Annual Impact Report 2023-24 | IndiVillage Foundation

The cover illustration is the children’s drawings from our Storytelling Saturday program combined with the power of AI.

Overview

IndiVillage Foundation is a nonprofit organization focused on closing the learning and skill gap in rural India. We enable youth (current generation) and children (future generation) to participate in sustainable livelihood opportunities by empowering them with 21st-century skills. While doing all this, we also apply a gender lens to our initiatives and seek to eliminate gender disparities.

We operate within a comprehensive three-program framework, with a strong emphasis on education and skill development.

Our education vertical comprises two programs: Storytelling Saturday and Tech Her Forward. These initiatives are complemented by our skilling vertical program, Rural Youth Skilling.

Vision

A future in rural India where skill gaps are overcome

Mission

We prepare young people and children for meaningful careers by equipping them with essential skills through skilling programs, foundational literacy, and STEM initiatives. Our mission extends beyond immediate job placement. We aim to empower them with the skills and lifelong learning mindset that will enable them to adapt, innovate, and excel throughout their careers.

Message from Director

Incremental to Exponential Value

Reflecting on the year 2023 to 2024, I am deeply honored to present our annual impact report. This year has been characterized by remarkable growth, formidable challenges and inspiring achievements, propelling IndiVillage Foundation to new heights.

Throughout this year we witnessed extraordinary expansion in the impact we were able to achieve on ground. Our impact numbers for 2022-23 was 4309 participants compared to 22,094 in this year. At the heart of our success lies the fundamental shift in mindset -from incremental to exponential.

Our team has not only grown in numbers but has also transformed into a high performing unit, driven by passion and a shared commitment to our mission. One of the most remarkable aspects of this year has been the incredible spirit of community engagement and participation that we received at every level. Our team of on-ground volunteers increased from 42 to over 158 this year. Individuals from grassroot communities came together in a spirit of collaboration, generously volunteering their time, skills and resources to support our cause.

On the partnership front, we forged alliances with the Karnataka Skill Development Corporation for skilling initiatives and collaborated with Quest Alliance to help design the curriculum for our Tech Her Forward and skilling programs. Additionally, we partnered with Saturday Art Class to enhance the creative and engaging aspects of our Storytelling Saturday curriculum.

Another source of immense pride and significance is that the quality of our programs has remained uncompromised. We have developed our own curriculum for Storytelling Saturday aligned with the current National Education Policy of India. Furthermore, we emphasized concrete and measurable metrics of measurement to analyze base line end line data.

None of this would be possible without support from IndiVillage. Not only do they provide financial resources they provide unwavering support and commitment to the upliftment of rural youth. They have been the cornerstone of our foundation. Ofcourse, we would like to give a shout out to Machani group, which incubated IndiVillage and provided it with support to soar to new heights. Thank you for being a part of our journey, for your continued support, and for sharing our vision of exponential mindset & growth.

As we gaze into the future, we are filled with optimism and determination. There is still much work to be done, many challenges to be overcome and countless lives to touch.

Hima Reddy Director, IndiVillage Foundation

Message from Head of Operations

Building a Stronger Foundation for Growth: A Message from Operations

This year at IndiVillage Foundation has been marked by remarkable growth, and a significant portion of that success can be attributed to our incredible team, volunteers and partners.

Building a High-Performing Team:

We began by focusing on team capacity building. Through quarterly boot camps and external workshops organized by esteemed partners like Quest Alliance and Saturday Art Class, we equipped our staff with the latest skills and methodologies. Additionally, theater workshops fostered a deeper understanding of our creative pedagogies, ensuring impactful implementation across all programs.

Fostering a Culture of Learning:

We believe in fostering a culture of continuous learning, not just for our program beneficiaries but for our team as well. Our interactive workshops and bootcamps created a dynamic environment for knowledge exchange and collaboration. This not only enhanced program delivery but also instilled a sense of shared purpose and ownership within the team.

Learning Through Collaboration:

We recognize the power of collaboration. Partnering with government and other civil society organizations has not only broadened our program offerings but also exposed our team to diverse learning opportunities.

