Empower 2012 WISE Prize Recipient Speaker at Pratham Gala Pratham USA, an award-winning nonprofit organization committed to empowering children and youth in India through education, will host its annual fundraising gala on April 27, 2013 at the Hilton Americas in Houston. The event, For the Love of Learning, will celebrate Pratham’s continuing success and honor the organization’s distinguished Co-Founder and CEO Dr. Madhav Chavan, who will deliver the keynote address for the evening. Dr. Chavan, a noted global humanitarian, and the winner of the Wise Prize for Education 2012, will remark on the progress and achievements Pratham has made in the past year. The annual award is the first major global prize of its kind, recognizing an individual or an organization for their noteworthy contribution to the field of education. The award comes with a monetary prize of USD $500,000 and a gold medal; Dr. Chavan will be generously donating the money to Pratham. A premiere and upscale annual social event on the Houston calendar, the Pratham Gala attracts this city’s affluent professional, business and community leaders from a cross section of the local communities, along with individual philanthropists — all with a personal commitment to improving child literacy in India. Last year, the gala saw in attendance 800 guests, and raised over $1.25 million under the accomplished leadership of Chapter President Swatantra Jain. This year, Jain hopes to raise as much if not more. The Gala program for 2013 will include a cocktail reception, a plated dinner, an auction, a dance performance by Naach Houston, and a instrumental music performance by Bollywood Strings. KHOU 11 News Anchor Rekha Muddaraj will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies for the event. Pratham, which means “first” in Sanskrit, was founded in the slums of Mumbai in 1994 with UNICEF support. Today, Pratham’s urban programs, including pre-schools, community libraries, and remedial learning programs, reach thou-
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sands of children every year. In 2007, with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Pratham launched its flagship Read India Campaign, an innovative effort to reach millions of children in India who cannot read or write, or do basic mathematics. Pratham’s “Annual Status of Education Report” (ASER) evaluates India’s education through direct testing of over 700,000 children in 16,000 villages across India. ASER is the only annual measurement of basic literacy and numeracy conducted at scale in India today and its widespread dissemination has helped focus government attention on the issue of learning. Pratham programs have been evaluated in ten large-scale randomized trials conducted by J-PAL, the Poverty Action Lab at MIT. Pratham’s programs have been recognized internationally for their innovation and impact. In 2011, Pratham received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Award in the public service, and the 2010 Henry R. Kravis Leadership Prize. The Houston chapter is Pratham USA’s founding chapter and was formed in 1998. Pratham USA has also been recently recognized for its efforts to fundraise for education initiatives in India. In January, Pratham USA was awarded the Times of India Social Impact Award for International Contribution to India. Last year, the Houston Business Journal ranked Pratham USA as one of the healthiest local charities.
Pratham is the largest non-governmental organization providing quality education to underprivileged children of India. With a budget of less than $14 million, Pratham uses very low-cost and scalable methods and works in collaboration with the government, local communities, parents, teachers and volunteers across the country to educate millions of children every year. Pratham’s mission is Every Child in School and Learning Well. Pratham USA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a four-star rating (the highest possible) from Charity Navigator, and accepts tax deductible contributions from US donors to create educational reform throughout India. www.prathamusa.org
PRATHAM HOUSTON GALA 2013 for the love of learning SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2013, 6 PM Hilton Americas @ 1600 Lamar Street, Houston, TX 77010
KEYNOTE ADDRESS Dr. Madhav Chavan CEO and Co-founder of Pratham Recipient of the 2012 WISE Prize ENTERTAINMENT Bollywood Strings • Naach Houston EMCEE Rekha Muddaraj (KHOU 11 News Anchor) Cocktails & Dinner Black tie optional for more information, contact the PRATHAM HOUSTON OFFICE: 713-774·95990 or info@prathamusa.org