In many parts of India, the arrival of a baby girl calls for mourning rather than celebration.

Abandoning them at birth or marrying them off as children is a common practice. Looked upon as huge economic burdens, it is hardly surprising that many Indian families don't see the point in investing in their education. Government of India statistics reveal that only three out of ten girls who enter Std. I complete Std. X. While enrolment rates of girls are improving marginally in India, dropout levels remain alarmingly high. At primary school level, over 45% of girls dropout of school and this increases to over 73% by the time the child has reached Std. X. Research has shown that reasons for this dropout may be as minor as the girl child not being able to afford a dress/uniform to go to school and could include more complex factors like girls taking on the responsibility of household chores at a very young age as a result of gender stereotyping. Successful education of the girl child has been repeatedly acknowledged as an effective mechanism to break this inter generational cycle of poverty, myths, social norms and social evils. Research conducted in developing countries has shown that a literate female population is linked to reduction in population growth rates. On the other hand illiteracy, breeds ignorance and fear and only increases her vulnerability to be exposed to lifelong abuse and exploitation.

Initiated in 1996 by the K C Mahindra Education Trust (KCMET) with the aim of providing primary education to underprivileged girl children in India. Anand Mahindra, the founder of Nanhi Kali, believed that educated women form the foundation of a modern secular society and felt that there was a strong correlation between the existing societal ills in India such as spiraling population rate, dowry deaths, caste system etc. and no education of the girl child. Empowering the girl child with education would result in huge benefits for the nation in the long term. Studies conducted in developing countries have shown that this is true and today, even the World Bank has acknowledged that there is no investment more effective for achieving the millennium development goals than educating girls. According to the World Bank some of the benefits associated with girls education include reduction of child and maternal mortality, improvement of child nutrition and health, lower fertility rates and improvement in economic production. Dual objectives of impacting the nations development through education of the girl child & encouraging Indians to give back in a focused manner

Partnerships Since 2005, the project is jointly managed by KCMET and Naandi Foundation, (an independent and reputed not for profit organization) with has an objective of providing 10 years of quality education to girls from economically disadvantaged families. Nanhi Kali project is working with 21 NGO implementation partners at the grass root level to ensure that the girls receive academic and material support. The K. C. Mahindra Education Trust regularly monitors the NGOs giving technical inputs where ever required to ensure that quality education is being imparted to all the Nanhi Kali's.

Naandi, which in Sanskrit means a new beginning; is one of the largest social sector organizations in India working to make poverty history. Founded in 1998 Naandis work has focused on three broad sectors which include Child Rights, Safe Drinking Water & Sanitation and sustainable Livelihoods. To date it has impacted over a million lives spread across 7 states in India. Its core ideology revolves around building sustainable development paradigms and revenue models that help improve the quality of life of underserved communities. To this end Naandi actively seeks partnerships with governments, civil society organizations, private sector and philanthropic organizations to garner their combined resources and skills to impact on key development issues. Amongst Naandis various partners are: Government of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan; Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd.; Mahindra Group of Companies; Michael and Susan Dell Foundation; Google Foundation; Sir Ratan Tata Trust, UNICEF, World Bank etc. Naandis board comprises eminent leaders such as Dr K Anji Reddy (Founder of Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd.), Anand Mahindra (Managing Director of Mahindra and Mahindra group of global companies) and Dr Isher Judge Ahluwalia (Board Chair of the International Food Policy Research Institute) amongst others. It is run by a diverse team of 300 professionals and has an annual budget of over 360 million (2006-2007) INR.

The K. C. Mahindra Education Trust was founded by the late Mr. K. C. Mahindra in the year 1953, with an objective of promoting literacy and higher learning in the country. It is registered as a public Charitable Trust under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950. Over the years, K.C. Mahindra Education Trust has undertaken a number of education initiatives, which make a difference in the lives of deserving and needy students. The trust has provided more than Rs. 440.34 million (8.81 million $) in the form of grants, scholarships and loans. These funds are derived from the trusts investment portfolio, the main donor of which is the Mahindra group of companies.

Identify girls from underprivileged backgrounds across the country Reach out to individuals, corporates, governments and civil society to contribute towards education of these girls Develop a product that is inexpensive and easy to disseminate e.g. the Rs. 2400 per year sponsorship amount Formulate a support mechanism for the sponsored girl in a way that she gets academic, material, moral and social support for ten years continuously Fulfilling the twin objectives of enhancing diversity and being inclusive by providing quality education to socially and economically disadvantaged girls even in remote tribal and conflict-ridden areas, By creating a sponsorship program which allows civil society to participate by becoming a guardian of the girl child, this project not only helps in making the program sustainable, but also has the added benefit of inculcating a habit of giving in a systematic manner, to achieve greater impact.

1. Partnering with government Education Departments to access the most needy population amongst girl children. 2. Academic support facilitated by trained community youth who gradually become a valuable local resource acting as mentors to the children while simultaneously building community interest and proactive action for quality education. 3. Children in classrooms are divided into groups of 4 or 5 based on their learning levels. The value lies in the way group dynamics are created to encourage students to listen to one another, ask questions, clarify issues, and re-state points of view. This assists development of higher thinking skills i.e. explaining, analyzing and synthesizing so they understand what they learn. 4. Education kits are ceremonially given to each sponsored girl in the presence of parents and community, an event that cuts across all barriers of caste, age and gender and sensitizes the community on importance of girls education. 5. Each childs progress is tracked daily on a matrix which charts the child learning levels and records monthly progress. 6. With sponsorships for 70,000 girls achieved today, there is a huge donor base for Project Nanhi Kali and the project uses IT very effectively for donor servicing. This not only makes communication with donors more timely but also cost effective. Donors are allotted unique login id which allows them to view their Nanhi Kali profiles and progress reports online. This eco-friendly initiative not only eliminates the need to print documents. It also serves as a payment gateway for making online sponsorships.

Rajasthan Haryana Delhi Uttar Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Chhattisgarh Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Tamil Nadu

Nanhi Kali has also been set up in various parts of US such as New York,Boston,Chicago KCMET registered in the United States in 2009 to give Americans and Indians residing in the US the opportunity to contribute to the Nanhi kali project.

Classroom teaching program

Hamari Library Project

Summer Camp

Picnics

Nanhi Kali has successfully able to educate and improve lives of 76,190 under privileged girls in India till March 2012

The globally recognized WISE award given to Nanhi Kali in the year 2009 for benefitting more than 50,000 socially and economically disadvantaged girl children.

Nanhi Kali have won two awards at the prestigious ONE CLUB annual ONE SHOW AWARDS held in New York.

Apart from all the strategies that Nanhi Kali has adopted successfully ,I would have also tied up with educational institutes .The student and professors of these institutes could teach the underprivileged children in their area on the weekends. This strategy has been used successfully by many NGOs.