New
remedial education centre for girls in Bilaspur
Girls
of the ME remedial education centre at Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh |
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A
remedial education centre has been set up at Mission Education centre
Shikhar Yuva Manch for 50 girls in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. These girls,
belonging to different age groups, come from various parts of the
state. They have had a difficult childhood, being runaway kids, child
labour, orphans, children of jail inmates, etc. And education is the
only hope for them to free them from the shackles of poverty and suffering. |
The remedial education centre provides
them with a space to express their emotions through creative activities
like painting, singing, dancing, etc, which is a critical aspect of their
rehabilitation. Extra coaching in academic subjects is provided at the
centre, to help them cope with their studies. These girls are also taken
on excursions to important places to instil a sense of confidence in them.
The remedial education has helped the children emerge from their past
trauma and brought about positive changes in their behaviour.

More
women and girls accessing healthcare in Jamnagar
Women
waiting patiently for their turn in rural Jamnagar |
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W
omen and girls in the 24-odd villages of three blocks of Jamnagar
district in Gujarat are emerging from their traditional mould of
nonhealth seeking behaviour and juggling their household responsibilities
in order to access healthcare services provided by Smile on Wheels
mobile medical unit. |
This change in the behaviour pattern has emerged
from the village-wise patient summary recorded during the period of October-December
2012. The period saw 4366 women coming forward to access comprehensive
healthcare facilities of the Smile on Wheels mobile medical unit in comparison
to 2696 males. A two-fold increase of female patients has been observed
from the records when compared with the baseline study conducted at the
beginning of the project in 2011.
Jamnagar Smile on Wheels project, conducted in partnership
with CAIRN India, has benefitted 19,627 women out of 33,034 beneficiaries
through 738 healthcare camps since 2011.

Smile
on Wheels in Bengaluru in partnership with BAE Systems
S mile Foundation launched
its stateof- the-art Smile on Wheels mobile hospital in partnership
with global aerospace, defence and security company BAE Systems
to provide primary healthcare services to underserved communities
in Bengaluru. The mobile medical unit will be operated by the
Bangalore Baptist Hospital.
The mobile medical unit offers doorstep access to state-of-the-art
medical equipments and facilities such as X-Ray, ECG, IV fluid
transmission and basic pathological testing. The programme also
envisages setting up referral linkages with local hospitals as
well as establishing a community health fund to become selfsustaining
over the long-term. In the first year of operations, the outreach
of the mobile unit is estimated to be over 20,000 people.
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Chirman
Richard Olver and CEO lan king of BAE Systems, handing over the
ceremonial key of 'Smile on Wheels'
Smile on Wheels is part of BAE Systems’ corporate social
responsibility programme in India through which it supports development
programmes in the areas of primary education and healthcare in rural
and urban communities across seven states of the country. |

Rakhika
carves her own destiny through STeP
B.
Radhika, a pass-out of STeP centre |
|
B
.Radhika is a class 10th pass out. At the age of 16, she was married
off to secure her future. Her husband had a small electrical shop,
but his income was not enough to sustain the growing
family.
Radhika wanted to pursue studies and was admitted to a school.
But due to financial constraints, she had to quit. In the meantime,
Radhika gave birth to two children, adding to the burden on the
family.
Radhika was worried for her children’s future. She was desperate
to get into a decent job. But with her low communication and technical
skills, she couldn’t clear any interviews. During those days,
her husband heard about STeP, an employability training programme
of Smile Foundation. She was enrolled for the programme at the Secunderabad
centre Arunodhaya. In the next six months Radhika underwent training
in English, computer proficiency, etc. After completion of her course,
she got a placement with M/S Universal, a mobile retail outlet chain,
as a sales associate with a salary of Rs. 6,500 per month. In due
course, she was further promoted as a supervisor due to her sheer
hard work.
Radhika now augments her family income and takes care of her children’s
education. They are studying in class 5 and 6. She is happy to secure
her children’s future. |

