‘Think of what you can do for others’

The Design for Giving school contest has made children across the country think what they can do for others, and not what others can do for them. In a way, this contest is an integral part of the Joy of Giving Week — when people all over the country are coming together to give anything that they can  — be it a smile, a hug, clothes, shoes, books, water, food,  just about anything one can think of to bring a smile to another person’s face and spread the acts of kindness across the country.

When asked, how she reached out to 32,000 schools, Kiran Sethi, founder/director of Riverside School, said, “Our school has partnered with organisations all over the country to reach out to schools not only in the cities but in remote villages as well.

Naandi Foundation, Aksara Foundation, Gray Matters Capital, Bharti Foundation, Pratham, Aid India are some of the organisations that have partnered to take this contest to the remote villages of the country, while Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Delhi government, Educational Initiatives, IDiscoveri and many other schools and institutions have worked tirelessly to make this a nationwide contest.”

Sharayu Kamath, of Gray Matters Capital, partnering with Design for Giving School Contest in Hyderabad, says, “The reason Gray Matters Capital (GMC) chose to associate with this unique programme is because it gives a chance to children from low-end schools to compete at the same level as high-end schools.”

“To reach out to the bottom of the pyramid schools, GMC met stakeholders like school managers, associations, service providers, development organisations and private teachers’ associations. Intense outreach efforts were made by GMC staff and volunteers to register schools and we have successfully registered 45 schools,” he said.

To ensure maximum participation, the organisers of this contest were mindful of diversity in languages in different states. Entry forms and contest materials were printed in eight different languages — English, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam and Bengali. As a result, ideas of change are pouring in from schools from every corner of the country.

Kamath says, “School correspondents are very excited about participating in this unique contest that allows the children to engage in a democratic process and provides them the opportunity to address vital issues affecting their community through meetings, team building and consensus. The feeling of being empowered is very real.”

Each of the stories of change is being documented and 100 best ideas will be published by Pratham Books. Organisers and partners of the Design for Giving School contest are excited to see the implementation of these ideas of change by the youngest protagonists all over the country to celebrate the first ever Joy of Giving Week September 27 - October 3. Results of the contest will be announced October 14.