Akshaya Patra. Feature The hearth of Akshaya Patra - its kitchens 5. Innovations Extra nutritious sambhar 11

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1 Newsletter Vol.1 Issue 2 Akshaya Patra Feature The hearth of Akshaya Patra - its kitchens 5 Innovations Extra nutritious sambhar 11 Nearing the one million mark Akshaya Patra sets foot in Gujarat 7 New Kitchens Nayagarh District, Orissa 11 Mathura District, Uttar Pradesh 12 Interview Alexius Collette, CEO, Philips India 16

2 Dear Friend of Akshaya Patra, A scurry of activity is ubiquitous in all the 14 Akshaya Patra centers. In the last few months we have surged ahead towards our set target of feeding a million children by We now secure wholesome, nutritious and hygienically cooked school meals for over 8,00,000 children in more than 4,500 schools every day. This reminds me of something Gandhiji said, I have faith, therefore, that if, in spite of our shortcomings, the big thing does happen, it will be because God wanted to help us. Of course, the target of one million is only to help us push forward our goal of reaching out to more and more hungry children and not to take pride in it. One million is just the tip of the iceberg of the issue of hunger in children. It s heartening and humbling to share with you a few milestones that we have achieved over the last few months. We set foot in the state of Gujarat and are currently feeding 65,000 children in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. We started decentralized Akshaya Patra programs this academic year in two new locations. One, in Bhapur, Nayagarh district in Orissa and the other in Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh. There are millions of children in India who lack formal education or literacy. Education makes a difference and is precious to every life. It helps negotiate for a better living. Akshaya Patra is more than just a school meal program. Akshaya Patra, apart from feeding, not only ensures that children come to school but also facilitates teachers to concentrate on their core function of teaching. It s a hunger-eradication program. It s an education program. It s a social project. It s a nation building effort. It marries the public and private entities to the common goal of seeing India as a developed nation in the world, with no hungry children on its map. On behalf of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, I would like to sincerely thank you and solicit your continued support. You make the difference! Yours, In the service of children, Madhu Pandit Dasa 2

3 About Akshaya Patra Vision : No child in india shall be deprived of education because of hunger Did you know that about 13.5 million children in the age group of 6-13 years are out of school in India? Despite the trilliondollar economic growth, a large chunk of India s younger generation, does not have access to schools because of hunger and poverty. Their inability to access even one nutritious meal per day is severely limiting their ability to receive a proper education, which could otherwise lift them out of the cycle of poverty. In a humble step to end hunger of deserving children and facilitate their education, The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) evolved a school meal program for underprivileged children in the year What started as a pilot project in five schools in Bangalore, feeding 1,500 children, is today the largest NGO-run school meal program in the world. It has grown into a mammoth endeavor reaching out to 8,00,000 children in over 4,500 government, government aided schools and anganwadis (day care centers) in 14 locations across six states in India, day after day. Kitchen Infrastructure Akshaya Patra has set up an infrastructure of intelligently engineered, centralized automated kitchens for cooking. Matching logistics support the distribution of the food in custom-built vehicles. Due to extensive mechanization of the kitchen, the program is able to offer children standardized, high quality hygienic meals. Besides nutritious meals, the program offers education and medical interventions to ensure the holistic development of children. Secular & Non-discriminatory Akshaya Patra is a secular, not-for-profit program implemented only in government schools where there is no discrimination on the basis of religion, gender, color, or socioeconomic background. Akshaya Patra s Impact A study in the year 2006 by AC Nielsen has vouchsafed for the efficacy of the meal in increasing attendance in schools, improving nutritional status of these children, enhancing their learning abilities and reducing drop out rates. Public Private Partnership The program is an eloquent testimony to Public Private Partnership - it is run with part subsidies from the Central and respective State governments of India, besides financial support from corporates and individuals. The program is audited by KPMG to ensure transparency and accountability to all its donors. Tax Exemption All contributions to The Akshaya Patra Foundation are eligible for 100% tax exemption. Deduction under section 35AC/80GGA (bb) of the Income Tax Act 1961 in India.

