Akanksha Update September 2006

The Akanksha Foundation is a non-profit organization that educates less privileged children from slum areas. Over the past 15 years, Akanksha has managed to create opportunities for over  2600 children who study in 51 Akanksha centres (31 in Mumbai and 20 in Pune) and another 2100 children through the School Project (4 schools in Mumbai and 6 in Pune).

We are urgently looking for the following spaces in Pune

If you know of anything available please contact Reeves at our Pune office on 9520 25535581/82

·        Office requirement - 1500 sq feet in Wakadewadi, Shivajinagar, Model Colony, Deccan or Pune station areas. 

·        Centre space requirement - about 800- 1000 sq feet in Wakdewadi which should be available for the full day. This should be a room suitable for teaching our children with access to a toilet if possible.

We are also urgently looking for the following spaces in Bombay

If you know of anything available please contact Sandeep at our Bombay office on 23700253

·         Space for our centres in Worli in the mornings and Bandra in the afternoons.

Akanksha Mumbai

Human Resources

The Akanksha Foundation is looking for qualified candidates with the drive and motivation to fill the following vacancies:

·        Teachers - This is a part time position, 4 hours a day, five days a week.

·        Volunteers - who can commit to volunteering for 2.5 hours a week.

·        Manager - Social Work - This is a full time position, requiring atleast 5 years prior work experience at the grass root level. The Social Work Manager is responsible for all the community linkages that Akanksha requires in ensuring the all round development of the children that it works with.

·         Manager - Human Resources - This is a full time position, requiring atleast 5 years prior experience in managing large teams. The HR manager is responsible for the recruitment, retention and development of all Akanksha staff and teachers.

·         Drama Club Co-ordinator – Drama Club consists of 30 kids who meet every Saturday to learn about acting and to get a chance to experience it at the end of the year through a small production.

Education

·         We have just finished our assessment week. Kids are assessed in Language, Math and Values. It is a tedious and lengthy process but helps us get a clear picture of the learning levels at each centre. This helps each teacher understand what she needs to work more on with her kids. Each centre is striving towards meeting Model Centre Criteria.

·         We had a special day at some of our centres where you could “Bring a Friend” to understand what Akanksha is trying to do.  Everyone who came was extremely impressed by our teachers and students, and they all signed up to either teacher or volunteer.  If you missed your chance, you can still spread the message of what Akanksha does.  We are always looking for teachers and volunteers. 

·         To highlight the wonderful job that our teachers are doing in the centers, we have initiated a Teacher of the Month award.  Any teachers can be nominated for their work in the center. In the upcoming months, we will highlight which teachers have been selected and share the impact that they are having in their students’ lives.

Highlight of the Week:

Teachers at the Campion Center, Fatema and Sara, have been doing an excellent job teaching their level 1 and 2 students.  They recently shared their amazing bulletin boards with the entire Akanksha teaching staff during the recent staff meeting.  We were all amazed to see their colorful and academic bulletin board.  They have noise meters, class and individual behavior tracking systems, and many ways to get the kids to practice their language and math skills through reading and counting items on the board. 

Beyond School

Computer Classses: Beyond School has been able to initiate the computer refresher classes in collaboration with Deloitte.18 Alumni students are attending it on Sundays from 2 pm to 5 pm. It is a 3 months course.

Study Classes: We need tutors in Maths, Language, Hindi & Marathi for our kids on weekdays evenings and on weekend afternoons. We have found space in the Peninsula building in Lower Parel. These classes would really help the older kids cope with their studies. Please email us at beyondschool@akanksha.org if you’re interested or know someone who might be.

Careers: We had sessions with resource persons from call centres ( WNS Academy) was organised in the office premises for all the 4 Beyond School centres.

A pre-placement talk by ICICI & Eureka Forbes was also arranged for the alumni. ICICI also offered short term marketing projects for our kids with stipend and certificates.

The Leadership Program

Learning to Lead (LTL)

Its been a month of much more than just studies at LTL… from interviewing rag pickers and appreciating how fortunate we are, to making a sincere wish for each other, to building trust and interpersonal relationships with Anvita didi, seeing the ‘colours within’ through art and pushing each other further…

Parents’ meeting focused on creating an environment at home that facilitates studying and volunteer meeting laid down short term as well as long term goals for each volunteer to help the kids reach their goals…

Social Leadership Program(SLP)

SLP was all about Gandhiji this month starting with a session by Priya on Gandhian principles and Satyagraha. We also had the privilege of having Tushar Gandhi spend time with us, sharing stories from Bapu’s life. SLP students were brimming with questions for Tushar bhaiya and left feeling very proud and patriotic. Sumeet, Naida and Neel organized a special day complete with interactive activities and a movie for the kids at Bombay Hospital on the occasion of Gandhiji’s birthday.

The School Project

Supari Tank School: We conducted 3 outings this month. Std 4 students went to the Nehru Planetarium to learn more on the Universe which is covered in their school Science syllabus. Std 1 students went to the Taraporewala Aquarium and children from the other classes went to the Byculla Zoo.

Little Flower School: We started with dividing the Std 1 and 2 classes this month and the Akanksha teacher in coordination with the school teachers are making good progress in effectively implementing this program. The initial response has been very positive with the teachers and the management. This will become stronger as we move into the second term.

Social Work

The topic covered at this month's parents’ meeting was mental health and its importance for the holistic development of the child. The response from the parents has been good. We believe we have made a good start as it set the parents thinking of the link between academics and sound mental health. Umeed and its services were also introduced to the parents.

A little yellow hat story was this child at Worli 1 Kahkasha Abbas(a transfer from Mahalaxmi 2 in July) who was not attending Akanksha for the past 3 months but has started coming regularly since this month. It really is such a sense of achievement.

