All India Radio Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh invited three groups of children from Smile Foundation to its programme 'AAO BACHCHO' to share their experience, while also boosting their self confidence and making them feel very special. The children recited poems, sang their favourite songs, cracked jokes and had lots of fun during the radio programme.

All the children were from Mission Education project in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh which has been operational since 2009 and is being implemented with Shikhar Yuva Manch through four operational centres at Ganesh Nagar, Thetha Debris, Nayapara (a centre exclusively for girls) and Indrapuri.

158 children in the age group of 3-18 years are benefitting from the project. Parents of these children make a living mostly as daily wage earners, plying rickshaw or working as mechanics. But with quality education, basic healthcare with health & hygiene practices, grooming and exposure they are gradually becoming confident of creating a brighter and happier future for themselves.

CEIL officials inaugurate the new computer lab at STeP centre in Paschim Vihar, Delhi

Students from Sri Shikshayatan School, Kolkata, documented Mission Education Programme's IPER centre in the city. The students have been regular visitors to the centre and have befriended many younger kids there.

The students interviewed the Director of IPER as well as the Mission Education project coordinator, asking them about the challenges faced while providing education to underprivileged kids.

They also captured ongoing lessons in the classrooms, sports, art and other co-curricular activities at the centre. The teachers shared the special teaching methodology they use to make learning easy and fun for the kids.

The children from the centre were interviewed about their interests and dreams and happily posed for the lens. At the end the Smile kids broke into an impromptu dance and were joined by students from Sri Shikshayatan.

Such interactions between the privileged and underprivileged kids are encouraged by Smile Foundation under its Child for Child programme to sensitize the privileged children towards their disadvantaged counterparts.

Villagers line up as the Mobile Health clinic makes a stop at a flood affected area

35 odd children got mainstreamed into formal schools from Mission Education's UTSAH centre at Hafiznagar, in Guwahati, Assam. Their friends and teachers from the centre came together to congratulate the children and celebrate the occasion.

The kids will be joining Chandmari Nimna Buniyadi Vidyalaya and Milanpur Mohammad Shah School in Guwahati. Miguel Queah, founder of UTSAH, felicitated the mainstreamed children.

Most of these children are orphans and runaways or were working as child labour, when they were inducted at the centre. Today, they are each others' strength and walking firmly on the path of education, to realize their dreams.

STeP students get oriented on the basics of hospitality sector at JW Mariott Mumbai

Not-so-easy living conditions, scarcity of water and rented houses could not stop women of Chhatarpur village on the southern fringe of Delhi, from sowing plants and nurturing gardens in their homes. The inspiration came from the initiative “The Garden of Hope and Sowing”, organised by Navdanya Trust, under Smile Foundation's Swabhiman programme.

The workshop began with seeds being distributed among 40 adolescent girls and women. The participants were made aware about the importance of organic food, followed by a group discussion in which ideas were invited for an ideal garden and interesting topics related to food and community. Thereafter, a sowing session was held, during which the women and girls learnt something new while having fun and strengthening their community bonding.

The women were very interested and curious about the sessions. They also ended the interactive session with another fun activity – by putting their thoughts on paper artistically through drawings and presenting them in groups.

Children and mothers attended a specialized health camp at Pithai village in Madhepura district, Bihar. The series of scheduled camps are in addition to the mobile hospital project operational in the district, with support from Siemens India.

For the health camps, Dr. Mikku Kumar Jha and Dr. Sheema Kumari Jha from the mobile hospital were supported by Dr. Rajeev Kumar. Diagnostic and pathological facilities of the mobile hospital were also made available to the specialized camps.

Families from five nearby villages attended the camp. 97% of the beneficiaries belonged to below poverty line families which also included 48% young mothers and women.

Such complementary health camps are organized regularly under the Smile on Wheels programme to meet the immediate healthcare needs of the marginalized community in remote rural areas and slums, with the belief that adequate awareness, diagnosis and timely care can reduce the incidence of morbidity and mortality, especially among children and women.

Aspecialized mega health camp was conducted for children and women in Chhatarpur Pahari on the southern fringe of Delhi under Swabhiman programme. Over 200 beneficiaries availed of the services at the camp.

Access to healthcare is considered to be one of the major components of women empowerment under the programme, which is based on an innovative 4-S model, meaning Seeking healthcare as a behaviour, Support for education, Supporters in men through male involvement, and Sustaining the change in communities.

The specialists for the health camp included a paediatrician and a gynaecologist, accompanied by a team of paramedics, Swabhiman change agents and volunteers. Diagnosis, counselling, medicines and contraceptives were made available for free.