Looking Ahead:

As we move forward, we are committed to further strengthening our operational framework. We will explore implementing new technologies for program management and volunteer engagement. Additionally, we plan to expand team capacity through targeted capacity development initiatives.

With a strong foundation and a passionate team, IndiVillage Foundation is poised for even greater impact in the years to come.

Akanchha Sharma Head of Operations, IndiVillage Foundation

Impact Overview

2023-24

22,094

2520

Students now have access to computers

3328

Students can now access internet

5587

Girls learned to use computer

7

Aspiring changemakers trained on research, design, impact evaluation amongst other skills

3567

Children got introduced to listening comprehension and speaking skills through storytelling

158

6218

Children aged 4-11 now have access to age-appropriate books.

406

Children impacted through our art education program

86

Youth learned soft skills such as critical thinking, decision-making, English communication skills, computer skills amongst other skills

Working women are learning English communication skills as part of professional upskilling

217

People availed ambulance services

SDGs We Work Toward

Geographies

Bassi Rajasthan

Raichur

Karnataka

Kymore Madhya Pradesh

Yemmiganur Andhra Pradesh

Anantapur Andhra Pradesh

Theory of Change

Problem Statement 01

The lack of employability skills in rural India poses a significant challenge as the job market evolves. The declining literacy levels among children exacerbate this issue. With a rapidly expanding working-age population, it becomes imperative to address the learning and skill gaps to fully utilize India’s demographic potential.

03

Outcomes

• Increased Student Learning Outcomes

• Improved computer literacy skills in young adolescent girls

• Develop basic proficiency in coding

• Youth will develop 21st century skills like problem solving, critical thinking, communication, decision making.

02

Strategy

• Foundational Literacy Program For Children

• STEM Education for Young Adolescent Girls

• Skilling Initiatives for Youth

• Collaboration with Stakeholders

• Thought Leadership

• Enhanced collaborations and partnerships with CSOs, Governments, Funders and the likes

• Amplified impact and scale

• Informed interventions

Results

Education

Children can meaningfully read and write by the time they reach Grade 3

Young adolescent girls will be able to operate computers with ease and do basic level of coding.

They will be able to display more agency in the decision-making process of their life

Skilling

Youth can effectively navigate challenges

Communicate their ideas

Make informed decisions that contribute to their personal growth

Academic success and future career prospects

Partnership and Thought Leadership

Cohesive community working collaboratively, exchanging ideas and knowledge

05 ImpactVision

Empowered and Employable YouthA future in rural India where skill gaps are overcome

Strong Literacy Skills

Enabling to pursue higher education

Proficiency in Computer Literacy and Coding

Enabling to secure meaningful employment opportunities

Impact NumbersProgram Brief

TECH HER FORWARD 5587

53

Schools

8 Participants

Locations

In rural India, women face digital literacy challenges, with only 25% having used the internet. Urgent action is needed to empower them through education and reskilling for the evolving IT and AI job market.

Program Overview

Tech Her Forward is a digital literacy initiative targeting adolescent girls aged 13-18 in rural India. Through this program, we introduce coding and essential computer skills in government and low-budget private schools.

Sessions Covered

The program curriculum is thoughtfully structured, covering essential topics such as self-awareness, gender dynamics, fundamentals of computers, programming, and artificial intelligence.

Implemented in two phases, the first phase spans 8 months with 32 sessions, followed by a second phase comprising 12 sessions conducted over 3 months.

Monitoring and Evaluation

We conducted Baseline and Endline Assessments to measure the impact of our interventions.

Setting Up Computer Labs

Feedback from the Baseline Assessment prompted us to pivot our approach, placing a greater emphasis on creating computer labs. This strategic shift ensures we are better equipped to meet the evolving needs of our beneficiaries in the digital age.

In partnership with BI WORLDWIDE, we have established 6 computer labs as an extension of our Tech Her Forward initiative. This marks a major milestone in our journey to strengthen schools with technology and make digital literacy accessible to those furthest behind.