Finance

·        We are getting more enquiries about the Mumbai Marathon, forms should be out by the end of October. There are a limited number of places for companies which want to participate in the corporate challenge so please contact us early for further information.

      Thank you

·        Novartis India are continuing their support to the Yuvati Sharan Centre and have also confirmed their participation under the corporate challenge in the Mumbai Marathon. The Aditya Birla Group is also continuing with their support towards the Worli 1 centre and scholarships for alumni of the same centre and the Nanhi Kali project is continuing to support 93 of the girls in our centres. ICICI Securities Ltd visited the ATF programme and have decided to sponsor the expenses of two of the students. A special thank you to DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd for making a special donation to our corpus for vocational and further studies scholarships and to Unichem Laboratories for sponsoring the nutrition expenses for all our centres which are provided with a small snack each day.

·        We are looking for sponsors who would be willing to support our Akanksha Hockey Team who are registered in the BHA League. We need to get shoes for twenty of the boys and a goalkeepers kit as well as subsidize the travel expenses for practices and matches. Anyone who would be interested in supporting this initiative can contact either Glenn on 23700253 or Tina on 9820084288

ATF

The Akanksha Teacher Fellowship program has been running smoothly through September. The fellows (teachers-in-training) have been continuing their studies in English, maths, and education, as well as beginning to observe and assist in Akanksha centers. Special events of the past month have included a visit to the Prince of Wales Museum, a student-organized Teachers' Day production, an exchange about social issues with students from the University of Washington (USA), and a viewing and discussion of Lage Raho Munna Bhai. Currently, we're preparing for our late-October trip to Manav Sadhna with the Social Leadership Program.

The staff, including ATF teachers and Akanksha center mentors, have noticed the effort and positive attitude with which the fellows approach their work in the centers. The fellows have been trying to apply their learnings through all of their interactions with children - both in centers and in their own communities. In addition, as the fellows have been learning to manage both their professional and personal lives, many are implementing Gandhiji's 'be the change' philosophy. In the process, they've been growing together as a team, as well as developing the confidence to address personal problems and challenges outside of ATF.

Art & PR

·         We held out first Art workshop for 50 adults from HSBC and they turned out to be quite a hand full! Besides being amazed at how well the art kids could manage adults, we learnt that that at heart we are all children waiting to break free…

·         The ‘Be the Change’ event kicked off and the response from schools as well as the team of teachers in Akanksha has been incredible… We partnered with Bombay Scottish, Bombay International, Cathedral, GreenLawns, Campion & Hillspring. We’ve been going into classes to brainstorm on what kids can do and they’ve surprised us. Akanksha centres and School classes have partnered together to work on service projects together. It will culminate in an exhibition on children’s day.

Sports

·         Akanksha kids from the football team age (8-16years) would be taking part in the Premier India Football Academy PIFA Skills contest.

·        Our hockey team would be playing its first match of the season 006-2007 at the Bombay Hockey Association, Ltd, Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate.

Akanksha Pune

Education

·         On 2^nd September, we had a Teachers’ Meeting with a “Be the Change” theme. We broke into four groups:

2 groups cleaned up Shivaji Nagar Bus Station and Shivaji Nagar Train Station (and created a song to share their experience!)

The Hygiene Group went into a community to meet children and brush their hair, clean their hands and faces and paint their nails

The Volunteer Group recruited volunteers for our centres.                                                                                                                                                       At the meeting, we also gave the teachers bags, decorated with adjectives that depict Akanksha teachers, in celebration of Teachers’ Day. On Teachers’ Day, we visited the centres, where we lit a candle as the children thanked their teachers, presented a Happy Teachers’ Day banner and gave the teachers some chocolate!

·         New Teachers’ Induction was a huge success! Mahalakshmi created energetic, fun activities to teach the messages of Akanksha and effective teachers. Two favourite activities were debating the benefits of being a head, heart or hand person (led by Reeves) and writing “Values Recipes” (led by two centre teachers, Dhanlaxmi and Ritu). Everyone left feeling inspired, confident and determined!

·         Open Days were also a huge success! The teachers went to great lengths to prepare exciting, hands-on activities. Almost all centre teachers came to participate in the fun and we had many inspired visitors join us as well. The grammar “bomb” game was a huge hit!

Social Work

·         This month Amitabh Bachhan from Kaun Banega Crorepati came down to conduct our Parent Meeting. The topic was “Right of the child to proper and timely medical care and nutrition.” The participants took away huge amounts of money in the form of prizesJ Parents as the audience were very supportive and encouraging and their evenings were spent in the company of Amitabh Bachhan (Kanchan Moray).

·         We also had a cultural exchange program where Muslim girls from our Sunshine center visited the homes of the Hindu girls to celebrate the Ganapati festival. It was a new and great experience for the girls.

HR

·         We had 5 students from TAPMI, Manipal volunteer with us over a period of 8 days, they were in centres and in the office putting together a systemic database for the Resource Centre and the Children’s information.

·         A presentation for volunteers was conducted at the Law College.

·         We are looking for teachers to join us both for existing vacancies and the new centres that we will open post Diwali.

Programs

On the 8^th of October 2006, we’ve planned a friendly football match which includes our kids from Mumbai, Pune , volunteers, teachers and staff. The main motive of the match is not to play as a competition but to know the fun side of the people we work with and of course to have FUN!!!!!

Mumbai: The Akanksha Foundation, Voltas House ‘C’, T.B. Kadam Marg, Chinchpokli,

Mumbai 400 033. Telefax: 23700253 Tel: 23729880

Pune: The Akanksha Foundation, Chandrakant, Bungalow No 2, Lane 3,

Ashwini Housing Society, Shivaji Nagar, Pune 410005. Tel; 25535581 / 25535582

Visit us at www.akanksha.org