Dasra to award
Rs. 30 lakh and capacity building support to high-impact non profits
- Non-profits
from across the country expected to participate
Dasra, India’s leading strategic philanthropy foundation announced the
launch of the Dasra Girl Power Awards.
These awards,
which total an amount of Rs 30 lakh, will recognize and support high
impact organisations that work towards empowering adolescent girls in India. With several entries
filling in, non-profit organizations across India have until 8th
of December 2013 to apply for this one of a kind award, which will be
announced early next year.
Despite their
numbers, the 11.30 crore adolescent girls in India are a largely invisible and
vulnerable group. India is home to the largest population of child brides,
60 % of the three million sex workers
are young girls, 95 % girls drop out of schools by age 15 in leading states and
over 50 % girls face domestic violence.
Neera Nundy,
Partner Dasra, said,
“Most programs either focus on issues (like education or / health) or /
children or /older women. Adolescent girls are a frequently overlooked
beneficiary group when it comes to program design or focus. With the Dasra Girl
Power Awards, we aim to build urgency around issues faced by adolescent girls
and establish the need to focus on their empowerment”. She further added,
“Investing in girl specific programs translates into better futures for women,
children and families thereby creating intergenerational impact”.
The Awards are
part of Dasra’s larger focus on adolescent girl empowerment; early this year,
Dasra launched a five-year, $ 1.40 Crore initiative in collaboration with USAID
and Kiawah Trust that seeks to achieve systemic change by fostering innovation,
improving outcomes and reaching scale to improve the reproductive, maternal ,
neonatal, child health and empower adolescent girls in rural and urban India.
The Awards which
total an amount of Rs. 30 lakh will be given to three Indian nonprofit
organizations that deliver programs in areas of health, education and life
skills for adolescent girls. In a unique initiative, the Dasra Girl Power
Awards will also provide capacity building support to 15 shortlisted
organizations that will undergo an intensive two day workshop and network with
potential funders.
Smarinita Shetty, Director, Dasra said, "Our goal is to identify innovative
models that have the potential to transform the lives of young girls in this
country. Our Awards have been designed
to provide both financial as well as capacity building support because we think
both components are equally critical to developing organisations that can have
impact at scale”.
The Awards will
call for applications from nonprofits across India with the aim to highlight
organizations with innovative and impactful programs while also encouraging
established organizations to focus actively on adolescent girls.
About Dasra:
Founded in 1999,
Dasra has become India's leading strategic philanthropy foundation. Over
the past 14 years, Dasra has strengthened the growth plans of more than 200
non-profits and social businesses, engaged with and educated over 500
philanthropists on strategic philanthropy, enabled over $3.80 crore in funding
to social entrepreneurs, and published 22 research reports in education, health
and livelihoods. For more information, please visit www.dasra.org
Media
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