4 Akshaya Patra State - wise Brief snapshot of Akshaya Patra Vision:- Status:- No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger Secular, charitable, not-for-profit Trust Target group:- Underprivileged children, between age 6-16 Infrastructure:- Nine centralized kitchens, 200 custom-built vehicles Akshaya Patra - a national program:- Service locations: Six states, 14 locations Unique Strength:- Sustainability:- Locations: Innovatively-engineered, centralized, automated, large-scale kitchen infrastructure with matching logistics Subsidies by the Central and State governments, donations from corporates, individuals and philanthropists Karnataka: Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli & Dharwad district, Bellary. Uttar Pradesh: Mathura district Rajasthan: Nathadwar, Baran, Jaipur Gujarat: Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar Orissa: Puri, Nayagarh district Andhra pradesh: Ananthapur

5 Feature The hearth of Akshaya Patra its kitchens One of the cornerstones of Akshaya Patra s success is attributed to its scalable and replicable kitchens. There are two kitchen models, centralized and decentralized. Here is a brief overview of these models. The Akshaya Patra centralized kitchen model Akshaya Patra has been lauded as a successful model of centralized kitchens suitable for urban & semi-urban locations. It has set-up eleven centralized kitchens - two in Bangalore and one each in Hubli, Bellary, Mangalore and Mysore in Karnataka, Nathadwara and two in Jaipur, Rajasthan, Puri in Orissa and Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh. Akshaya Patra has set up innovatively engineered centralized kitchens which are automated to the optimum level. This renders least manual handling and ensures high standards of hygiene and cleanliness. The model leverages technology and innovations to maximize operational and cost efficiency in its kitchens. In this model, large quantities of food are cooked in one central kitchen. A standard Akshaya Patra kitchen is engineered to cook one lakh meals per day. The kitchens are engineered based on the local menu, as one of Akshaya Patra s tenets is to provide meals of local preference. Therefore, in the North Indian regions we serve a wheat-based menu and in the South, a rice-based menu is served. The medium of cooking is steam. There are huge stainless steel cauldrons that cook rice and sambhar in the South Indian kitchens. Each sambhar cauldron has a capacity of 1,200 liters of sambhar for 6,000 children in less than two hours. The rice cauldron can cook 120 kgs of raw rice for 10,000 children in 20 minutes. Usually, there are eight such rice cauldrons in a South Indian kitchen. In the North Indian kitchens, a roti-making machine has been indigenously designed that can prepare 10,000-12,500 rotis per hour. The food is then packed in to stainless steel containers with a tight fitting lid that prevent pilferage and retain the heat of the food. These food containers are then transferred to custom-built vehicles on a conveyor belt. Each vehicle carries food for about 5000

6 Benefits of centralized kitchen model Cooked in one place, quality is easy to control. Maximizes operational and cost efficiency. School teachers are relieved of monitoring mid-day meals. They can concentrate on core activity of teaching. Schools are safe without kitchens and fires. Managed end to end. No intermediaries. Standardization of menu and meals. children, and travels about 50 kms from the kitchen facility. Bus routes are identified in which the vehicles drop-off the food to each school. In Bangalore alone there are 37 routes that distribute food to 737 schools and institutions. There are about 200 such custom-built vehicles operating in the country. In Hubli, there are 32 routes that deliver food to about 786 schools. In Hubli most schools have a large strength and are located closeby. On the other hand, in Vrindavan, there are about 21 vehicle routes that reach out to 450 schools. In Jaipur there are 62 vehicle routes for 1052 schools. Decentralized kitchen model With a hearth to cook, the decentralized kitchen model is more than just the heart of the Akshaya Patra program. The decentralized model is a social-leveler in one sense and an economic activity on the other. It has brought the communities together, generated livelihood for women and brought the children of various castes and creed together. This alternative model is designed to suit remote rural locations with greater challenges of road connectivity and lack of other infrastructure that make a centralized kitchen possible. In a decentralized kitchen women s Self Help Groups (SHG) are formed and trained to cook for nearby schools. They cook the meal and hand deliver it to schools in their neighbourhood. Before a kitchen is established, the frontline team goes to the village and gets the consent of the village panchayat and identifies cooks. Thereafter, the women are trained for a period of one week in a nearby kitchen that is already functional. Training consists of book keeping, menu preparation, hygiene, nutritional value. etc., Clusters of women SHGs formed and for each cluster an executive supervisor is appointed with two assistants. A detailed monthly review is done of every kitchen. In Baran, there are 14 clusters. The supervisors visit each of the kitchens in their cluster everyday. Women maintain daily entries that are checked by the supervisor on his daily visit. Head Cooks: In every kitchen, women are appointed as head cooks on a rotation basis for a period of one month. The head cook is responsible for book keeping, serving, stores, procuring vegetables and groceries. The Akshaya Patra decentralized model was first started in Baran district in Rajasthan. It has been replicated in Bhapur, Nayagarh district in Orissa and in Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh in this academic year. 6

