Thursday, January 24, 2013

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

10:59:00 AM
Increasing Focus on Corporate Social Responsibility

Over time, increasing attention is being given to social development within the Indian landscape. With the new Companies Bill coming into the picture, Indian companies with certain financial standing will not only be pressured to spend 2% of their net profit on CSR initiatives, but also increase the transparency of what this money is going towards. The current proposal by the government suggests that companies with a profit of over Rs 5 crore, or turnover of Rs 1,000 crore, should make every effort to spend a percentage of their profits on social causes such as the eradication of poverty, education, health and vocational skilling. Not satisfied with just the above, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has suggested this clause be made mandatory. However, even if not made mandatory, with companies having to justify why they haven’t spent money on CSR, one should soon see crores of rupees entering the development sector hence giving rise to huge opportunities within the social sector space.


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

1:58:00 PM

A Visit to Pratham Gujarat
By Sagar Patel

      It felt like a visit home to return to Pratham Ahmedabad in November 2012 after visiting the head office two years ago.  During this visit, I went to an urban learning center in the Behrampura area of Ahmedabad with Sherin Shabu from the Pratham Gujarat head office.  When I visited, two classes were being taught simultaneously.  Chandrikaben was teaching a grade 3 science class and Bhartiben was teaching a grade 2 Gujarati vocabulary class. 

     


Thursday, January 3, 2013

3:02:00 PM

My Visit to a Pratham ULC
By Sagar Patel

During a recent trip to India, I visited a Pratham urban learning center in the Santa Cruz area of Mumbai. Before entering the learning center, I was greeted by Yashaswini Kumar from the Pratham Mumbai head office. When we first entered, she showed me a Balwadi (preschool) class where young children from age 3-6 were playing games in a lively manner.  They were very adorable.  Afterwards, we went to see a library class where students were silently reading different books.  I had visited classes at a Pratham Ahmedabad urban learning center just a few days earlier, so I did not spend as much time here.

 The most interesting part of the visit for me was interviewing Bharti, who is the central coordinator in charge of reporting to donors regarding the programs in several urban learning centers. I interviewed her with questions about what type of documentation is required for the urban learning centers.  She confirmed that the cost per urban learning center is a little less than $10,000 and was able to break down specific expenses.  We went over the types of classes held at the center, whether they charge students to attend classes, and information that donors typically request.  I was very impressed at their ability to document whatever is requested for donors as well as the flexibility to fund a learning center in a place requested by the donor such as one’s native town.

In terms of value for the money, Pratham’s programs are extremely cost effective.  Extensive use of volunteers and existing building infrastructure helps reduce costs and make funding go farther.  There is an increasing focus on self sustainability of programs by charging fees to attend an urban learning center which makes sure that the local community has a stake in the program.  I would strongly recommend that more people from India or other countries visit a program and see for themselves the impact of Pratham’s work.

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Pratham India is the official blog of non-for-profit organization Pratham Education Foundation showcasing exciting stories throughout India.

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