forth a paradigm shift to the participants that local fundraising is a more sustainable option in the long run and they leave the room equipped with skill-set, ready with an event plan to fundraise,” said Gargi Kapoor, In-charge, CtGA, India.

“These workshops help civil society to rethink their business models, think strategically about its financial models and adopt new and innovative approaches that will help the sector maintain its independence and still be sustainable. The idea exchanges that happen through the workshops empower these smaller units with long term and short-term fundraising goals,” she explained.

There is a growing trend in donations by individual philanthropists. They have ensured that the role of private funding continues to grow despite slowing foreign fund inflows. Similarly, funding under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is maturing, which has seen a growth of 12 percent in recent times, but local NGO’s need to explore ways to also find alternate means of fundraising.

The answer for smaller NGOs is on finding financial stability, which is basically about diversifying financial resources to have a healthy mix of long and short-term funding, CSR donations, foreign and local donors as well as internally generated resources by events, fundraisers, etc.

With most organizations that are working at the state level and rooted in the community, the understandingof financial stability is poor and lack of mentoring makes is difficult to sustain with changing scenarios. Change the Game Academy (CtGA) through its classroom course program aims to empower smaller nongovernment organizations in methods to become self-reliant and sustainable, and help them understand the dynamics of being self-sufficient and self-reliant.

Jaya Shroff: Smile Foundation: [email protected] | 9818194294

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is a national level development organisation reaching out to more than 600,000 underprivileged children, youth and women directly every year through more than 250 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, youth employability, and women empowerment across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.

Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

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Smile Foundation’s Learning Fest continues to empower girl scholars in a holistic way

Smile Foundation’s Learning Fest continues to empower girl scholars in a holistic way

Smile Foundation powers development at the grassroots level through Civic Driven Change that brings together corporates, local government bodies, individuals, institutions, media and larger civic society. The collaborative and partnership based approach has brought about sustainable change in the lives of more than 1.5 million children and families in its journey with a sharp focus on girl child education and empowerment.

Mumbai, November 29 2019: In its endeavor to continue facilitating change for an equal society by supporting girl child’s education, Smile Foundation, under its flagship Swabhiman Scholarship program organized a day-long Learning Fest for 80 Smile scholars in Mumbai.

The day-long event saw these 80 girls come together from all parts of Maharashtra to celebrate their academic achievements. The Smile scholarship programme helps academically bright girls, studying in schools and colleges continue their education.

“Starting from career counseling, yoga sessions, health awareness sessions, body awareness workshops, these girls are given life-skill training to uncover their true potential,” said Seema Kumar, national lead, Swabhiman, Smile Foundation.

“The learning fest gives these young girls from the underserved strata an opportunity to girls for breaking out of their cultural shells. Through interactive and self exploration workshops they learn to express themselves. With help from experts, they hone their personality, interpersonal relationships and career choices.”

The sessions help the scholars to learn to assert their rights in the family, in the community and in social settings and to enable them to make genuine choices over the kinds of lives they wish to lead in the near future.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Santanu Mishra, co-founder and executive trustee, Smile Foundation said, “Through Swabhiman, SMILE seeks to enable girl children realize their potential and also give wings to their dreams. These dreams can only be realized when these girls belonging to the marginalized community are given full educational support by way of funds.”

“Smile Foundation is committed to overcoming the pressing challenges of gender discrimination, women’s uneven access or limited access to resources and gender-based violence. We believe that education holds the key to empowering women in all walks of life.”

The program identifies adolescent girls and women from the community and develops them into Change Agents, who in turn actively contribute to the community mobilization process.

Wide disparities are existent in Indian education; data by UNICEF suggests for every 100 boys enrolled in secondary education, there are 81 girls enrolled.

Swabhiman scholarship program started in 2006, helps academically bright girls, studying in schools and colleges continue their education.

Jaya Shroff: Smile Foundation: [email protected] | 9818194294

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is a national level development organisation reaching out to more than 600,000 underprivileged children, youth and women directly every year through more than 250 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, youth employability, and women empowerment across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.

Website – www.smilefoundationindia.org

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Siffcy Opens With Award Winning Belgian Film Binti

Siffcy Opens With Award Winning Belgian Film Binti

New Delhi, 9 December 2019: The fifth edition of the Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFFCY), supported by BookASmile, opened here on Monday with a screening of award winning Belgian feature film “Binti,” which marks the directorial debut of filmmaker Frederike Migom.

The film centers on a 12-year-old girl from Congo living in Belgium who enjoys vlogging and aspires to fame. But when police raid her home to deport her and her father, she finds her dream almost crushing. Escaping the police, Binti meets Elias and the two become friends. While Binti helps Elias to vlog about his ‘save-the-okapi-club’, she hatches the perfect plan: her dad has to marry Elias’s mom, so they can stay in Belgium.

Jitendra Mishra, Festival Director, SIFFCY said, ““There are more than 250 million immigrants in the world which is almost 3.5% of the global population and it’s an important topic to discuss among the upcoming generation. We want our children to be aware of such global issues and cinema is the right medium I believe. Binti is an emotional story of immigrant father and daughter that talks about this serious topic of immigrants in a lighthearted and entertaining manner.”

