Caritas bags 15 million rupee Millennium award
The award recognizes an "out of the box" concept of Caritas to educate girl children of Mushahars in Bihar.
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The award that carries 15 million rupees as prize money recognizes Caritas' out of "the box concept" that aims to promote education and learning opportunities for 3-19 years old girl children among the marginalized community of Mushahars in 12 districts of Bihar, Caritas spokesperson Amrit Sangma said.
Major international and national organizations jointly set up the award. They include Federation of Indian Champer of Commerce and Industry, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Technology Development Board (TDB).
It aims to identify and scale innovative solutions being developed and tested in India to address development challenges that will benefit the poor across India and the world.
It aims to bring together various actors within India’s social filed including social innovators, philanthropy organizations, social venture capitalists, angel investors, donors, service providers, and corporate foundations.
Gadkare, federal transport minister, said defined knowledge as power and said, "converting knowledge into wealth is a challenge in India. The solution lies in innovation.”
Citing a number of profit making ventures from across India and abroad, the minister defined innovation as “converting waste into wealth with help of technology”.
Cartias India Executive Director Father Frederick D’Souza who received the award on behalf of Caritas India said they "have been working with the down trodden for long…and this award is a recognition of our work and we hope to bring more such initiatives to the poor and the marginalized people like the Mushahars in India”.
Citing Caritas India’s own animation process and style as the unique point of the awarded concept christened as Hamari Pathshala (our school), Fr. D’Souza said, Caritas "do not go for structures but create leadership, innovation and space for poor people and that is what we are pleased to do in this program”.
“Innovation is combination of both, being in a community being in a competitive environment” explained Caritas’s innovator Vinod Pandey. He said that being in a competitive environment brings in professionalism and being with communities, inspires to think differently.
As per Census 2011, India’s literacy rate stands at seventy four percent and Bihar ranks last at fifty four percent with lowest attendance rate among SC and Non SCs especially the girls.
Caritas collective action for Education in the next 18-36 months would enroll girl-children between age 3-6 to centers for early childhood education.
Drop out girls in the age group of 7-19 years would be grouped into clusters of informal school platform called Hamari Pathshala.
Press Release
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