our story
Not Your Usual Sunday
It all began when two friends decided to spend their Sundays in a rather unorthodox fashion. Instead of a self-indulgent weekend, they chose to start helping out at a Government-run Home for special-needs children. Sundays soon became about engaging with the children at the Home and helping clean the compound. What started out as just a few, turned into a following. With more than 50 volunteers helping every week, the Home was revamped and brought to life.
What began as a weekend plan turned into an everyday movement.
The same two friends began discussing what more they could do to help underprivileged kids in their neighbourhood. What would be of value? Computers seemed to be the answer. One of the friends ran his own HR firm - his office space could be used to start computer classes. The evenings would see small groups of kids from nearby slums, crowded around large systems, learning and absorbing all that they could.
It was this eagerness to learn, brought about by the simple exchange between mentor and child, that sparked the idea of what is now called, U&I. This report is a testament to the enduring power of kindness and connection.
We are U&I, a volunteer-powered NGO built on the foundation that change happens when we work together.
Mission
Bring education and healthcare to disadvantaged communities across India
Vision
Building Communities of Change
Programs
U&I Teach and U&I Care
- U&I Teach
Bridging The Gap
While more than 95% of India’s children attend primary school, just 44% complete Class 10 (UN statistics). Many of these children who drop out of school end up as daily wage earners, with fewer opportunities and a lowered chance at success in life. This is where U&I steps in with a concrete plan to impact these children’s lives and create meaningful change for the future. U&I provides a uniquely-tailored program that enables passionate, educated young people to mentor underprivileged children. U&I Teach also includes the Child Enrichment Program where students receive a holistic education which includes art classes, field trips, reading programs, and computer literacy classes, among other activities. This serves to broaden the students’ outlook and boost their confidence. At U&I, we’re serious about making learning fun.
Child Enrichment Program
Our impact is more than just a report card.
At U&I, we truly believe in the power of an all-round education. We want our students to know the world around them and to hone their talents. With this in mind, in 2018-2019 we conducted a series of activities that not only encourages the children to retain their academic prowess but also give them scope and throw light on selecting a career path. These activities include:
- Stories of change
These stories showcase the real-life miracles that U&I achieves through its dedicated team of volunteers
and their passion to make a difference where it matters the most.
*Pictures and names of people and places have been changed in accordance to U&I's child protection policy
From 'Don't Care' to 'Can Do'!
When Prabhu started classes at U&I, he wasn’t very interested in studying on a Sunday morning. He didn’t think education would help him in the long run. In his first assessment, a disillusioned Prabhu scored all of 55%. But despite his lack of enthusiasm, Prabhu’s U&I tutor refused to give up. He began talking to Prabhu about the value of education, about how it had the potential to transform his life.
With each class and each passing day, Prabhu’s attitude gradually changed. He started showing a keen interest in learning. The boy who had started out with a 55% and an impossible attitude ended up not only believing in the power of learning but also scoring an astounding 85% in his assessment. Prabhu is now a firm believer that hard work and the right attitude can change the course of your life.
- STORIES OF CHANGEKindness Counts!
When Valentine’s Day came around, there was a buzz in the air in the Pune Learning Centre. One of the kids, Shalini, looked especially excited. Her eyes darted around the classroom looking for someone. When volunteer Meesha asked Shalini who she was looking for, she responded that she was waiting for her U&I teacher, Gowri. Turns out, Shalini had brought chocolate to give her U&I teacher.
When she saw Meesha and her concern, Shalini offered her the chocolate. Meesha, of course, encouraged Shalini to save the chocolate for her teacher. But Shalini was not to be outdone. She disappeared for a couple of minutes and then ran back with two chocolates - one for Meesha and one for her teacher, Gowri.
Meesha found out later that Shalini had used the pocket money she had saved up to buy her teacher the chocolates. That day our teachers realized that there was something significant that they had built with the kids outside textbooks: a connection born out of mutual love and admiration.
Stories OF change
A Few Words
Sometimes, you don’t know if your efforts are yielding results. That’s something our volunteers often feel. Is all their hard work paying off? When our Mangalore volunteer Veena met her student Pratham, she was pleasantly surprised by his grasp of English. Pratham was a quick learner - but it was a challenge to keep him engaged. But Veena persisted. She knew she could take Pratham’s gift for words forward. She used creative teaching methods. She researched new strategies. She encouraged Pratham. Then came her reward. At the end-of-year party, Pratham delivered a handwritten note to his teacher, Veena. It was a handwritten note - and every line was written in flawless English. Every word was heartfelt because Pratham knew something that couldn’t be taught from a textbook - he knew his teacher believed in him.
- U&I CAREStriving To Improve Lives
U&I Care works to improve the lives of at-risk individuals that it serves in four state-run Homes in Bangalore. The idea this time around was to raise the bar with the services we provide and strengthen the structure of the program. Based on the specific needs of each project, a different curriculum was designed for each Care Home, which helped monitor progress.
Based on the domains prescribed, activities like hand stitching clothes and bottle making were designed to engage as many people as possible, along with a focus on vocational activities. This encourages the residents to push boundaries and reach their potential.
Further on, a new classroom schedule was designed for the home with primary school children.