7 Nearing the One Million Mark. Akshaya Patra sets foot in Gujarat Hon ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Narendra Modi, formally launched the Akshaya Patra school meal program in the State of Gujarat. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman TAPF, Minister for Education, Mrs. Anandiben Patel, Minister for Primary Education, Mr. Bhupendrabhai Lakhawala and board members of TAPF, Mr. Mohan Das Pai, Mr. Abhay Jain and Vice Chairman, Sri Chanchalapathi Dasa. The inauguration was preceded by a tour of the Akshaya Patra kitchen by the CM and other dignitaries. They served the Akshaya Patra meal to about 150 beneficiary children. The Ahmedabad kitchen features the first of its kind roti-making machine in Gujarat which can role out 12,500 rotis in one hour. Akshaya Patra has invested about Rs. 75 lakhs in setting up this temporary, centralized automated kitchen facility. Speaking on the occasion, CM Narendra Modi applauded the technology-intensive mechanized kitchen model of Akshaya Patra and said when NGOs come together with the government to implement, they bring soul to the program. Speaking on the occasion Mr. Mohan Das Pai, Trustee, TAPF, said We want to ensure that every Indian has an opportunity to have a decent meal, a decent education, a decent dwelling and a decent life to live his dream. To achieve this, Akshaya Patra wants to feed children and ensure them an education. India is growing and rapidly reaching a GDP of two digits. The real success of the growth of India would be in all sections of its society benefiting. The Government of Gujarat and The Akshaya Patra Foundation have signed a MoU to feed children in Ahmedabad West, Gandhinagar city and Gandhinagar rural. The total enrolled number of students in these schools is 65,000. With the addition of Gujarat schools, Akshaya Patra is now nearer to its goal of feeding one million school children every day by the end of We want to ensure that every Indian has an opportunity to have a decent meal, a decent education, a decent dwelling and a decent life to live his dream. Mohandas Pai Trustee The Akshaya Patra Foundation

