World NGO Day - Contributing to the Cause

In an effort to honour and encourage the generous services of the NGOs, 27th February is commemorated as the World NGO Day. It is an annual event celebrated globally by various organisations, communities, and leaders. With the universal concept of Celebrate, Commemorate and Collaborate, the first World NGO Day was first celebrated on 27th February 2014 with the intention to motivate people to get involved more actively with the activities of various NGOs and also create a synergy between NGOs and other sectors and communities. This day also gives an opportunity to appreciate the efforts of those NGOs who excel in their service making them top NGO in their specific segment.

NGOs play an all-encompassing role in the well-being and sustainability of the entire society. NGOs are legally constituted private organisations or groups that work independently from any form of government, i.e. they are not managed or owned by the government or government representatives. The NGOs reflect upon various issues and work in tandem with larger organisations like UN, UNESCO etc. and also receive aid from individual volunteers and corporate supporters. The role of NGOs is significantly important because:

- Their services range from social development, human development, health, skill development, environment to animal rights, and more.
- NGOs work at all levels – local, national, international – thereby being to cater to the needs from the grass root level to the global level
- The operational structure of NGOs enables organisations to get involved more closely with their respective causes resulting in a more focussed way of dealing with an issue.

One such organisation working towards improving child nutrition and education is The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an Indian NGO implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme across 12 states in the country. With the vision of ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’ this organisation steers all its effort to maximise the potential of technology and resources towards providing nutritious and wholesome meals to school children. The Foundation has been ranked 23rd among the top 100 NGOs featured in the 2013 edition of The Global Journal titled ‘Top 100 NGOs Annual Ranking’. Since its inception in 2000, this top NGO has achieved many important milestones such as:

• Akshaya Patra is the first organisation to enter into a Public-Private Partnership in the mid-day meal programme sector by signing a MoU with the Government of Karnataka.
• Along with mechanised and centralised kitchens, Akshaya Patra also has a well-structured network of decentralised kitchens to serve mid-day meals in remote areas like Baran in Rajasthan and Nayagarh in Odisha.
• In 2006, Akshaya Patra was considered as a case study at the prestigious Harvard Business School as part of its MBA curriculum.
• Setting an example for accountability, Akshaya Patra became the first NGO to comply with the IFRS and also the winner of the Gold Shield for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the ICAI for five consecutive years.
• Entered the India Book of Records for running the world's largest school meal programme.
• Akshaya Patra proudly hosted His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama, Former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton, Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee among other noted dignitaries.
• Out of 34 centralised kitchens, 15 kitchens are ISO 22000:2005 certified.
• Presently, Akshaya Patra is impacting the lives of 16,75,008 children in 13,839 schools across 12 states in India.

Akshaya Patra is at a watershed moment and aims to feed 5 million children by 2020. The Foundation believes that it is an achievable aspiration provided there is equal involvement of the society and hence has provided several platforms to get involved with the cause. As a supporter, one can choose to donate online, sponsor a child, school, kitchen, or a meal delivery vehicle. Supporters can also initiate an online campaign in support of the cause. All donors will be eligible to avail 80G deduction under the Income Tax Act. So, this World NGO Day come forward and donate for the Akshaya Patra’s Mid-Day Meal Programme and save tax on your hard earned money too!

Why Should We Make Children Our Priority?

What do some of the top NGOs in India have in common? Children happen to be their priority. They are working in the field of child development through education, food, shelter and health. Akshaya Patra’s top priority is to reach more school children each day with nutritious food which, in turn, would encourage the kids come to school regularly.

When it comes to children, we think like parents. We make children our priority and single point of motivation while working. This Children’s Day, how can parents make children their priority?

Teach by example 

When you make children your priority, you want to teach them right. No lesson goes down deeply into the soul better than the one lived as an example. It is a way of treating our children with love and respect. At Akshaya Patra, we treat children with nutritious meals to ensure they are healthy and are encouraged to attend school. Be it in Bangalore or other parts of India, our staff understand that being part of a top NGO for children would mean being more sensitive and mindful around children. While serving the Mid-Day Meals, our staff ensures that they treat children with respect, serve the food appropriately and set an example of respecting meals.

Character development 

As Dr Haim Ginott put it, “Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them, makes an impression.” We need to realise how vital it is to focus on the character development of children. We must see children as adults-in-the-making. Gently inculcating qualities of mutual respect, honouring others goes a long way in the development of a child’s character. Our experience as a child NGO in Bangalore helps us remember that children – be it in tech-savvy cities like or newly developed ones – are the same.

Smart discipline 

Today’s children have more access to information through technology. That coupled with their inherent sense of observation and imitation, makes discipline a challenging task. Yet, when teachers at schools and parents at home, gently carry out their responsibilities well, children are able to prioritise in life better and become more disciplined. Chetan, a beneficiary of our Mid-Day Meal Scheme run in association with the government, is someone who has benefitted from good discipline. He aspires to be an architect since he got the chance to watch a certain television programme about architects. He loves learning Marathi which is also his mother tongue. When we make children our priority, we are able to find smarter ways of inculcating discipline in them. 

Join hands in the cause

You may or may not be a parent, but you do realise that children are the future society. You may choose to join our cause of bringing children closer to school education by providing Mid-Day Meals in schools with the help of the government of India. We have so far served 2.12 billion meals to school children and this has been made possible with the support of our generous donors. As a donor, you also get a few tax benefits in 80G deduction or carrying out CSR activities. As a top NGO in bringing ‘Food for education’, Akshaya Patra aims at reaching every child in India with nutritious meal and education. Join hands with us today.