By John Laing, edited by Jim Luce
The Akanksha Foundation is recognized as ‘NGO of the Year’ for 2010 in the large award category for The India NGO Awards, a unique national competition that celebrates and rewards the best non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by showcasing examples of best practice and successful resource mobilization.
The Awards, co-sponsored by U.K.-based The Resource Alliance and The Rockefeller Foundation, focus on professional management, innovation in local resource mobilization, and the effectiveness of the organization’s activities in improving the lives of the people they serve.
More than 210 organizations applied for the India NGO Awards. All entries received were put through a stringent, three-level selection process, and one organization in each budget category was awarded “NGO of the Year.”
“This is a huge achievement for The Akanksha Foundation, and it gives us a great sense of pride to be recognized on a national level for our efforts to educate children from low-income communities for the past 20 years,” says Vandana Goyal, CEO of the Foundation.
“In addition to the award, our organization has been invited to participate in the prestigious Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York this September, and we’re hoping to build relationships and create partnerships that highlight our work on a global platform.”
Akanksha Foundation is a Mumbai-based not-for-profit organization providing a high-quality education to children from low-income communities in urban India, enabling them to maximize their potential and transform their lives. Akanksha serves approximately 4,000 children, and growing, through its centers and schools in Mumbai and Pune each year.
Twenty years ago, Akanksha centers were formed with the vision to supplement serious gaps in the formal school system and the intent to make learning fun. Having seen success with its model for the centers, The Akanksha Foundation and its partners now run nine full-time schools in Mumbai and Pune, with two more slated to open in 2011 and expect to have fifteen operational by 2013 through its School Project initiative, in addition to its centers.
By ensuring the model is delivering the highest quality education to the poor while being scalable and replicable, these schools have the potential to serve as catalysts for education reform across the country, using evidence from the schools, the extensive training process, and the public-private partnership model to advocate for policy changes.
“In the last five years we have, through the Awards, endeavored to set benchmarks and best practices in the country and with the growing profile and popularity of the India NGO Awards, we hope to see a more dynamic and sustainable sector in the coming years,” says Neelam Makhijani, CEO of The Resource Alliance.
“Understanding that fundraising and philanthropy are two sides of the same coin, we have been working, for the last three decades, on building fundraising capacities of civil society organizations and are now working with various stakeholders to create the right framework to inspire philanthropy for the wellbeing of all of our people.”
The jury for this year’s India NGO Awards included: Nick Langton, Country Representative, The Asia Foundation; Subodh Bhargava, Chairman, Tata Communications, Venkat N. Krishnan, Founder Director, GiveIndia; Elizabeth Kurian, Regional Director - India Region of Sightsavers, and Maneesha Dube, Editor-in-Chief, Media Transasia India.
The organizations were evaluated on the parameters of effective and sustainable mobilization of resources from the local community, demonstration of efficient management of resources, good governance practices, transparency and accountability and effective communication and impact of services provided to the community.
Applicants meeting the criteria were shortlisted for a site visit by a team of assessors in each region. In the last few years the India NGO Awards have gained tremendous recognition and credibility and have encouraged more and more people and organizations to work in the field of promoting transparency and accountability in the non-profit sector.
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