8 Akshaya Patra Location Updates»»»»»» Bangalore Mangalore Dharwad District Nayagarh District Jaipur Mathura District The location updates give a brief snapshot of innovations, events and developments that have happened over the last few months across all of Akshaya Patra locations. Bangalore London school children contribute for Akshaya Patra Roxette Manor Middle School, Harrow, London observed Mufti Day also known as Casual Clothes Day or Non-Uniform Day on 16th February 2007 to raise funds for Akshaya Patra. Ms. Suzy Goldsmith and Mr. Ray Crocker, two teachers from Roxette Manor Middle School visited the Akshaya Patra Foundation in Bangalore last year. They were impressed by the program effectiveness and promised to do their bit for the Foundation. This year, the teachers visited the Akshaya Patra Foundation and presented the collections of Mufti Day of about 300 to the Vice Chairman, Sri Chanchalapathi Dasa. Artists serve Ugadi meal The children of Government High School, Vadarpalya were joyous when the Ugadi feast was served to them by 11 eminent artists who came together to meet & serve the students. The Ugadi meal served included bele holige, kosambari, rice, sambhar and curd. The children enjoyed the special meal and the interaction with the artists. For the artists, it was a soul-stirring experience. Artists present were Dr. Suma Sudhindra, internationally known veena artist; M.S. Sheela- well known vocalist; Veena Murthy Vijay, Kuchipudi dancer; Dr. Sanjay Shantaram & Shama Shantaram, Kiran & Sandhya Subramanium two well known dancer couples; Sharmila Mukherjee, disciple of Padmabhushan Kelucharan Mohapatra and a senior Odissi dancer; Mysore Subramanya great grandson of Veena Seshanna, Anuradha Vikranth well known dancer and director of Drishti; Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma popularly known as Shivu a well-known percussionist. Artists serves Ugadi meals

9 Second Akshaya Patra kitchen in Bangalore To reach out to the schools in North Bangalore, Akshaya Patra has set up a gravity force kitchen that maximizes operational and cost efficiency. This evolved centralized automated kitchen is located in Vasanthapura, near Kanakpura road Silos for grain storage, stainless steel channels and pipes where sambar sloshes to the lower floor, rice on trolleys tipped into some more waiting pipes, a massive cold room for storage which is like a huge fridge, a bucket elevator system on the ground floor, complete with 100 little pails that scoop uncooked rice and dal to the silos on the fourth floor. Kitchens couldn t get more hi-tech than this. But then, this is no ordinary kitchen. This is the Akshaya Patra s new gravity force kitchen in Vasanthapura, off Kanakapura Road. This is what s at the heart of the massive mid-day meal scheme, which feeds 80,000 government school children in south Bangalore. It s a top-down approach. That s how the gravitational system works in this kitchen. Storage is on the terrace; chopping, preparing masalas, stores and the cold room on the Schematic drawing showing the cooking process in the new gravity force kitchen An article that appeared in Times of India about this kitchen has been reproduced below. Times of India 23 September 2007 Raise a toast to hi-tech kitchen third floor; a viewers gallery on the second, cooking on the first, and packing and loading on to trucks on the ground floor. Three silos - which can carry 10,000, 5,000 and 2,500 kg, containing government rice, market rice and dal, respectively - dominate the terrace. They are towers looking like huge bottles turned upside down. On the third floor, 40 men and women - gloved and capped - peel and chop vegetables. They work in shifts starting at 2 am, four to six hours at a stretch. There is also a cutting machine to assist them. On the cooking-operations floor are five gleaming stainless steel cauldrons. Each of them can cook 1,200 liters of sambar and a steel ladle can stir it. The sambar flows via channels down to the packing area, directly into open waiting dabbas and onto a conveyor By Geeta Rao belt. The rice is cooked in eight cauldrons, each of 120 kg capacity. At one go, the kitchen rustles up 6,000 liters of sambar and 960 kg of rice. When the job is done, a steering wheel helps overturn the rice from the vessels into trolleys. The rice is then poured down a pipe into the packing area into some more dabbas and onto a second conveyor belt. These are then loaded on to trucks. The meal is ready by 9.30 am, says Venuvadhana, operations head of the kitchen. A control panel coordinates all procedures. Manpower is limited to 170. The entire operation is run on steam. Ecofuel made of paddy husk, dry leaves, groundnut shell is used for the process. Soon, a flyover will come up within the campus and it will directly connect the kitchen to transport groceries easily.