A specialized mobile hospital under Swabhiman caters to children, young mothers and women in all the adopted communities. However, specialized and customized camps are organized regularly keeping in mind the high susceptibility of women and children to health problems.

Anew aspect has been introduced under the Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP), in the form of volunteer engagement sessions, where privileged youth from reputed colleges and universities take the onus of adding value to the learning process of their less privileged counterparts inducted at STeP centres across India.

These young dedicated volunteers not only score high with STeP students by bringing a more interactive approach in the classrooms, but being of the same age group, are also able to understand better and resolve the various challenges that the students face.

Innovative techniques, games and puzzles are being used by these volunteers to increase student participation at the STeP centres. Mostly these volunteers help enhance the communication, vocal and interpersonal skills of the students. The volunteers consider this a two way learning process, which also augments their own knowledge and skills.

Children from Mission Education’s IUCT centre at Ayapakkam village in Tamil Nadu celebrated Pongal, a festival celebrating the end of the harvest season and dedicated to the agricultural workers. Parents of these children, many of them also coming from the nearby villages of Konambedu, Reddipalayam, Annanur and Narayanapuram, work as small time farmers or vegetable and fish sellers.

Eminent personalities like former Revenue Minister, BV Ramanna; Minister of Minority Welfare, Abdul Rahim; Member of Parliament, P Venugopal; Asst. Registrar – Human Rights Commission, BC Gopinath and faculty from the reputed Mar Gregorios Arts & Science College became part of the celebrations, besides members from the community.

The programme began with the auspicious lighting of the lamp and recitation of the song “Anbe Sivam” by the kids, followed by dance performances by children from the centre as well as volunteers of Mar Gregorios College. The day was wrapped up with a traditional meal being served to the children.

Westside Retail Store invited the senior students of Ankur Vidyalya, Smile Foundation's Mission Education centre in Jammu, for a career counseling session. The session was facilitated by KC Public School. Students of KC Public School have been visiting Smile Foundation kids at the centre for interactive sessions and had befriended them during the fun visits.

The session proved to be enriching for the children as they got to discuss various career possibilities in the retail and service industry. The team from Westside, led by Assistant Manager, Mr. Rohit Sharma, was also impressed with the confidence of the kids and pledged to support them in all possible ways.

Ms. Sonia Thakur, Creative Head of KC Public School, attended the session, along with Mr. Kulvir Kumar, Manager, Child for Child Programme, Smile Foundation. Talking about the relationship shared by students of KC Public School with Smile kids, Kulvir said, “It is inspiring to see the bond that has developed between the children over time. Now we intend to reach out to other schools in the area.”

An exposure trip was conducted for children studying at Mission Education centre in Agartala, Tripura, to the Shipahijala Wildlife Sanctuary. 80 excited kids from the centre went on the trip and got to discover many little secrets of nature.

The main purpose of the trip was to bring the children closer to nature and to impart knowledge on the varied flora and fauna conserved at the sanctuary. The kids were asked to notice the sounds, colours and habits of the animals and birds. Concepts like ecosystem balance and food chain were also demonstrated to the kids in a simple way and they all pledged to help preserve environment.

The children were full of curiosity and took great interest in observing the animals, asking a lot of questions. They could not hold back their excitement and talked about the trip so much to their parents that all the parents visited the centre specially to thank the teachers for organizing such a wonderful trip for their children.

Twenty-three youth from Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP) centre were taken to Hypercity at Malad (West), Mumbai on an exposure visit to understand Retail and Inventory Management in real life.

The youth got practical exposure and basic understanding of Atmospherics, Layout, Visual Merchandising, and efficient use of available resources. Also Hypercity has an extremely credible Inventory Management System (IMS) which proved to be a great learning experience for the students.

Students were shown how various items are classified and displayed so as to grab as many number of eyeballs as possible. They were shown the placements of different categories of items and were also explained the reason behind the same.

The Store Manager at Hypercity acted as an ideal guide for the students who kept explaining and highlighting the most important areas. The entire staff at Hypercity was highly co-operative during the visit. Soon the students will join the retail and service sector brands and begin a dignified livelihood.

Aseries of workshops on reproductive health for community women were conducted in Shashi Garden, Dhaula Kuan and Chhatarpur localities in east and south Delhi under Swabhiman programme. Community women between 11 and 40 years of age participated in the workshops.

Subjects such as STI, RTI, personal and menstrual hygiene were covered during the workshops and awareness was spread about HIV-AIDS. Ms. Shabista Khan from Parivar Seva Sansthan; Ms. Rajni Rani from Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital and Ms. Manisha Pal from Aditi Mahavidyalaya brought in valuable expertise by joining the Swabhiman team as expert trainers.