The film which has travelled across festivals around the globe has beenwinning several awards and accolades including the prestigious UNICEF & Grand Prix award.

Santanu Mishra, Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation and Chairman, SIFFCY, said in a statement: “It is an extremely important subject told from the children’s perspective. Year on year, it is our endeavor to being in best of world cinema to India. With such a majestic range of films across genres we are sure to keep our young audiences engaged all through the week.”

Other big award winning films which will be premiered during the festival are Phantom Owl Forest by AnuAun (Estonia), Fight Girl by Johan Timmers (The Netherlands), Inventing Tomorrow by Laura Nix (USA, India, Indonesia, Mexico), Underdog by Seong-Yun OH and Chun-Baek Lee (South Korea), Measure of a Man by Jim Loach (USA), Too Far Away by Sarah Winkenstette (Germany), Here My Village by Abas Aram (Iran), Musk by Vinod Kamble (India) among others.

For the fourth year in a row, the film festival is supported by BookMyShow’scharity initiative – BookASmile. Commenting on the collaboration, Farzana CamaBalapnde, Head – BookASmile said, “We believe in giving underserved beneficiaries the best entertainment experience always. This partnership with Smile Foundation is an extension of our mission to bring powerful and meaningful cinema for social change to 5,000 beneficiaries from NGOs and marginalized communities, in this case, children and youth.”

Also present at the launch were John Stevenson – Director, Kung Fu Panda, Mohsen Chiniforoushan – Secretary-General of CIFEZ, Felix Vanginderhuysen – Founder, Secretary-General of European Children’s Film Association, Julia Jarl – Festival Director, BUFF Film Festival, Sweden, MitsuoTahira – Founder and Director, Tokyo Kinder Film Festival, and Mohsen Chiniforoushan – Secretary-General of CIFEZ.

Like previous years, SIFFCY brings global exposure through good cinema to the young audiences. The week long film festival will have film making workshops, panel discussions with an objective to engage, educate and empower our children and youth.

The festival, spanning from December 9-15 will take place at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi.

https://www.ecfaweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ECFA-Journal-02-Binti-interview.pdf

https://kwassafilms.com/binti/?lang=en

For more information on SIFFCY 2019: http://siffcy.org/siffcy-2019.html

For media queries/ interviews:

Contact: Jaya Shroff: 9818194294 / [email protected]

About SIFFCY:

SIFFCY (Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth) is a special film platform devoted to a greater appreciation of meaningful cinemas made for children and youth which can bring change in the society by showcasing those films, supporting emerging filmmakers, recognizing the pioneers and leaders of the similar industry and by promoting the diverse perspectives of Good World Cinema. It caters to young people (aged 6 to 25) with just about every level of interest in film, whether to watch and enjoy, create their own work or take things a stage further and find out more about a career in the film or television industry.

The week-long annual Film Festival takes place at the Sirifort Auditorium, New Delhi, India during December every year. It attracts filmmakers, artists, Industry professionals and audience members from across the globe.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is a national level development organisation reaching out to more than 600,000 underprivileged children, youth and women directly every year through more than 250 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, youth employability, and women empowerment across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.

Website – www.smilefoundationindia.org

About BookASmile:

India’s leading entertainment destination BookMyShow launched its charity initiative BookASmile in 2014 with a vision to support special causes and enrich the lives of the less fortunate across India through entertainment-led experiences. BookASmile invests a lot of energies to create an inviting community to ensure that they can be privy to opportunities, by incorporating into their lives, activities and experiences from across genres like Cinema, Sport, Theatre, Music & Arts. The BookASmile initiative has been integrated within the BookMyShow App and website. With BookMyShow’s vast customer base, the initiative has been raising funds for special causes whereby every consumer can choose to contribute from Re.1/- per ticket – to a maximum of Rs. 5/- per transaction towards charity. For more information, please visit: https://in.bookmyshow.com/donation/

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2. The Smile Foundation website contains links to other websites for the benefit of its visitors. This Privacy Policy does not apply to such other websites.

3. Smile Foundation is not expressly or impliedly responsible for, or liable to any loss or damage caused to a user by the collection, use and retention of Personal Information by such website in any manner whatsoever. It is important that the users review the privacy policies of all websites they visit before disclosing any information to such websites.

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1. As and when the need arises, Smile Foundation may alter its privacy policy in accordance with the latest technology and trends. It will provide you with timely notice of these changes. The users may reach out to Smile Foundation if they have any queries about any changes made to its practices.

2. If you have any questions at all about Smile Foundation’s privacy policy, please write to us at: [email protected]

Refund and Cancellation Policy

Welcome to this web-site of SMILE FOUNDATION. We make public our policy on refund and cancellation of donations received for the social cause on payment gateway as under:-

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Supplementing & In Alignment with Government Initiatives

EDUCATION

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
National Education Policy
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao
Digital India

lIVELIHOOD

Skill India
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HEALTH

National Rural Health Mission
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Anaemia Mukt Bharat
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Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan
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