10 Mangalore Teacher Training in Mangalore A one day workshop for the heads of the institutions of the schools covered by Akshaya Patra in Mangalore was held on March 07. Sponsored by District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) Government of Karnataka, about 26 institutions participated in the workshop. In his inauguration message, Karunya Sagar Dasa, Project Manager, Akshaya Patra, Mangalore, solicited teachers to work for the social, educational, emotional and intellectual development of the children. He thanked the authorities of the department for their cooperation. Dr. Diana Prabhu Deputy Director Development, who presided over the function, said that the heads of the institutions are lucky that Akshaya Patra has been supplying the children nutritious food and urged the teachers to keep the classes child-friendly using activity-oriented teaching methods. Dr. Mahidas, Reader College of Education Mangalore, Dr. M. Naik Department of Health Mangalore were resource persons. In the evening session the teachers interacted with Karunya Sagara Dasa, Project Manager, TAPF, Mangalore. All the suggestions given by the teachers were noted. Dharwad District The Hubli- Dharwad kitchen reaches out to four talukas out of the five in its Dharwad district which include- Kalghatgi, Dharwad, Hubli and Kundagol. Unique strength of Akshaya Patra Kitchens On the request of the Government, Akshaya Patra stepped-in to provide relief to the flood victims of Honnavara taluk in Uttara Kannada district by supplying unlimited free food. Akshaya Patra beneficiaries win in a Marathon Akshaya Patra encouraged and facilitated the participation of 1, 460 beneficiaries of the Akshaya Patra program in the 12th Independence Day KPMG Road Race conducted by KPMG and Bangalore Sports Club (BSC). Held in the outer premises of the Kantheerava stadium, the marathon provided an equal platform for children from both the privileged schools and government schools. Mr. Abhay Jain, Trustee of the Akshaya Patra Foundation and President of the BSC presided. Mr. Mohandas Pai and Mr. Ramadas Kamath, Trustees of the Akshaya Patra Foundation and Office bearers of BSC participated in the run. This was an excellent opportunity to identify and nurture the talent of Akshaya Patra beneficiaries. 10

11 Over 54,000 flood victims in over 11 villages in the district severely affected by floods due to heavy rains were supplied food prepared in Akshaya Patra s Hubli kitchen. The kitchen has a capacity to cook 2, 50,000 meals in six hours. A three item menu-meal was served that included bisi bele bhath, raita, lemon rice, vangi bhath, sambhar etc.,. This natural disaster brought forth a unique strength of the Akshaya Patra centralized kitchen infrastructure. While the school meal program remained unaffected, flood relief food was cooked for thousands. Thanks to innovation and intelligent kitchen engineering! Akshaya Patra way, the eco-friendly way The Akshaya Patra Hubli center has taken the initiative to adopt an eco-friendly approach through its rainwater harvesting initiative. To start with, it has adopted rainwater harvesting system to recharge the ground water and re-use excess water for cleaning purposes etc. This project is being undertaken in partnership with organizations like the Ashoka and Deshpande Foundations. Dal analogue - All for that extra nutritious sambhar! To further enhance the nutrition content of its school meal, Akshaya Patra in Hubli has incorporated a new ingredient in its sambhar. Dal Analogue is a ready to use product based on defatted soya flour, whole wheat flour and turmeric powder and resembles tur dal in appearance. It provides high protein, takes less time to cook than natural dal, and is palatable. Another added advantage is that prior to cooking, the dal need not be cleaned manually or soaked in water. Thus, saving time and energy. Nayagarh District, Orissa Decentralized model launched In Nayagarh district, Puri a pilot phase preceded the launch of the decentralized kitchen model. Presently a group of Women s Self Help Groups (SHG) are employed in cooking and distribution of the school meal. These women have been trained in the cooking, cleaning, store maintenance, book keeping and safety aspects by a team of TAPF members from Puri under guidance of Achyutha Krishna Dasa and his assistants. Dal with vegetables, sabji and rice are served daily with a sweet dish called kheer, twice a week. Impressed by the quality of food and the success of the program, a number of requests from other blocks of Nayagarh district are coming-in to conduct the school meal program in those respective villages. In fact, the Block Development Officer, under pressure from the villagers, has requested the collector to extend the Akshaya Patra program to all the 114 villages. At present food is being provided in 10 villages. Jaipur District, Rajasthan In Jaipur Akshaya Patra reaches out to all the talukas which include Sanganer, Bassi, Amer, Chakshn, Jaipur Muncipal Corporation and Jaipur Tehsil. Governor of Gujarat visits Akshaya Patra, Jaipur Governor of Gujarat, Sri. Naval Kishore Sharma visited TAPF, Jaipur kitchen. He lauded the yeomen service being rendered by the Foundation to the children of the State. He was very impressed when informed that TAPF has recently commenced operations in Gujarat. (Photograph overleaf ) 11