Income
generation project for persons with disability
Kaduskar
Pankajbhai Hamukhbhai at his telephone booth |
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Kaduskar
Pankajbhai Hasmukhbhai suffers from 85 percent physical impairment
as a result of polio. A resident of Saddbhavnagar in Ahmedabad,
he dropped out of school after class 9 owing to financial condition
of the family. He started selling eatables and confectionery from
a small table outside his home, earning a meagre sum of Rs 1500
in a month. After hearing about the income generation support project
run by Mission Education centre Blind People’s Association
for persons with disability, Pankajbhai approached the officials
there.
Under the project, telephone booths are set up for persons with
disability from poor economic background, to equip them with the
means to earn a decent livelihood and instil a sense of confidence
to participate in the socio-economic process. In the last one year,
around 40 people like Pankajbhai have been provided with telephone
booths.
Today, Pankajbhai runs a telephone booth near his house and earns
Rs. 160-180 in a day. He also stocks confectionery, eatables, and
cold drinks in his booth to earn additional income. |

One
year of Sanjeevan Smile on Wheels in Madhepura
S anjeevan Smile on Wheels
project, providing affordable healthcare services to the doorsteps
of the families living in ten targeted villages of Madhepura district
in Bihar, completed one year of operations in March this year.
The project, carried out in partnership with Siemens India, covers
the villages of Sahugarh – I, Sahugarh – II, Chakla,
Sripur, Mithai, Naya Nagar, Bhatu Tola, Balam, Sikhasan and Sabila
in Madhepura and Ghailadh
block.
Besides providing a wide range of preventive and curative health
services to more than 18,000 underprivileged villagers in the
last one year, the project also conducted around 1067 health awareness
and multi-specialty camps to augment its services. |
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People
line up for Sanjeevan Smile on Wheels |
It also envisages a tie-up
with the government schools in the area to promote hygiene and health
issues like washing hands, vaccination and immunisation, etc, among the
young generation.
The mobile medical unit was pressed
into service in the identified areas after a baseline survey revealed
that 95 percent of the community in these villages belonged to lower income
groups. There was complete ignorance about the components of Maternal
and Child Health, institutional deliveries, etc. The villages lacked primary
healthcare services, increasing their dependency on quacks.

Healthcare
for underprivileged children across India
A
Child getting immunisation |
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Across
India, 5000 children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds
received curative primary healthcare services, whereas 50 children
were included under critical ailment and surgery support between
January and March 2013 as part of a special healthcare scheme launched
with support from Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited.
The children, between the age group of 0–16 years, were selected
from remote villages and urban settlement colonies
The primary healthcare services include general screening and treatment,
growth monitoring, immunisation/vaccination, pathological tests
and diagnostics, eye checkups and dental screening, which are provided
through the Smile on Wheels mobile medical unit. |
For the critical ailment and surgery support,
children suffering from serious and life threatening conditions like kidney
disease, aspiration pneumonia and sepsis, acute gastroenteritis with septicaemia,
epilepsy, Wilson’s Disease, Rett’s Syndrome, leukaemia, meningitis,
tumour, and thalassemia were selected in consultation with well known hospitals
such as All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), St. Stephen’s
Hospital, and St. Mary’s Polyclinic. These
children required hospitalisation, extensive treatment as well as surgery
in some cases and their parents were unable to afford the treatment.

