Halabol (6th May 2013)

With a view to enable the grassroots NGOs to become well governed and sustainable in the local areas, Smile Foundation has so been actively working to empower 500 NGOs. The foundation has played a key role in this context in last two years and aims to reach out to 5000 similar NGOs across India by 2015.

This year Smile Foundation is actively working to cover 500 more grassroots NGOs under the Empowering Grassroots programme, Santanu Mishra, Co Founder & Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation, said.

Smile Foundation has so far built the capacities of 500 grassroots NGOs under Empowering Grassroots programme in last two years. By 2015, the aim is to reach out to 5000 similar NGOs across India, he added.

Talking about the thought behind Empowering Grassroots during an interaction program held in New Delhi during 10-11 April, Mr. Mishra, said, “The objective behind Empowering Grassroots is to enable the grassroots NGOs to become well governed and sustainable in the local areas itself.”

He added, “When grassroots NGOs are able to involve the civil society in the process of development, this will lead to good governance as well as scaling up of existing good work.”

Smile Foundation conducted a two-day capacity building programme during 10-11 April 2013 for grassroots NGOs in order to enable and equip them to participate in the process of social change at the local level effectively.

The programme held at Tivoli Garden, Chattarpur, Mehrauli, New Delhi. Interactive session included 26 selected NGOs from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan Delhi, Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir. Selected NGOs working in the area of child education and women empowerment participated and shared their experience. Representative from INDIACSR (www.indiascr.in), Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology (ISBTI), Jupiter Academy, Nai Disha-Delhi, Inna Raja, Nipun, Ankur Vidyalya, Arohan, Rasta participated in the programme.

The two-day event saw tailor-made sessions on key aspects; involving local support for sustainable fundraising, better fund utilization, meeting the expectations of donors, communicating with the stakeholders, leadership and the practice of good governance etc.

Aptly titled ‘Empowering Grassroots’, the programme focused on facilitating the NGOs at the grassroots to become self-sustained as well as bring excellence in their functioning.

Mr. Vikram Singh Verma, Chief Operating Officer, Smile Foundation said INDIACSR, “Smile Foundation see itself not a Funding Agency, but as a National Development Organization that not only to supports but helps to build capacities at the grassroots so that they eventually become self sustainable.”

Addressing the inaugural session Mr. Verma, said,

“Smile Foundation underscores the fact that helping is not simply a matter of dispersing money; but of making a long-term commitment and casting a hard eye on results. We aim to identify, handhold and build capacities of genuine grassroots NGOs to achieve accountability, sustainability, scalability and leadership. We make an effort to broad base investment in order to maximise its reach and optimize returns by approaching and strengthening a large number of like-minded individuals and organisations globally.”

Ms. Shweta Luthra, CEO-Orange Cup Solutions, gave a presentation on “communication and brand building for sustainability of NGO”, was appreciated by the participants.

The two-day programme also offered the participating NGOs an opportunity to share their experience and challenges with one another. Many interesting insights were shared during the sessions, starting from various innovative methods of engaging people towards supporting a good cause to the methodology of communicating and showcasing the real work to a wide section of the privileged society.

Smile Foundation is a national level development organization reaching out to more than 200,000 underprivileged children, women and youth through more than 185 welfare projects across 25 states of India on issues of education, healthcare, livelihood, and empowerment of women and girl children.

Source : http://voices.halabol.com/2013/05/07/smile-foundation-empowers-500-grassroots-ngos