12 Abhay Jain, Trustee, and R.. Govinda Dasa Jaipur project manager TAPF, take the Governor of Gujarat on a kitchen tour. more than 100 in the coming months to cover nearly 20,000 children. We have progressed half way in meeting the target. What is the response from the community? Mathura District, Uttar Pradesh The decentralized model has been set up in Mathura District Suvyakta Narasimha Dasa Vrindavan Project Manager, had this to say Why was the decentralized model initiated in Mathura? Why was the pilot done? Mathura district consists of many villages which are deep in the interior & have very poor or no road access at all. Sometimes, the access is very narrow, often blocked by bullock carts, tractors etc. It was physically not feasible for our custom built food distribution vehicles to reach such places from the centralized kitchens. Hence, we opted to go for the decentralized model in such locations. Response from the community is very good. Where the village pradhans through whom the Mid Day Meal (MDM) program was being implemented earlier were providing substandard or no food at all, the children are getting food regularly and that too of good quality. Local employment generated is also substantial. Many villages have come forward requesting us to start the program there. Elucidate a few benefits accrued to the community including the teachers. Local employment, good & regular food for the children, increased attendance & enrolment as far as teachers are concerned, reduced work load for teachers since they don t have to bother whether food will be available every day or not etc are some of the benefits. What is the scope for expanding the decentralized model? Give a few projections. We plan to reach out to 20,000 children in approx. 125 schools in the coming couple of months. The pilot run was carried out to get a first hand experience of the logistics & operations involved. The pilot run gave us the confidence to build it up to the present level. What were the challenges in implementing the decentralized model in Mathura Dist? 12 Challenges ranged from recruitment of labor (as there are no Self Help Groups here), to reaching the provisions to the kitchens in the schools, supervising the whole operations (since each school is located about two to four kms from each other), to some schools not having kitchens where we have made arrangements to cook the food in a house close to the school, etc., Are you happy with the outcome? Outcome is good and we are encouraged to increase the number of villages covered to Write to us with your comments, suggestions and feedback to infodesk@akshayapatra.org

13 CorporateSupport ABB Ltd, Bangalore has committed to feeding 549 children for lifetime in the Government Higher Primary School, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Laggere, Bangalore North Zone. The school has 296 girls and 253 boys, of which most of them come from the lower strata of society where parents are daily wage earners. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, sister concern of ONGC has adopted feeding of 2,472 children from August 15th Oriental Bank of Commerce, New Delhi has sponsored Akshaya Patra school meals for 1,250 children for one year. Mine Owners pitch in for Akshaya Patra. Three mine owners from the Bellary region of Karnataka have extended their support to Akshaya Patra. Mr & Mrs S.K. Modi of Bellary Iron Ore Pvt. Ltd (BIOP) from Bellary, Mr. Satish owner of Y. Mahabaleshwarappa and Sons mines in Ananthapur and Mr. and Mrs. Ajay Saraf owners of R.B.Seth Shreeram Narsinghdas (RBSSN). They have all contributed towards capital expenditure for setting up of the state-of-art kitchen in Bellary District, Karnataka. Also, each of them have adopted school feeding for 2000 children each for life. Prestige Estates adopted 600 students school feeding in the Government Urdu High School, DJ Halli, Bangalore. In a school feeding program Ravi Rao, President, Engineering Department served and shared the Akshaya Patra meal with the children. OtherUpdates Nicole Woo, Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellow to study Akshaya Patra Akshaya Patra was the only Asian NGO chosen by Congressional Hunger Center (CHC) for its Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Program. CHC is a unique not-for-profit anti-hunger leadership training organization located in Washington D.C. In its Fellowship programs, a select group of fellows are trained to become effective antihunger leaders. As a bi-partisan organization, CHC serves as a center where the anti-hunger community can discuss creative solutions to end domestic and international hunger. A Harvard University alumni, Nicole Woo, the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellow has vast experience in the realm of hunger and children s school meal programs. As part of her fellowship she will be at Akshaya Patra India for the first year followed by the second year at Akshaya Patra USA. Nicole opines, Akshaya Patra is a truly exciting organization with tremendous potential, and I believe I have specialized knowledge that can help it grow. Amrita Rao, Bollywood actress visits TAPF, Vrindavan Akshaya Patra s school meal program is the most divine execution. I am touched. God bless. 13

