Year: 2023

The two films, shot at Smile Foundation’s projects, capture real-life journeys of two inspiring youth from rural Odisha

 

New Delhi, Aug, 2022: Two films made by Smile Foundation got a world premiere at the 43rd Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). The films are among the top 12 films selected globally under the Audience Choice category of the Nelson Mandela Film Festival, partnering with DIFF this year.

 

‘Manayun’ and ‘Torch’ are both documentaries shot at Smile Foundation’s education projects in Odisha and capture the real-life coming of age journeys of two ordinary but inspiring young men. 

 

Manayun – My Wonderland showcases the journey of a young migrant who travels in search of livelihood. His struggle makes him realize the importance of education and he returns to his native village to open a school. His homeland happens to be the picturesque, naturally endowed district of Kalahandi.    

The other film, Torch, captures the life of a teenager growing up in a village near Konark, home to the Sun Temple. Soumya suffers from a condition in his legs that prevents him from leading a normal life, pushing him into depression. His interest in life is rekindled by a torch light.

Both the films have been made by Smile Foundation, known besides its development work, for making the iconic children’s film I Am Kalam in 2010. The organization has carried forward the legacy by making several documentaries, films, television series and a children’s film festival called SIFFCY that has been running for eight years now and is known for its curation of handpicked films for children and youth from across the world.

Santanu Mishra, Co-founder of Smile Foundation and producer of Manayun and Torch, says, “We want to take the work, the stories and the inspiration from what we practice on the ground to a larger audience. Ever since I am Kalam, we have come to believe in the power of films as a tool to reach and sensitise the masses. These films are a step forward in vocalizing challenges that are faced at the grassroots, and exemplify how ordinary people can bring change in their lives, their communities.”

Mr Pranab Aich, Director of the two films, says “I have been making documentaries with NGOs for 15 years now. I am fond of telling stories through children as they are our future, and their perspective on life has mostly been ignored in the mainstream. Smile has been doing excellent work with children. Getting to make films on such stories is a challenge and joy as well. Manayun was shot in very difficult terrain.”

 

Smile Films is an initiative of Smile Foundation, an Indian social development organization, benefitting over 15 lakh children and their families every year. Smile Foundation believes that unless members of civil society are involved proactively in the process of development, sustainable change will not happen.

 

Smile Foundation believes cinema is one of the most influential and creative tools that can promote positivity and aims to empower and educate society about societal problems and about the way to resolve these through good cinema. Smile Foundation has been deploying good cinema as a medium for sensitizing the masses and engaging them proactively in the process of initiating social change. Smile Foundation wants to involve civil society, to take an active partner in all its welfare initiatives. 

 

About Smile Foundation: 

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families every year through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 26 states. 

New Delhi, Dec 12, 2022: Smile Foundation receives the CSR Times Award 2022 for Skill Development. Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Km. Pratima Bhoumik presented the award in the presence of eminent dignitaries. 

 

The award conferred under Gold category was in recognition to the foundation’s Smile Twin e-Learning Programme or STeP. Smile Foundation conceptualized and launched the Programme in 2007, with an aim to create a pool of skilled and gainfully employed youth through skill enhancement in tandem with market requirements across India. 

 

Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP) is further aligned with the ‘Skill India’ initiative that was launched by the Government of India in 2015. STeP aims to empower the underprivileged youth of our country by providing them with knowledge and the requisite skills, thereby increasing their career opportunities and enabling them to secure jobs in the organized sector, become financially secure.

“We are thankful for such a meaningful encouragement. Looking at the emerging and growing opportunities for the youth, we are preparing ourselves for a significant expansion of this programme,” says Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-founder & Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation. 

 

This national level programme develops and trains youth with necessary skills, ensures beyond-classroom learning, helps them on career choice and counseling, facilitates exposure visits and interaction with prospective employers, and provides them with job placements. 

 

Initially, the skill development programme was a primarily focused on providing market-oriented skill training to underprivileged youth for gainful employment in retail, hospitality and ITeS sectors. As the pandemic brought major disruption in many industries, it also triggered emergence of new jobs that demanded specific skills. As a result, Smile Foundation restructured the STeP curriculum to fit the emerging employment market. Efforts have been made to facilitate skilling and employment of youth in sectors such as healthcare assistance, digital marketing, BFSI (business, financial services and insurance), BPO (business process outsourcing) and e-logistics where the demand for workforce is rising rapidly.

 

Currently, 84 STeP centres are operational across India. Out of the 75,000 students that have been trained so far, 47,000 have been placed in over 200 brands successfully. Others chose to pursue higher learning and explore more opportunities with their new-found skills and confidence. Girls constitute 61 per cent of the overall beneficiaries.

 

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families every year through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 26 states.