6 Computer Labs

2,520 Students

Establishing Internet Connectivity

Recognizing the challenges faced during our Tech Her Forward sessions due to the absence of internet connectivity, we took action to strengthen schools with digital infrastructure. As a result, we’ve successfully enabled internet access in 19 rural schools across Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

3,328 Students

19 Schools

Testimonial

“The sessions are very interesting and filled with knowledge. Most of the girls in my school don’t have basic computer knowledge or English language skills. This program helps them to go forward and get jobs in future.”

Soujanya Participant, Sarvodaya High School, Sindhanur, Karnataka

Impact NumbersProgram Brief

3567

29 Participants Schools

Nearly 25% of the participants aged 14-18year-olds can not read a standard II level text in their regional language, according to ASER 2023. This foundational learning crisis impedes cognitive readiness and future skill development, therefore a focus towards building foundational literacy skills while also equipping the future workforce with lifelong learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills is needed to thrive in the 21st century.

Program Overview

The Storytelling Saturday program aims to equip primary school children with Foundational Literacy and Social Emotional Skills through the pedagogy of storytelling. In the past year, Storytelling Saturday has made significant strides in promoting Foundational Literacy (FL) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) among young learners.

Sessions Covered

Through 12 meticulously crafted session plans, we delved into essential FL skills, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Complementing these, our program also emphasized SEL skills such as self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and respecting diversity. Anchoring each session were captivating stories, carefully selected from StoryWeaver, including heartwarming tales like “A Girl Called Cheeku,” “Why is Nita Upside Down,” “Emotions Come and Go,” “Angry Akku,” “My Brother’s Wheelchair,” and “Laundry Day.”

Monitoring and Evaluation

Our robust Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system, utilizing baseline and endline assessments, ensured the efficacy of our efforts. Based on the baseline data, we identified speaking and listening comprehension skills as key areas for focus.

Moving forward in the 2024-25 school year, our Year 1 students graduating to Year 2 will have a curriculum focused on advanced reading and writing skills, along with continued development of listening comprehension, where there’s room for growth.

Speaking Skills

27.72% of students exhibited notable progress in their speaking skills and responded to prompts during conversations

Annual Showcase

What do you want to be when you grow up: We witnessed the budding aspirations of our young participants, beautifully showcased through a fanciful dress showcase where they portrayed their dreams for the future.

A Library in Every School

6,218 Participants

35 Schools

Raichur, Yemmiganur, Anantapur

A Library in Every School is an extension of our child literacy program Storytelling Saturday. As part of this initiative, we establish mini-libraries in government and low-income schools in rural India and inculcate the joy of reading among children from underserved communities.

Testimonial

“The students have a great interest in listening to the stories and they wait for each session. Children are very curious to respond to the facilitators. The program is really helping to improve the language skills of the children. We wish to continue this partnership in the coming years as well.”

Meera Teacher, Sri Surgeshwara Primary School, Raichur, Karnataka.

RURAL YOUTH SKILLING

Impact Numbers 158 11 8 Participants Colleges Blocks

Program Brief

Despite the UN’s forecast that nearly 50% of India’s population will inhabit urban areas by 2047, many rural youths opt to remain in their villages. With a notable shift from agriculture to non-farming jobs, offering vocational training in rural areas can stem migration and bolster local economies. Yet, limited exposure to 21st-century skills hampers rural youth prospects. The Rural Youth Skilling Program addresses this gap by equipping individuals aged 18-25 with essential employability skills.

Program Overview

The Rural Youth Skilling Program is centered around empowering youth aged 18-32 with important 21st-century skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, English communication skills, basic computer skills, job readiness skills, and entrepreneurial mindset. We do this by organizing capacitybuilding sessions every week for college youth, applying activity-driven pedagogy.

Additionally, we also partnered with Karnataka Skill Development Corporation for the implementation of our skilling program.