14 Akshaya Life Skills- an Akshaya Patra initiative To further enhance the education incentives of its beneficiary children, Akshaya Patra initiated a pilot run of the Akshaya Life Skills (ALS) for 2000 children of 8th-10th Std in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) schools last academic year. This initiative is aimed at providing a value-added learning program at the grass root level. Akshaya Patra has partnered with The Activity to develop content and conduct these Life Skills training. The Activity is an organization that focuses on providing training to school children and its vision is Enabling young people to grow into fine human being. The Akshaya Life Skills training consists of about 20 session s throughout the academic year on essential Life Skills recommended by World Health Organization (WHO). The program is specifically developed to cater to the needs of the underprivileged children. The language of instruction is Kannada to make it more effective. ALS Expansion July March 2008 With the success of the pilot initiative, Akshaya Patra is extending the ALS training to 15,000 of its beneficiaries in Karnataka out of which 10,000 are in Bangalore and the other 5,000 are part of the Hubli ALS pilot initiative. This year the program would contain: Teachers training workshop to enhance teachers personal and professional skills Counseling clinic- where professional will meet students to discuss their problems and worries Talent development activities General awareness program on rights, responsibility, health etc., The benefits of the program are both long term and immediate. For students, the direct benefits lie in improving their psychosocial competence. The family benefits from the child's improved competence and understanding. The main objective behind this program is to provide opportunity for personality enhancement and growth for the less privileged children and also to provide needbased learning programs to the students for improving the quality and performance levels and help them in capacity building. Akshaya Life Skills is a remarkable initiative because this is for the first time a program of international standard has been introduced in government schools in a regional language on such a large scale. It is a big challenge for my team and me at The Activity to formulate a program for Akshaya Patra beneficiary children who come from a background where meeting basic needs seem a luxury. One of the biggest hurdles for us in implementing the program has been the variety and intensity of issues that are faced by the children ranging from violence to abuse to poverty to lack of motivation to distractions etc. Syed Sultan Ahmed, Managing Director The Activity 14

15 Akshaya Life Skills Pilot Initiative- Preliminary survey Prior to starting the program of ALS in June 2006, the ALS team conducted a survey in eight corporation high schools in BBMP to understand the state of mind of the students and various skill sets. The outcome of the research showed that the students suffered from various issues like, low self-esteem, financial problems, high levels of stress and worry, various forms of abuse, drug abuse, violence, decision-making, don t foresee any use of education and other family problems. Over 500 sessions were conducted in 10 BBMP schools from August 2006 to March ALS Impact Survey After the completion of ALS program a survey was conducted to assess the impact and effectiveness of the program in meeting the requirements of the students. The results showed a remarkable improvement in the students. Sponsor Akshaya Life Skills for children. For further details write to: infodesk@akshayapatra.org Innovations Did you know? A machine that is used in the chocolate factories in UK for pumping liquid chocolate has found application in the Akshaya Patra Hubli kitchen. The Balgdon Pump has been imported from UK and it does the very unique function of pumping a very viscous fluid (ganji - the excess water from cooking rice which has a high content of nutrition and starch) at a high temperature to a distance of more than 100 feet. This is a very unique application of the machine from its original use in the chocolate industry. Desserts for Saturdays Akshaya Patra serves desserts to its school meal recipients every Saturday. This dessert is based on the regional cuisine and is rich with dry fruits. In the North, kheer and in the South, pongal is served. The children love the dessert and look forward to relishing it every Saturday. 15