 

~Funding from S&P Global supports provision of protective gear for frontline workers, supply of oxygen cylinders and nebulizers at COVID care centers across Mumbai, Delhi NCR~

XX June 2021, New Delhi:  As the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has persisted across India, with devastating effects, Smile Foundation’s ‘Health Cannot Wait’ campaign is helping the country make strides to strengthen public health infrastructure and provide critical care equipment.

Fighting the new, more infectious variant of the virus, frontline health workers are working round the clock even as hospitals run out of beds and oxygen supply, and thousands succumb to preventable deaths. India has become the second-worst affected country, with more than 29 million cases, and more than 353,000 deaths.

During this time of need, Smile Foundation has come forward with its ‘Health Cannot Wait’ campaign to strengthen public health infrastructure. The campaign has recently received support from S&P Global, a leading provider of credit ratings, benchmarks and analytics in the global capital and commodity markets, via their India Corporate Social Responsibility Fund.

Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder, and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “As the pandemic rages on, there is an urgent need to strengthen systems and provide relief to as many people as possible. All stakeholders including corporates, citizens, the government, and civil society organizations are unitedly addressing the situation. We are delighted to partner with S&P Global, as their support goes a long way in reinforcing our efforts under the Health Cannot Wait campaign.”

“Through S&P Global’s outreach efforts, we are committed to supporting our local communities, particularly in times of most acute need. Through our partnership with Smile Foundation, we are proud to help by providing protective gear for frontline workers as part of the ‘Health Cannot Wait campaign’s efforts across Mumbai and Delhi NCR,” said Nilam Patel, Managing Director, India Operations, S&P Global.” 

The Health Cannot Wait campaign solicits long-term investment through donations to strengthen COVID-19 care centers with critical supplies like oxygen cylinders, oximeters & oxygen concentrators. It entails the setting up of oxygen banks for critical patient support among vulnerable communities, mobilization of PPE Kits & N-95 Masks for frontline health workers, distribution of Hygiene Kits (including masks, soaps, sanitizers, oximeters), tele-counseling to dispel vaccine hesitancy, spread awareness on COVID-19 appropriate behavior and the provision of primary healthcare services to reduce the load on existing health infrastructure.

So far, Smile Foundation has provided over 27.7 million meals to more than 200,000 families in 23 states of India. It aims to provide three square meals to more than 250,000 families and is working to provide 50,000 home isolation kits to COVID-19 patients.

An important part of the campaign is the provision of free teleconsultation to the underprivileged through a toll-free number for tele-calling and outreach through bulk SMS service. The tele-consultation emphasizes the personal and community benefits of vaccination. Its objective is to address questions of people who are hesitant to get vaccinated, dispel myths, give them the right information, and encourage them to get vaccinated. So far, Smile Foundation has sensitized more than 100,000 people through tele-counseling and aims to reach out to 500,000 people through this medium.

Smile Foundation is providing doorstep healthcare services to around one million people from 2,200 marginalized communities in 14 states. It aims to benefit 2 million people with mobile hospital & telemedicine projects in FY 21-22.

The Health Cannot Wait campaign has so far provided over 80,000 kits of protective gear to frontline health workers and aims to provide 1 million protective gear kits to frontline health workers. As part of this campaign, so far, over 2,00,000 hygiene kits have been provided to vulnerable communities, and the target is to provide 500,000 hygiene kits.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an NGO in India directly benefitting over 15,00,000 children and their families every year, through more than 400 live welfare projects on education for poor children, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment, in over 2000 remote villages and slums across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families, and the community.

Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~Nestle Special.T. to support Child For Child program improve access to school education for children of tea garden workers~

New Delhi, November 11, 2021: Nestle Special.T has joined hands with Smile Foundation to support the NGO’s Child For Child program in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal. Through this partnership the program will reach out to underprivileged children in the two districts, get them back into school and ensure they remain in school.

Launched in 2006 by Smile Foundation, The Child for Child Program connects underprivileged children with their privileged counterparts who study in prestigious schools, sensitizing privileged children and their parents to the inequality around them.

Under Child For Child programme, Smile Foundation visits various schools and conducts engaging sessions for the young minds. It sensitizes children towards various causes and let them realize their privileged status.

Last year, the Child for Child program reached out to over 1.7 million privileged children from 4,400 schools spread across 417 districts of India. The program has been rolled out in every part of the country except Lakshadweep.

More than 27,000 events and activities were conducted in schools last year under the Child for Child Program to sensitize students, their parents, and teachers to help students from marginalized backgrounds.

Quote from Nestle Special.T representative.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder & Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “There is grave inequality around us, which has been magnified by Covid-19. We are honored to be partnered by Nestle Special.T in this leg of the Child for Child program. This partnership shall help us mobilize support for children of tea garden workers who have fallen off the education grid. It shall enable us to expand the Child for Child program by bringing new schools in the two districts under its ambit.”