Sessions Covered

In our soft skills training program we began with a session on understanding self through SWOT analysis. Next we covered personality building topics such as growth mindset, critical thinking and decision making. We covered basics of English communication with a focus on sentence structure and use of descriptive words to talk about surroundings and objects. As part of the job readiness training, we covered topics such as reading a job description and making a resume. Digital skills are the most necessary 21st century skills. We covered basics of MS suite which included introduction to MS Word, MS Powerpoint, MS Excel. Lastly we culminated with a session on entrepreneurial mindset, giving our participants a mindset toolkit to cultivate entrepreneurial skills.

Monitoring and Evaluation

We conducted an assessment at the end of the training program with our participants to check their understanding of the topics covered.

The findings of the assessment are as follows.

Participants scoring on Employability Training

66%

66% of the participants scored above 60%

Self Assessment

• Top three strength areas were Communication skills, Teamwork and collaboration and Leadership skills.

• Top three focus areas were Digital literacy, Critical thinking and Problem solving.

Testimonial

“The program helped me improve my communication skills, leadership qualities and patience. I am effectively managing my time also. Volunteering with IndiVillage Foundation was the first step towards building my career. I have added this in my resume as well.”

Bhavna Participant, Rao’s Degree College, Yemmiganur, Andhra Pradesh

SATURDAY ART CLASS

Impact Numbers

406

9 Participants Schools

Program Brief

Saturday Art Class uses Visual Arts and Social-Emotional Learning to empower children in a safe space. College volunteers, trained through our “Rural Youth Skilling” program, lead the sessions, gaining valuable skills while expanding children’s access to art education.

Program Overview

This program, in partnership with Saturday Art Class, harnesses the power of art to nurture foundational literacy and socialemotional skills. Children explore their potential and find fulfillment through creative expression.

Sessions Covered

Eleven engaging art sessions were conducted across nine schools. Activities fostered critical thinking, imagination, and self-awareness. Examples include:

Rainbow Drawing: Recalling objects by color association

Flower Drawing: Using lines to connect elements

Animal Drawing: Combining shapes for creative representation

Self-Portrait: Expressing emotions through color and collage

Finger Painting: Exploring tactile creativity

These sessions provided a platform for artistic exploration and personal growth.

Testimonial

“Teaching enthusiastic students and witnessing their creativity flourish each week has been truly inspiring. I’m really grateful to be a part of the program and I enjoyed it a lot with the students. I also learned so much from them. This experience has reinforced my belief in the power of art to bring people together and foster personal growth.”

Keerthi Volunteer Educator, Yemmiganur, Andhra Pradesh

ALL WOMEN TECH CENTRES

Impact Numbers

Women Centres

Program Overview

Motivated by a collective aspiration for selfimprovement, marginalized women in Kymore, Madhya Pradesh, and Bassi, Rajasthan articulated a pressing need for English language proficiency. Responding to their earnest aspirations, IndiVillage Foundation, IndiVillage Tech Solutions, Adani Foundation, and Ekakanya Trust united to deliver English language training through weekly sessions facilitated by Queen’s English. This concerted effort aims to empower these women with the skills needed to pursue sustainable livelihoods, fostering self-reliance and socio-economic advancement within their communities.

Testimonial

“It is really a very big opportunity to improve myself as a leader and create an environment for other women in my community to do better for themselves and their families.”

Ekta Singh Team Lead, IndiVillage Tech Solutions, Kymore Centre, Madhya Pradesh

OTHER INITIATIVES

Impact Numbers

7 Participants

Social Internship Program

We engage with aspiring development practitioners from different institutions and train them through real-time projects and guided frameworks

Testimonial

“Looking at the beginning and now, I have not just achieved my goals, But I also learned the most important thing. That is, you always should move forward, but it is also equally important to take as many people as you can among you in this journey.”

Agnieška Intern

Ambulatory Service

Launched in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, our free ambulance service has become a vital resource for the Yemmiganur community. Since 2021, we have responded to over 600 emergencies, ensuring timely access to critical healthcare for those in need. Our dedicated team receives ongoing training to maintain the highest standards of service, providing life-saving support 24/7.

