Make A Difference

Make A Difference
For the song by Blind Melon, see For My Friends.
Make A Difference
MAD logo.jpg
Founder(s) Jithin C Nedumala, Gloria Benny, Sujith Abraham Varkey
Type 80G
Founded 2006
Location Cochin, Kerala, India
Area served India
Focus Education
Method English, Computers
Motto Bridge the inequality in society through education
Website www.makeadiff.in

MAD, aka Make A Difference, is a youth volunteer network, working with orphans and unprivileged kids in India. Made up of mostly youth volunteers, MAD imparts English communication skills to children in orphanages, street shelters and poor homes.

From 2010, Make A Difference is using Cambridge University Press material in their classrooms. The English project takes learners from starter to intermediate level using the Cambridge English for Schools series of textbooks.

Currently, around 910 Make A Difference volunteers teach close to 3000 kids in the Indian cities of Cochin, Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Vellore, Kolkata, Mangalore, Bangalore, Trivandrum, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Chennai and Vijayawada. In Chennai, MAD partners with a local NGO, BHUMI (organization).[1]

Contents

History

MAD was founded in 2006 in the Indian city of Cochin. The first center to be taken up by the project was the YMCA Poor Boys Home, Thrikkakara. The founding members were, Kavin KK, Jithin C Nedumala, Sujith Abraham Varkey, Santosh Babu, Gloria Benny and Jithin John Varghese. In the beginning there was no focus to the activities done in class. Overtime, a syllabus was developed in association with the TTF (Teacher Training Foundation) and then later on with the help of EZ Vidya. The organisation is involved in placements as well.

Approach

Make A Difference principally works in three areas.[2]

  • English project: Volunteers who work with MAD's English project take class at an assigned center for two hours a week. Each center usually has two MAD classes a week. Hence, in total, one child from a center goes through four hours of classes per week.

Classes happen while the school academic session is in progress, and usually lasts seven months across the year. MAD volunteers undergo training from professionally qualified teacher trainers before going to their respective orphanages and providing English communication skills to the kids.

  • Computer volunteer:Computers are as important as anything else in today's world. MAD's Computer volunteers spend two hours a week teaching children the basics of computer usage, and helping them use Language Learning Software such as Tell Me More or GCompris
  • Placements: The Placements wing of Make A Difference focuses on both career specific and general exposure. The basic aim being to place the target group in the same footing as children from regular homes with regards to experiences and interaction with various walks of life.
Placements visit to dairy

A wide range of instructive and informative sessions including visits to hotels, factories, professional colleges as well as enriching experiences such as camps, arts and crafts workshops etc. are conducted.

MAD's English course is a five level program of 100 hours each. Every year the children go through 56 interactive classes of two hour duration. By the end of the 5th level the child’s communication skills will be at par with a private school student. Mad also have an active placements program that runs side by side to keep the children aware of their career options and keep them motivated to study harder. They have initiated a computer program in Cochin where there are computers in the ratio 6:1 installed in every centre which means every child will get half an hour of computer class every day.[3]

Operations

MAD works in

  • Cochin: Don Bosco Sneha Bavan, Palluruthy; Don Bosco Big Boys; Crescent Girls Orphanage, Mattancherry; St. Mary's Convent; YMCA Boys Home, Thrikkakara; Government Girls Home; Darul Uloom, Pullepady; Ummul Qura, Deshabhimani Road; Valsalya Bhavan, Thammanam; Govt. Girls' Center, Kakkanad; Mount Carmel, Pachalam.
  • Chennai: Dr. PV Rao School, R.A. Puram; Bala Mandir, T. Nagar; Indian Council for Child Welfare, Shenoy Nagar; Seva Chakkara, Choolai ; Ramakrishna Home, Mylapore; Seva Samajam, Pallipattu; YMCA Boys Home, Taramani; SISTWA, Saidapet.
  • Mangalore: Aloysian Boys Home, Ullal; Balikashram, Kankanady; Pragyna Counseling Center, Marnamikatte.
  • Delhi: Arya Anathalaya, Darya Ganj; St. Anthony's Girls Orphanage, Paharganj; Chhatravas, East of Kailash; Jain Balika Ashram, Darya Ganj; Bachcho Ka Ghar, Darya Ganj.
  • Pune: Remand Home for Boys, Shivajinagar; Karve Stree Shikshan Sanstha, Dhanukar Colony; St. Crispin's Home.
  • Nagpur: Matru Sewa Sangh, Rani Jhansi Square, Sitabuldi; Wilkinson School, Godhni; Sharansthan, Sadar; Sharansthan, Itwari; Yuvajyothi, Jaripatka.
  • Bangalore: St. Marys Home, Cox Town near ITC Bangalore; Good Shepherd Girls Home, Museum Road, Richmond Circle; St Patrick's Boys' Home, Brigade Road, Bangalore; Christ Community Center, Rajendranagar
  • Vellore: Don Bosco Boys Home, Pastor's Home.
  • Vijayawada: Child Aid Foundation, Patamata Lanka; Navajeevan Bala Bhavan, Pezzonipeta.

Recognitions

  • Winner of the Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Staples Inc. Youth Social Entrepreneur competition, 2008.
  • Winner of Medium Category in the Indiya Shines Competition, organized by GreatNonProfits.com, 2009.
  • YouthActionNet Global Fellow, 2010.[4]
  • Cordes Fellowship, 2010 Opportunity Collaboration

References

  1. ^ http://www.goergo.in/?p=2988
  2. ^ http://makeadiff.in/actnow.php
  3. ^ http://makeadiff.in/aboutus.php
  4. ^ http://www.iyfnet.org/sites/default/files/2010_YAN_Global_Fellows.pdf


External links


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