MLA
Anil Kumar Chaudhary at Swabhiman event
Scholarship
being given to female beneficiary of Swabhiman |
|
Addressing
a stakeholder meeting of Swabhiman programme at Bismil Camp in Shashi
Garden, Delhi in January, MLA Patparganj, Anil Kumar Chaudhary commended
the development activities of Smile Foundation, particularly Swabhiman
programe, for the welfare of underprivileged women and girl children
in the national capital region through activities like scholarship
programme, counselling sessions and workshops for gender sensitisation
and community
mobilisation.
The meeting was conducted to orient the stakeholders, including
National Small Industries Corporation and Swabhiman centre officials
Adhaar, on the progress made under the programme and to provide
the community members a platform for interaction. Scholarships were
also presented to girl students on the occasion. A mass awareness
drive was undertaken by Swabhiman’s health volunteers on maternal
and child health, institutional deliveries and male participation
and involvement in the area of gender health. |

Open
House meetings for children
An
Open House meeting in progress |
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TThree
Open House meetings involving around 100 children have been conducted
in Mission Education centre Diksha Foundation, Patna, to involve
the children in the decision making process. Open House meetings
are a common practice in the space of alternative education and
help create an open space - where learners feel a high sense of
ownership and are not afraid to voice their opinions. It also promotes
group learning, apart from building a non-hierarchical classroom.
In one of the meetings, both the learners and teachers shared the
challenges which they are facing, for example time allocation for
usage of computer by individual children. Another issue pertained
to dance practice - as many of the children are interested in it.
Through these meetings, children also get insights into the meaning
of democracy and equity. It further helps the officials to get a
direct feedback on their work from the children. |

Twenty
Smile girls join Madura Fashion & Lifestyle
Students
selected to Madura trailring unit |
|
Around
20 girls from Bangalorebased Mission Education centre Sisters of
Charity have been provided employment with Madura Fashion &
Lifestyle, the retail wing of Aditya Birla Group.
These girls were part of the Gruhini (woman) course, which provides
training in tailoring and other related activities. Apart from a
monthly salary, these girls have also been provided with hostel
facility and canteen services for a nominal sum. So far, about 150
students of the centre have been placed in Madura Fashion &
Lifestyle. The association has helped these students get exposure
in a corporate set-up. Earlier, the girls would work from home on
nominal wages. But now they are get regular salaries and are able
to support the education of their younger siblings through their
savings. Till now, 250 students of the Gruhini course have been
placed in retail units like Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, K Mohan
and Aravind Garments in the last three years. |

Polio
awareness rally held in Barmer
Students
on Polio awareness march through Ranakpur village |
|
On
the eve of the National Polio Pulse campaign on January 20, a polio
eradication awareness rally was conducted in Ranakpur village, Barmer
to spread awareness among the common masses about the debilitating
disease and motivate them to bring their young children for polio
immunisation drive.
The rally, conducted in association with the district health department,
was flagged off by CMHO, Barmer Dr. Jitendra Singh from the district
Swasthya Bhawan. About 300 students of GNMTC Government Hospital
took part in the procession which passed through the village. Apart
from CMHO, others attending the rally included RCHO Dr. M.L. Maurya,
AYUSH Coordinator Dr. Anil Jha, and senior officials of GNMTC.
The awareness rally was part of the preventive healthcare measures
adopted under the Smile on Wheels programme in the rural areas of
Barmer, Rajasthan in partnership with CAIRN India. |

Student's
mobilisation camps held in Klinganagar
Students
filling up the feedback from |
|
Monthly
students’ mobilisation camps have been conducted in the remedial
centres set up in five schools in Danagadi block of Kalinganagar
area in Jajpur district since January. The remedial centres, set
up in partnership with Jindal Stainless, provide additional coaching
support to underprivileged students lagging in studies.
Through these camps efforts are undertaken to develop linkages
with the students, assess their progress, mobilise the students
to focus on their studies and also develop an understanding of the
difficulties faced by the students.
Feedback forms with questions pertaining to current educational
status of the students, problems faced within their families or
school surroundings, teachers’ attendance, and indifferent
attitude of the teachers are circulated among all the students.
These feedback forms are meticulously studied by the programme staff
to effectively address the concerns of the students.
The mobilisation camps have helped improve the outcome of teaching
learning process in the remedial centres, while also establishing
rapport with the community in the area. |

