Parikrma Humanity
Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to provide education
to children coming from the poor slums of Bangalore. They have 4 schools with
over 1500 children. Education is just one aspects of their daily work as they
have put in place a parental system providing 3 meals a day, health check,
glasses, hygiene tutoring etc…The
children continue to live with their parents in the slum bringing back to their
homes what they have learned during the day. In this way children are used as multipliers
in their communities acting as a catalyst
for positive changes. The schools are run in English as the best private school
in India in order to give to these kids the possibility to compete for the best
jobs once their education is complete. They have been able to send and continue
to support students who decided to go to the University after their experience
in Parikrma. The Parikrma model is very successful
considering they have a very low dropout rate as less than 1% of these children
decide to leave the school before completing their studies. This is an amazing
statistic compared to the 92% drop out rate in the public school in the same
area. The school is free for children and their families as the costs are
covered only with donations from corporations and individuals.
In this case, the SAP team has been asked to improve their
organization and their go to market strategy in order to make their effort to
collect donations more effective. The SAP employees working on this project are:
Helle, Vesi and myself. The team is a fantastic blend of Danish organization,
Bulgarian love for processes and the Italian art of messing around.
Here two stories showing how Parikrma works and how they help to make India a better place for children:
- The things that amaze you walking in the
classrooms are the smile on their faces, their confidence and vivacity.
Sometimes you have to make a big effort to remind yourself about the tragic
background of these kids: domestic violence, alcoholised or prisoned parents
among other tragedies. The first story is about one child having his father
imprisoned for life. The kid goes to meet his father almost every week and
started to tell his father to take care of himself stressing the importance of
hygiene. The father started to slowly change and one day Shukla Bose (founder
and leader of Parikrma) received a
call from the director of the prison congratulating her on the fact that the
child has been able to turn his father in a model prisoner. This is an example
on how Parikrma doesn’t help only children but also their communities.
- One day Shukla Bose met a boy begging on the
street. The kid was abandoned by his parents and lived on the street. Shukla was able to convince him to attend her
school. The child had serious problems of communication and the organization
paid a lot of attention on him with special programmes. Today this kid is
responsible for the training of new employees in Domino Pizza, a job usually
taken by middle class applicants. This story shows how successful Parikrma is in giving children not just
education but the possibility to build better life thanks to equal schools.
A special thanks to Helle, Vesi and the children in Parikrma. They make every day so special
here in Bangalore.