FOCUS:
A more practical approach was adopted to encourage learning and ensure full classroom participation.Additionally, the primary focus was to improve the relationship between the team and the government authorities who are in charge of the Homes.
A big milestone for U&I Care this year was getting government authorisation for the residents to visit Bannerghatta zoo. It was the first time in five years that the residents had left the Home.
Further, dental and medical camps were organised for all the Homes that gave a better idea about the current status of the residents’ health.
- U&I CARE PROJECTS
IMHC: Home for Special Needs Boys
The aim of our program is to ensure that the boys live to their fullest potential. The boys were encouraged to partake in a variety of activities like vocational training, academic classes, physiotherapy and exercise, outdoor play, field trips, music, entertainment. They also had frequent counseling sessions and sessions in daily grooming and hygiene.
No. of Boys - 67
Our Hardworking Staff
Prajwal Jayraj Gowda
Shwetha N
Gurupada Hannur
Hemavathi, Visalakshi, Bhagya
Men's Home: Home For Differently Abled & Special Needs Men
Our main focus this year was on the men’s physical abilities, vocational training and on their day-to-day grooming activities. Weekly activities in the Men’s Home included grooming and hygiene, arts and crafts, outdoor time, music and physiotherapy. This activity helped them feel productive and gave the men a sense of worth. The staff also took the men on excursions and celebrated festivals and birthdays with them.
Number of men - 87
Our Hardworking Staff:
John Colins, Keerthi, Mallikarjun, Kempaiah, Marianna, Rajanna
Women's Home: Home for Abandoned Special Needs Women
The Women's Home focused on improving the lives of semi-skilled women. Vocational training activities had maximum participation, they had a lot of activities that helped them build on their gross and fine motor skills and their cognitive abilities. This not only helped their overall development but also gave structure to their day. The training and the items the women created through their vocational training gave them a sense of value and helped improve their social skills as well.
Number of women - 103
Our Hardworking Staff:
Anala H Reddy
Nianghnei Kim
Triveni, Narayanamma
Geethamma
Reception Centre
Reception Center is a place where we have different women coming from different places with different problems and difficulties. The most common problems we see are that either the women were trafficked or abandoned by family. There are a few cases of women who are mentally unstable because of the violence they suffered at home. One thing that worked really well in the center is the policy of "Reward". At the end of every month, we would reward everyone who was coming regularly to class and that motivated the others to come to class as well. Diya painting is a favorite activity for the women. It is also a way of letting them express themselves using colours.
Number of women - 32
Our two women army : Anala, Kim
Shishu Mandir: Home for abandoned or orphaned toddlers and babies.
Shishu Mandir's main focus was to bring in innovative teaching techniques through which exposed the kids to practical learning as opposed to theoretical learning alone. We focused on basic essentials in value education along with their academics. We also conducted dental camps and took the students out for excursions to increase the practical learning aspect of their education.
Number of children - 50
Our Hardworking Staff
Azra Merupo
Akshaya S, Harshika Rachel
Rudrakshi, Pushpa, Sujatha
U&I Training
Over the past seven years, U&I has built an extremely strong education program. Some of the crucial aspects of our program include a strong curriculum, well equipped and highly trained teaching volunteers and holistic learning. We believe in training our leaders and volunteers thoroughly so they are equipped to provide the best education to our kids.
Leadership Orientation
LeadX 2018 saw 114 leaders across 12 cities come together in Bangalore for three days of community building and leadership training. Held in June, the conference focused on equipping our new set of leaders with the tools they need to effectively run their centres for the academic year.
Leadership Conference
2018 was a year of growth for U&I, we had expanded from 12 cities to 18 cities. To accommodate the volume of current and emerging leaders, we split our mid-year leadership development conference between Bangalore and Mumbai. With the help of the outbound leadership training organisation, Breakthrough, AUDACIOUS 2018 saw over 300 leaders at both our conferences.
First Class Training
This training was split into two days and focussed on easing our new volunteers into the program. This training occurred centre-wise, in 12 cities in June and July. The first day involved training our volunteers on our core values, curriculum, and expectations, following which they met their students for the first time, played games, did crafts together.
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is U&I’s full-day volunteer training program where we empower volunteers with teaching techniques, Flippen and classroom management tools. The aim is to create an environment for sharing and community. Kickstarters took place in all 18 cities over the 2018-2019 year, usually after four teaching classes with students.
In-City Leader's Training
In May, even before the academic year began, U&I introduced a basic training program to its new leadership teams. This involved the introduction of our focus areas: curriculum, volunteer management and the Child Enrichment Program. It prepared the leaders with the tools they need when they arrived at the leadership orientation in June.
Refresher
This is a volunteer training we have city-wide, at the beginning of the last quarter in order to recharge the volunteers with the motivation and skills they need to end the academic year with as much impact as possible.
Fundraisers
Sharing Our Vision
The Hero Up Campaign
The Hero Up campaign is a pan India crowdfunding campaign that is run where the volunteers raise money for the children. This year, U&I raised a groundbreaking amount of 1.09 crores which made it one of the only NGOs in India to raise over a crore through one fundraising campaign. Our gratitude and a big shout out goes to the Drivers and Coaches who made this campaign a huge success.
Finances
Corporate partners
Our Support Systems