Odisha
State Youth Policy 2013 consultations
Odisha
state Youth Policy consultation in progress |
|
Smile
Foundation took part in the consultative sessions towards the formulation
of the Odisha State Youth Policy 2013 in February. The Youth Policy
aims to pave the way for expending opportunities through youth centric
programmes and investment in the youth by mainstreaming their concern
across sectors to expand the scope of youth participation, engagement
and involvement in
economic, political, social and cultural spheres. The state government
was holding consultations with NGOs, grassroots organisations and
experts to gather their inputs on the needs and concerns of youth
in the formulation of the policy, which has been launched in April
by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
At the consultative session, Smile Foundation shared its learning
from Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP) with specific inferences
to livelihood programme. So far, 13,448 urban underprivileged youth
have been trained under the STeP programme and 9633 of them have
been employed in more than 140 brands from retail and service sectors
across India. |

'Change
agents' felicitated
O n the occasion of International
Women’s Day, Swabhiman felicitated its 12 ‘change
agents’ from Shri Ram JJ Camp in Dhaula Kuan, Delhi, for
their valuable contribution to the success of the integrated community
development project being carried out in the area, in partnership
with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC). These change
agents - Community Health Educators and Swabhiman Health Volunteers
- work all year round for bringing about a behaviour change in
the community towards education of girl children, empowerment
of women and adolescent girls and seeking healthcare services
in the area.
A nukad natak (street play) was performed for the 150-odd women
and adolescent girls from the community, highlighting social evils
and decadent practices like female foeticide, dowry system, early
marriages, etc.
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Active
change agent Pooja singh being felicitated |

Quality
Initiative Mission Award 2013
Smile
team receiving Quality Initiative Mission Award |
|
This
year’s Quality Initiative Mission Award has been awarded to
Mission Education programme of Smile Foundation for innovation and
excellence in school education. The award was presented by noted
educationist Prof. B.P. Khandelwal, who is associated with the Council
of Boards of School Education (COBSE).
The Quality Initiative Mission Award has been instituted by the
Knowledge Resource Development & Welfare Group. |

Education
centre for women
A
student reading out enthusiastically from the text book |
|
An
adult education centre was set up in February at Chainpura village
in Vijaipur, Madhya Pradesh, to cater to women of the village, majority
of who are illiterate. The demand for the centre was raised during
a routine parent-teacher meeting at the village, where currently
a bridge course is being conducted for the children, in partnership
with GAIL (India) Ltd. Several women who attended the meeting keenly
expressed a desire to study and become literate. Most of these women
come from families that are into daily wage work.
Currently, the centre caters to about 25 women. There are no fixed
timings as these women try to juggle farm work and household responsibilities.
A teacher has been appointed to teach them basic language skills
in Hindi and English and simple maths through a specially formulated
weekly lesson plan.
The centre has brought about an improvement in the functional literacy
level among the women as they can now read and write Hindi and English
alphabets and do counting of numbers. Some women can even read books
with little assistance from the teacher. |

Vijaipur
issues in MP Jan Abhiyan Parishad
S mile Foundation was invited
in January to take part in discussions with the Guna block level
officers of Madhya Pradesh Jan Abhiyan Parishad (MPJAP), a nodal
body of the state government working on issues like education,
environment, malnutrition, healthcare, etc. at the village level.
The meeting was chaired by District Coordinator, MPJAP, Mrs.
Manjusha Soloman and discussed issues related to Right to Education
(RTE), malnutrition, environment conservation, energy, total sanitation
campaign, etc at the village level. The programme team also got
an opportunity to further linkages with the government officials
and apprised them about the Integrated Education and Health Programme
being carried out by Smile Foundation in the five villages of
Vijaipur.
Also discussed was the setting up of an Integrated Child Development
Services (ICDS) centre in Chainpura village to improve the nutritional
and health status of children in these villages.
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MP
Jan Abhiyan Parishad Officials meeting Smile programme official
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Vaccination
camps in Delhi
In
February, vaccination camps were conducted in three different intervention
areas of Delhi by the Smile on Wheels programme. The areas covered include
settlement colonies in Mansarovar Park, Motiya Khan and Majnu Ka Tila.
Women and children in the areas were given vaccinations for measles, MMR,
DPT, hepatitis, typhoid, and tetanus. These camps are conducted in association
with St. Stephens Hospital.