Creating awareness about vital health issues and subsequently facilitating access to quality healthcare are the objectives behind conducting these special workshops under Swabhiman. The programme intends to promote a health seeking behaviour among women from disadvantaged sections of society which will further have a cascading effect in making their children and families healthier.

Community men, women and children in Peenya area of Bangalore took out a walkathon to spread awareness on the cause of girl child and women empowerment, on International Women's Day.

The walkathon was flagged off by adolescent girls from the community as they released balloons. Awareness songs on women empowerment were sung and placards developed within the community were carried during the walkathon. Kumkum, turmeric, roses and bangles were gifted to girl children and women as a token of respect.

Sowbhagya EG, President, DANI; Christopher M S Secretary, DANI; Satnam Singh, Chief Manager – Programmes, Smile Foundation and M Radkakrishna Pradeep, Regional Manager – Karnataka and Kerala, Smile Foundation also participated in the walkathon.

Smile Foundation introduced Swabhiman programme last year in Hegganahalli and Ramanna Badavane settlements in Bangalore, with support from Shankara Infrastructure Materials Limited, in association with DANI Development and Social Action.

More than 100 women and girls from Sriram J.J. Camp, near Dhaula Kuan in Delhi, came together to celebrate International Women's Day. These women, having lived a life of poverty and hardships, have been gradually moving towards a silent but resolute change, by becoming a part of Smile Foundation's Swabhiman programme.

The celebration began with an interactive and informative session where the participants were made aware about significant issues pertaining to their reproductive and menstrual health. This was followed by a group activity where each group was given craft material and asked to create something innovative on women empowerment. Later, all the works of art were discussed and appreciated openly.

The last session was motivational to the core and stories of inspirational women figures from daily life were showcased. As recognition of womenhood, the women and girls were asked to mark a canvas with their hands and pink bangles were distributed among them. The celebration ended with a roar that women should participate equally whether in home or at local and national platforms. Swabhiman aims at realization of both individual and collective self-esteem and inner strength for marginalised women and girls through innovative community practices.

Smile Foundation visits various reputed schools across India and conducts engaging sessions for the young minds under its Child for Child (CFC) programme. Children are sensitized to various causes, value systems and ushered to realize their importance in growing up as responsible citizens of the country.

St. Joseph Convent School, Saket Convent and Sainath Vidyamandir in Nagpur and Ashoka Universal School in Nashik, Maharsahtra, and Kendriya Vidyalaya in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, were some of the schools which invited Smile Foundation to conduct Value Education workshops for their students. The workshops were based on stories and lessons from the lives of inspiring change-makers, pioneers and leaders of India who had dedicated their lives to the betterment of society.

During 2013, Smile Foundation reached out to nearly 1 million privileged children in 900 schools spread across 417 districts of India, through CFC. In addition, their parents and teachers were also involved in the process. The programme has today reached out to every region of India except Lakshadweep.

Aseries of health awareness activities were conducted as part of a rigorous campaign under the Smile on Wheels programme at various slum clusters in Delhi at Yamuna Pushta, Mansarovar Park, Shastri Park, Rani Garden, Kalyanvas, Mori gate, Motiya Khan, Majnu ka Tila, Shastri Nagar, Dilshad Garden and Nandnagri.

Group discussions, demonstrations, street plays and interactive activities were organized on issues like hygiene and sanitation, maternal and child health and nutrition which benefitted more than 2400 people. Special vaccination camps were also set up for children. Children, along with women, comprised more than 80% of the total beneficiaries.

Health has never been a priority for this marginalized population and lack of awareness, coupled with poverty and unhygienic living conditions, means they are always exposed to numerous health hazards. Thus preventive healthcare and spreading awareness about health related issues is as important as providing curative healthcare for the underprivileged.

Students of Smt. KC Gandhi English School, Kalyan, visited Smile Foundation's Mission Education centre Bahujan Hitaya Trust in Thane, Maharashtra. The children spent a long time interacting with the Smile kids, while also taking a tour of the centre.

KC Gandhi students also proposed to play a friendly cricket match with the kids at the centre where mixed teams were formed and the game was played in the sportsman spirit. After enjoying a cricket match, a few lessons were shared between the children in rhymes and stories.

Such interactions are encouraged and facilitated by Smile Foundation under its Child for Child programme, which seeks to sensitize privileged children and inculcate in them a responsibility towards the less privileged sections of society, particularly children like themselves.