Our Partners

Stories from the Field

Indu is an 8th standard student from Vignan English Medium School where we have set up one of our computer labs. She had used a computer before but was not aware of how each component worked. Now she understands it better and that made her more comfortable around the system.

She is super interested in drawing and she is truly passionate about taking her art digital.

During an activity, our volunteers were asked to identify the stereotypes they wanted to break. Vijaya Sree, our volunteer from Yemmiganur shared that she wanted to do night outs, long drives, and movies at night with my girl best friends like the boys do.

Supriya, our program coordinator from Sirwar took the initiative to write these inspiring notes to volunteers acknowledging their efforts to give back to the community.

After one of the Tech Her Forward sessions in Yemmiganur, Nisha, our program coordinator conducted a discussion on how the program will be useful for the students and how can they benefit from it. They summarised the discussion to these words.

Meet C Indu, a dedicated volunteer from Yemmiganur known affectionately as Story Akka by her students. Through her engaging storytelling sessions, she’s not just teaching but captivating young minds. Indu’s joy knows no bounds as she cherishes being recognized and appreciated by her students for her passion for storytelling.

Shantiniketan High School in Sirwar doesn’t have a computer lab. Only 2-3 students have used a computer before. Following a Tech Her Forward session on computer components, intrigued participants approached our coordinator, counting keys on her laptop with curiosity.

Programs We Were Part Of

Common Minimum Program | ATMA

We completed the year-long experiential accelerator initiative by ATMA for early-stage NGOs across India. We undergo mentorship in core social impact subjects like fundraising, human resources, program design and delivery and marketing. We were among the top 32 NGOs across india to participate in the program.

VolCon | iVolunteer

VolCon is India’s largest Volunteering conference The event aims to unleash the spirit of volunteerism by bringing together NGOs, Corporates, Intermediaries, and other agencies that actively engage volunteers in India. Conference started with the awareness of socio-political issues in India and seeking solution from constitution through Volunteering. Speakers of event emphasized on having sense of ethics, compassion and empathy. Conference centered on the act of problem solving along with acquiring skills which will help us greatly.

Net Zero Fellowship | School of Policy and Governance

The Net Zero Fellowship is for emerging political and public leaders of India who will help shape a better, resilient and sustainable future. The leadership cohort includes Indian parliamentarians, bureaucrats, media personnel and social sector leaders.

Indian Equitable Learning

Ecosystem | Quest Alliance

IELE is a group of multiple NGOs working together collaboratively to come up with sustainable solutions in the areas of Education, STEM Literacy, Programming, and other aspects to foster equity and a just society where everyone gets a level playing field. Right now, the major focus of this ecosystem is to break stereotypes prevalent in technology and science. Through the Scratch learning module, all the organizations are addressing the underlying issues being faced in different geographies of the country.

Master Coach Workshop | Quest Alliance

The Master Coach Workshop by Quest Alliance focused on empowering classroom facilitators with effective techniques for experiential learning. Covering topics such as managing comfort zones, understanding the 3C’s model, and fostering essential life skills, attendees explored diverse classroom dynamics and honed teaching techniques. Emphasizing the importance of creating safe learning environments through the PIES model and Community Norms, the workshop highlighted the reflective process of learning and the key qualities necessary for facilitators to succeed.

Submarine Conference | Studio Subu

The submarine was a unique commsfocussed bootcamp targeted towards strengthening the brand presence, fundraising & partnership efforts, program delivery and organisational team culture. The bootcamp was a highly collaborative experience packed with workshops, brainstorms and group critique spaces. The sessions helped with 360 degree understanding of all aspects of communications, from research, to content writing, to design, to conversion & outreach strategies.

OUR TEAM

Akanchha Sharma

Ravi Machani

Deepa KE

Tuba Afreen

Shashidhar CR

Muhammed Shafi

Mohit Verma

Hima Reddy Manju Kesani

Nayab Mahamunnisha Gopal Krishna Srinivasulu K Head of Tech

Operations Head of Communications

Samreen Begum

Supriya Kattikar Shivkumar

Venkat Reddy Siddhu Mounesh

Jayashree Tupdar

Bala Manikantha