Mumbai
to get its first Smile on Wheels
Mumbai
will get its first Smile on Wheels mobile medical unit to reach out to
1,00,000 underprivileged people in eight clusters in the suburbs of Santacurz,
Vakhola, Mahakali , Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Malwani, Bandra and Khar in
Mumbai in the coming quarter.
The mobile medical unit will be fully
equipped with specialised doctors, nurses, and carry essential medicines
and pathological services to the identified slums in a systematic manner.
The project is being conducted in partnership with Shakuntalam Charitable
Foundation –a CSR arm of Mumbai-based television production house
Shakuntalam Telefilms.

New
SoW projects in Race Bareilly, Ashok Nagar
Director,
Technical, REC, P.J. Thakkar and COO, Smile Foundation, Vikram Singh
Verma signing the MOU in the presence of the Minister |
|
Two
new Smile on Wheels projects will soon be operational for rendering
primary healthcare services to underprivileged rural population
in Rae Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) and Ashok Nagar (Madhya Pradesh)
districts.
An MOU was signed with the Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd.
(REC) in this regard in February in the presence of Minister of
State (Independent Charge) for Power Jyotiraditya Scindia. The mobile
health projects would be operational in Harchandpur block of Rae
Bareilly and Chanderi block of Ashok Nagar district for a period
of three years.
Apart from providing primary health services to underprivileged
communities at their doorstep, efforts will also be undertaken to
develop linkages with nearby government/private health centres for
specialised treatment, and facilitating behaviour change towards
seeking quality healthcare. |

Workshop
on safe motherhood for community peer educators
A workshop on safe motherhood
was organised by Swabhiman in January for the community peer educators,
comprising Swabhiman Health Volunteers and Community Health Educators,
from the intervention areas of Dhaula Kuan, Begumpur, Chhattarpur,
Seemapuri, and New Ashok Nagar in Delhi.
The workshop aimed to educate and inform these peer educators
on the importance of adequate and quality ante natal care for
women, institutional delivery, essential newborn care (both community
based and personal care), complementary infant feeding, and timely
immunisation. They were also apprised of various government schemes
like Janani Suraksha Yojana, Laadli, and MAMTA for women. Swabhiman
has been trying to bring about a sustained progress in maternal
and child health indicators in its intervention areas through
education of its community peer educators.
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Smile
resource person explaining the process of safe motherhood practices
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Employee
engagement programmes at Mumbai, Secunderabad, Bangalore
A
session on effectve communication skills at STeP centre SAMA |
|
Employee
engagement programmes were held as part of the training curriculum
of Smile Twin eLearning Programme at its centres in Mumbai,
Secunderabad and Bangalore during January and February to orient
the underprivileged youth about the corporate world. Nestle India
Ltd. officials visited SHED centre (Mumbai) to orient the students
about various career options available in the company. Around 36
students attended the programme and flooded the visitors with queries
regarding career options and how they can start their own ventures.
Students of SAMA Foundation (Bangalore) centre also received an
intensive session on the working of the retail sector from an official
of More retail store. The official spoke about the retail chain,
its policies, recruitment process, customer dealings, etc. Around
30 beneficiaries attended the session. |
Senior officials of V2 Enterprises
conducted an interactive session at Arunodhaya centre (Secunderabad),
where information about career options in the sector, preparing for interviews
and group discussions, etc. was provided to 40-odd students.
Sharing her feedback on the session, student Amitha Shetty of Secunderabad
centre said, “Earlier I did not have much knowledge of the retail
sector. This session has made me confident about my communication skills
and I feel I will be able to effectively handle customers.”
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