A 501(c)(3) registered organization supporting Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust in IndiaSupport Us
Bala Mandir is expanding and growing its activities in India for which it needs increased funding. Bala Mandir donors based in USA can now support the activities of Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust in India by donating through Bala Mandir USA, an organization registered under 501(c)(3) in USA.
Bala Mandir’s growth is driven by its vision – “Children under difficult circumstances especially need loving care, good upbringing and opportunities for development”. The scope of this vision was given a focus by the theme chosen during the 75-year celebrations – “Every Child Matters”.
The various units of Bala Mandir are supporting different categories of needy children. All of them have now drawn up plans for expanding their scale of operations for improved and sustainable social impact, so that every needy child gets the support that Bala Mandir can provide. This growth needs increasing funding for its activities.
Bala Mandir’s two traditional activities – its Home for children and its Schools for the under privileged children have an established donor base in India who have been helping these activities for many years and have committed to support these activities in the future also.
Bala Mandir’s emerging new activities – the Kinship Care program which supports the orphan children who continue to live with their families but are helped remotely by Bala Mandir through its network of social workers and the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) program which complements the Government’s village level programmes – both offer vast scope for growth, and the continued growth of these activities depend on funding. These two programs would be the focus of Bala Mandir USA fund raising activities. Bala Mandir’s activities related to the special needs children – its MNC unit – also needs support for its growth.
The specific needs of short-term growth projects are listed here. Donors could fund by way of “General Donations” to Bala Mandir, which will ensure that the organization not only maintains its high standards but can also plan to expand and grow with confidence.
Sponsor a Kinship Care Child – $ 260 per child per year
Sponsor a village ECCD programme – $ 325 per village per quarter
Sponsor a Therapist for MNC unit – $ 250 per month
The Background
The Kinship Care project was started in July 2021 during the Covid pandemic when a large number of children were orphaned by the loss of one or both parents. There are no known programs to support such families who are financially, emotionally, and physically thrown into a vulnerable situation due to the sudden death of the main breadwinner in the family. This kind of sudden change is known to prevent the children from reaching their full potential and the goal of the programme was to prevent this.
The Initiative
Bala Mandir came up with a unique program by name “Kinship Care” to help these orphaned children living with their families, using social workers who visit these families. Various programs were developed as per the needs of the children including support for school fees, tuition fees, counselling, remote online tutoring of the children to improve their foundational English and Maths and livelihood support for the mothers where needed. The program inducts children when they are below 12 years of age and continues to support them till, they become independent.
New programs such as advanced online coaching of children who show potential for academic excellence are being added and these are being supplemented by tabs and laptops being given to them for pursuing higher level skills and knowledge.
It costs $ 260 to support one child for one year and the impact of the programme is dramatic. The family gains confidence in facing the future and the children improve their self-esteem through improved academic performance due to the support of online volunteers, which puts the children in a better position to move up further in their lives.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship of one child per year – $260
Donors will be sent details and progress of the child/children supported by them on an annual basis.
The Background
India continues to have a major problem of “stunting and wasting” in children under 5-year-olds. This is mainly because of the lack of awareness of the importance of early childcare. The Government has set up Anganwadis in villages to support prenatal mothers, and children under 5 years. However, these centers are understaffed, and the person employed by the Government has too many things to take care of, and unable to spend quality time with the children to stimulate them. This leads to developmental delays which causes the children to lag behind, and not reach their potential.
The Initiative
Bala Mandir came up with “ECCD Program” in a cluster of villages in the Tiruvallur district wherein its field workers, who are trained in ECCD methodologies, spend their morning time in the Anganwadis supporting the children and in the afternoon spend time with the families with young babies and pregnant women giving various inputs and explaining the importance of care and how the same can be given with available resources. Social workers monitor the performance of the field workers and conduct training programmes and plan other initiatives to ensure good execution of their plans. The inputs are a blend of education, guidance, and hands-on stimulation to enhance overall development and optimize brain development during the critical early years.
The Bala Mandir initiative currently covers 51 village Anganwadis and plans to expand this to cover a full block of around 100 Anganwadis in one year’s time. This planned growth is mainly on account of the significant social impact noted during the pilot work done.
Sponsorship
It costs $ 1300 to sponsor the Bala Mandir work in one village per year or $ 325 per quarter. This cost includes the employment of field worker for each village and the other support provided. A typical village would have approximately 10 pregnant women under this program, plus 20 babies and toddlers still at home, and around 25 children who go to the Anganwadis. The Bala Mandir initiative has been having a transformative impact and hence the plan to increase the number of villages covered.
The Background
The MNC Special Needs Unit of Bala Mandir has been in existence from 1989 and became part of Bala Mandir in 2018. It supports children with Developmental delays, Intellectual disability and associated conditions like Cerebral Palsy, Downs Syndrome, Autism spectrum, ADHD etc. The unit supports around 150 children and most of them are from the socio economically needy section.
The Initiative
Bala Mandir MNC has a unique “Upanayan” programme for its EIC (Early Intervention Center) where children below 6 years are supported. The parent or designated family member plays an important role and is trained as a ‘carry over agent’ in assisting the child to apply skills learnt in the classroom. MNC also has a Jivikam programme for children over 6 years that uses various tools to prepare the children to pursue a vocation. The goal is to empower the parents to deal with the situation by helping the children improve their skills with various interventions.
Individual needs of the child are assessed by a group of professionals and an individual Special Education Program (IEP) is developed for each child. Various therapists are involved for the assessment and supporting the child to achieve the goals that have been set. Quarterly evaluation is made to check if the desired results have been achieved and make plans to move to the next or change strategy to achieve the set goal.
The MNC program helps bring significant improvement in the children which enables the parents to manage their children in a better way and improve their quality of life and their contribution to the larger social good of the society.
Sponsorship
It costs on an average, $ 3000 to deploy a therapist in part or full-time work. The unit requires a large team of therapists – Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Speech therapy, Vision therapy, Physical Education, Yoga apart from the special educators. The government grant covers employment of a limited number of special educators. However, since the program at Bala Mandir MNC is more comprehensive, this needs to be complemented with many more specialists to support all the children. Donors could sponsor the cost of a therapist for one month at $250 per person.