Partners in the South

Enable India, Bangalore

Enable India is a non-profit organisation working since 1999 towards the economic independence and dignity of persons with disabilities.

Their major areas of work are employment, pre-employment services, supplemental training, consulting and partnering other institutions working for the disabled.

Enable India is one of the few institutions in the country to give quality training to visually impaired persons as per the expectations of Corporate World.

Since August 2007, ABF has joined hands with Enable India to provide Career Centric Computer Training to visually impaired persons. They not only provide them training they also ensure that each person is well placed and employed. They are placed with organisations like IBM, Wipro, Mphasis, Standard Chartered Bank and Cafe Coffee Day to name a few.

India Foundation for the Arts, Bangalore

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) is an independent, professional philanthropic institution for the arts based in Bangalore.

Under the Arts in Education Programme, IFA had earlier conducted a pilot project at Chamrajnagar in Karnataka. Through this initiative using the transformative power of art, teachers and students were encouraged to tap into their environmental surroundings and their rich inner folklore resources to create art in their pursuit of learning.

Axis Bank Foundation has partnered with India Foundation for the Arts since December 2008. With ABF's support, IFA in co-ordination with Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti has been imparting 'arts in education' (Teacher Training Workshops) to Govt School Teachers in the tribal areas of 5 talukas of Chamrajanagar in Karnataka. IFA believes that arts is not an extra curricular activity, it's a medium to teach different subjects. This makes the process of learning interesting and visually appealing.

Agastya International Foundation, Bangalore

Agastya International Foundation is a Bangalore-based education Trust that seeks to transform and stimulate the thinking of rural children

ABF has collaborated with Agastya International Foundation for part funding the construction cost of the model making workshop and also the running cost for the mobile lab in Delhi NCR region.

The model-making workshop:

• Produces and stores models for Agastya's Mobile Lab operations and Science Centres
• Repairs existing models
• Trains Agastya's Young Instructor Leaders [children-teaching-children program] in low-cost model making

About the mobile lab/van:

• The van carries more than 200 scientific experiments to the doorsteps of Government schools.
• 30,000 children per annum are exposed to the van and its learning.

More than 500 children visit the model-making workshop daily.

Agastya's model generates curiosity, encourages questioning, enhances understanding and fosters creative thinking, problem solving and communication skills among the children.

Montfort Community School, Yercaud, Salem

Axis Bank Foundation joined hands with Montfort Community Trust in 2009 to provide part operational cost of the Primary Section of Montfort Community School where the first generations of the tribal children are being provided education. Currently approximately 450 children are being covered under the program.

More than 70 % of the total students under the project have achieved a 1st Division in their exams in the first year. The school is not only providing educational opportunity but is playing a major role in the holistic development of the children by providing them a platform to participate in sports and other cultural activities.

Udavum Karangal Educational Trust, Chennai

Udavum Karangal Educational Trust is committed to the welfare of people who have been rejected by society. They extend help and a new lease of life to new born babies, abandoned or orphaned and old, dying destitutes. The centre provides individualised services, treatment, care, rehabilitation and education to those in distress.

Axis Bank Foundation provides financial support free note books, uniforms, mid- day meals and fees-free education to 100 boys and 200 girls from 6th standard to 10th standard in Ramakrishna Vidya Niketan Higher School, Thiruverkadu, Chennai.

The project ensures that no beneficiary discontinues studiying before completing the 10th standard. The free education will relieve the families from economic burden and equip the children with knowledge and training to get gainful employment.

M V FOUNDATION, Secunderabad

MV Foundation's (MVF)- mission is to abolish child labour in all its forms and ensure that every child attends a full- time formal school

ABF has partnered with MV Foundation since August 2007 to establish Village Resource Centres to implement a Learning Guarantee programme in 96 schools The purpose of the project was to ensure all 10000 children attend school and make schooling enjoyable and informative.

The Child Activists (CA's) conduct special classes for slow learners and also counsel children and help them cope up with the syllabus and learning. They interact with the schoolteachers regularly to update the learning levels of the children. They conduct extracurricular activities such as sports, games, music and so on. They follow up with dropouts and encourage them to rejoin schools. Most important of all they establish close contacts with parents and inform them regarding the progress of their children and create an atmosphere to support children's right to education.

Tropical Research & Development Centre, Haveri

TRDC, an NGO looks into the issues of acute poverty, resource degradation, ill health, illiteracy and lack of awareness on various aspects of development among the rural communities with special emphasis on women empowerment and self-help approach for their own development.

TRDC- ASHAKIRAN project aims to support communities and school managements in promoting quality education to disadvantaged children and propagate child rights.

Since October 2008, with the help of ABF, TRDC has expanded this project to 62 villages covering more than 3500 children. The main focus has been on enrollment, mainstreaming, retention and quality education for children in the age group of 6-14 years through bridge and remedial education.

The project is making good impact on working children, their parents, volunteer teachers, school administrators, local communities, school teachers of formal schools and local panchayat members towards promoting child- friendly communities and accessing quality education.

Mitra Jyothi, Bangalore

Mitra Jyothi, is a registered charitable trust, founded in 1990 with a view to facilitate visually impaired especially in the field of education, training and employment.

The various activities of the organisation are:

• Independent Living skills
• Basic computer training programme for visually impaired with the help of JAWS. Low Vision Centre

One of the most popular support programmes that Mitra Jyothi has is the Multipurpose Library, also know as "Talking Book Library".

This library caters to the visually impaired to achieve their educational goals.

Axis Bank Foundation joined hands with Mitra Jyothi in August 2010 to upgrade their Talking Book Library at Bangalore. The grant will enable them to increase the work of recording and editing in a shorter period and increase availability of books. More than 1400 individuals as well as 40 institutions are being benefitted through this support.