16 Life is not about money, but about sharing and reaching out to others. Interview 16

17 Alexius and Matty Collette serve Akshaya Patra school meals to children Interview with Alexius Collette, CEO, Philips India We are happy that Philips has been partnering with Akshaya Patra since What are your thoughts about the program? Seeing is believing. The food preparation and distribution is very well organized; a jewel in India. My wife and I not only went to Akshaya Patra kitchen and distribution centre but also to a school to distribute the food there, spoke to the children and teachers. There were positive reactions from all. A team of Philips colleagues visited Akshaya Patra recently and were also inspired. We are convinced that this is a great program run by very sincere people. What is the inspiration for supporting the school meal feeding program for the underprivileged children? Education. The key driver for social change. The school meal program allows children to go to school; else many would be forced to work or beg for money by their parents. Also, learning with an empty stomach does not work; you need a balance between a healthy body and a receptive mind. What in your opinion could be the impact of a simple yet wholesome school meal for deserving children and their education? The meal enables education. Education is the key for self development, self esteem and employability. In short, a humane future. What does Philips hope to achieve through this longstanding partnership? To make a change in the life of children, who are not born with a bright outlook. We touch a limited number, but every child counts for us. As CEO of Philips Innovation Campus I feel that we needed to make this modest contribution. Life is not about money, but about sharing and reaching out to others. Then we can have a good work and family life. A message for Akshaya Patra News & Views readers. Treasure the Akshaya Patra people who put in their daily energy to give every year more children a brighter future! Invite others to come and see. They all will be convinced of the excellent work! We touch a limited number, but every child counts for us. 17

18 A new photobank of highly spirited and playful school children has been created for Akshaya Patra. Multiple Cannes Awards winner and noted photographer, Senthil, clicked the photographs on a probono basis. DonorSpeak The school meal program run by Akshaya Patra is phenomenal and great. I support Akshaya Patra, as hunger is a basic issue and children are close to my heart. They are the generation next. Dewang Neralla, Mumbai 18 My mother is a teacher in a government school in Dharwad, Karnataka. In the last few years that Akshaya Patra has been operating in the region, it has brought in remarkable improvement and made a difference, says she. I have even tasted the Akshaya Patra meal and especially liked the sweet dish. My work keeps me so busy that I don t get time for social work, I thought at least I should do some charity. So, I chipped in for Akshaya Patra. Besides, there are a lot of NGOs that you can make donations to, but the guarantee of it reaching the right hands is unsure. Arvind R Patil, Pune

19 Your decision today can influence at least one family s future. Forever. Donation form How many children do you wish to feed and educate? Rs 1200* brings one child to school for an entire year. Rs for 5 children Rs for 10 children Rs for 15 children Rs for 20 children Rs for 25 children Amount No. of children Name of sponsor: Mailing address: Off. tel: Res. tel: Mob: DOB: PAN No: I wish to make my contribution by: Cheque DD in favour of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, Bangalore. Name of Bank: Cheque/DD No: Visa Card Master Card Diners Card Credit Card Expiry Date: CVV No: Enrolment date: Introduced by: Have you donated to the Akshaya Patra program before? Yes/No Donor s Signature: Date: Donations are eligible for 100% tax deduction under section 35AC 80GGA(bb) of the IT Act. *Estimated cost includes cost of food (less government subsidy where applicable), distribution cost, other costs relating to centralized kitchen infrastructure. 19

20 The Akshaya Patra Foundation H K Hill, Chord Road Bangalore , India Ph: , Fax: infodesk@akshayapatra.org Website: