ngo

  DaanUtsav (formerly The Joy of Giving Week) is an entirely volunteer-driven initiative which encourages people to indulge in any act of giving of their choice. There is no blueprint and the idea is to get everyone to participate in this festival of giving and experience the joy of the act. Started in 2009, the festival is celebrated across the country from October 2nd to 8th. Daan Utsav is a great platform that brings together people from all walks of life and encourages them to share their time, money, material, skill or just love. This festival is like any other…

In early January, an NGO that focuses on reuse and recycling of clothes sent out an urgent appeal to people on their mailing list to contribute woollens and blankets for homeless people who were suffering the harshness of a prolonged winter. Quilt-making in progress. Pic: Lalana Zaveri What would most of us do, on receiving such an email? Possibly spare a thought for these poor people and then mark the mail unread with the intention of doing something about it at the earliest opportunity, or perhaps gather our spare blankets and woollens and set off in search of a collection…

Consider the following scenario. You are the parent of a five year old. You want your child to get quality education. Since you have decided to go for an English medium school, government schools are ruled out. You feel that without quality English medium schooling, your child will not have the education and therefore the opportunity to do well in life. So you approach all the reputed English medium schools that you can and secure your child's admission in one of them.Believable, right? A parent is never willing to send his or her child to low-cost private school when he…

The 4th Edition of Namma Bengaluru Awards (NBA) was announced today. An initiative of the Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF),   the Namma Bengaluru Awards are meant to celebrate exceptional individuals and organizations – nominated by citizens for making Bengaluru a more sophisticated, humane and dignified city, truly one of the top world cities!As the 4th Namma Bengaluru Awards are announced today, a panelist who helps identify and pick the winners each year spoke of why the awards matter. A retired IAS officer, K Jairaj, said “Being on this panel is exciting because we discover those in the shadows; ordinary people who do extraordinary things. They toil…

Unlike previous years, BBMP held a meeting with NGOs this time to get their suggestions for the 2012-13 budget. The meeting, held on May 26th, had over 15 representatives from NGOs such as CIVIC, KRIA Katte (Karnataka RTI Act Forum), Hasiru Usiru, Citizens Action Forum (CAF) etc. About 25 people representing various NGOs attended the meeting. Pic: Navya P K The Chairman and three members of BBMP's Taxation and Finance Committee - which prepares the budget - attended. Chairman of the committee, Munendra Kumar (Jakkur Corporator, ward no.5), said that the budget draft has not been prepared and that public…

Mary Issac from Jayanagar started Child Fund Association in 1982. providing children shelter and support. She has also helped several families by sponsoring fees, books, uniforms and clothes. Mary is one of the 47 nominations for this year's Namma Bengaluru Awards. Namma Bengaluru Awards was constituted by Namma Bengaluru Foundation, convened by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP, to honour such unsung heroes and institutions for their exemplary work towards society. Nomination were collected under six different categories; groups and organizations, citizens, public officials, public institutions, social entrepreneurs and elected representatives. NGOs, Residents Welfare Associations, educational institutions, NGOs, Public Officials, Social Entrepreneurs, Elected…

Earlier this month (June 5th-7th), a group of NGOs and activists gathered at New York to add inputs on what citizens want, in terms of “progress” and “development”. These inputs will be fed into the UN summit to be held in September 2010 (normally, in such international summits, only VIP voices are heard, not those of  activists-on-the-ground).In fact, this global consultation was strictly for activists’ groups and whoever wanted to add inputs was welcome, there were no small or big voices. Those organisations that could not make it to New York could still send their inputs and suggestions, through a…

On 27th and 28th September 2009, Bangalore Cares, a non profit that acts as a bridge between the voluntary sector and the rest of society, is presenting "Sneha Sante" – an event that combines a charity bazaar and a programme of cultural events. With nearly 30 Bengaluru Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) participating, as well as local artistes lending their support, the first edition of Sneha Sante promises to be a colorful and fun event!The charity bazaar will have NGOs exhibiting a wide range of hand-crafted products: chocolates, cookies, toys, art works, embroidery, jewellery, apparel, books, diyas, cards, gift items and more.…

I have run a full marathon and a couple of half marathons but I never really enjoyed running. I did it more as a chore, somewhat like eating healthy food and doing laundry. That is until I started running with Asha, an NGO working on children's education in Bangalore. Initially it started with a curiosity as to what drove Santhosh Padmanabhan, an Asha volunteer and marathon runner in Bangalore to do a 24 hour/156 km non-stop run. I learnt that it was a fund raising activity for education related causes. Padmanabhan, a software engineer, spends innumerable hours in education related…

December 1st is World HIV/AIDS Day. I do not believe in declaring just one day in a year for a purpose, like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. However these days do hold some significance, because all the authorities (government and non-government) and people working for the cause get inspired to introspect, recount their activities of the year and plan the activities for the next year. Communication for Development and Learning (CDL), a city-based NGO, recently conducted a series of workshops on HIV/AIDS and related issues, both to sensitise journalists and motivate them to write more on this issue. CDL works…