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~41% students not fully comfortable with following COVID protocol, 52% concerned about consuming mid-day meals~

New Delhi, March 31, 2021: As schools across India prepare to reopen for children after the pandemic year, as many as 39% students are not aware or have incomplete knowledge of the school reopening guidelines amid COVID-19. And as many as 41% are not fully comfortable following COVID protocol in school.

These details have emerged in a survey by Smile Foundation where the major respondents are the school children. This survey was conducted between February and March 2021 among a random sample from 26,860 students from 131 schools across 12 states, among students in the 8-18 age group.

The survey was conducted among beneficiary students of Smile Foundation’s flagship Mission Education program, which aims to provide basic education and healthcare to underprivileged children.

The survey has found that an overwhelming 78% students are happy about the prospect of reopening of schools, but 22% students are anxious and scared of meeting their school friends and interacting with them.

Worryingly, as many as 52% students were found to be concerned about consuming mid-day meals when schools reopen.

59% of the students surveyed in Smile Foundation’s study were from rural areas, 25% were from urban areas, and 16% were from semi-urban areas.

The pandemic has fundamentally reshaped education delivery with students opting for blended learning options. As many as 49% of the students surveyed opted for a blend of online learning tools and offline education delivery. Through the pandemic, Smile Foundation has implemented a blended learning approach under its Shiksha Na Ruke initiative to ensure continued education of school children to mitigate disruption from COVID-19.

Smile Foundation’s blended learning approach improves accessibility to education for students across India through multiple means – smartphones, tablets, television sets, radio and even through feature phones. Home visits by teachers, cluster classes, distribution of printed worksheets, guidance by mentors and Shikshamitras, all form part of the blended learning approach, which includes methodology for continued learning, even after schools gradually re-open.

Talking about the survey, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder, and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “It is important to understand the ground reality and the concerns of the children and their parents. Before schools reopen, we must work on educating students about COVID-appropriate behavior in these new normal circumstances. Over the past year, students have been learning through a combination of various online and offline modes. However there has certainly been a significant gap in learning. Considerable time and effort must be devoted to build students’ confidence in returning to schools.”

The survey also included responses from 75 teachers in 12 states. It found that 69% teachers were highly satisfied with the teaching and learning process in the blended learning format to reach the children and continue the teaching learning… an attempt to Shiksha Na Ruke.

The survey suggested that 44% teachers feel students will not be able to catch up with learning as per the conventional grades’ standard when they return to schools, while 42% of teachers felt maintaining COVID protocol will be the other major challenge for returning students.

About Mission Education

Under its flagship program, Mission Education, Smile Foundation is committed to provide basic education and healthcare to underprivileged children. The underlining approach of the mission is that education is the right area to start making a difference to address allied areas like healthcare, poverty, population control, unemployment, or human rights. Since its inception in 2002, more than 232,000 underprivileged children have directly benefitted from the Mission Education program.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation, is an NGO in India directly benefitting over 15,00,000 children and their families every year, through more than 400 live welfare projects on education for poor children, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment, in over 2000 remote villages and slums across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families, and the community.

Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~Smile Foundation and CtGA train young social entrepreneurs from multiple countries~

New Delhi, October 05, 2021: Smile Foundation and Change the Game Academy (CtGA) organized graduation day to felicitate youth from across the globe who successfully completed the modules of CtGA’s programme.

Change the Game Academy and Smile Foundation have co-created an innovative blended-learning programme that helps professionals from civil society organizations and youngster all over the world learn to raise funds and mobilize other kinds of support.

Smile Foundation, through its collaboration with CtGA, aims to help social entrepreneurs working at the grassroots navigate challenging times by attracting funds from diverse sources to mobilize support for various causes. Smile Foundation is committed to bring ‘Civic Driven Change’, and to inculcate industry best-practices to empower people at the grassroots.

CtGA India and Smile Foundation have curated a series of unique virtual classroom learning experiences for fundraising professionals and social entrepreneurs. Through this series of virtual classroom courses, Smile Foundation is building capacities and empowering social entrepreneurs to diversify sources of funding to help build better organizational capacities, along with sustainable fund-raising plans.

On this occasion, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder & Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation, said, “This is a reality that we are in the middle of a convergence of the physical world and the virtual world. At the same time, there exists an ever greater disparity and inequality in the society. I believe that we must find a balance between both the extremes. At such a young age, you already know that this is what you want to do. You also have a vision of bringing real change, and you are committed to it. I think this is wonderful.”

Smile Foundation and CtGA will continue to use innovative tools and creative methods of instruction in designing these capacity building programmes and train professionals on inventive, high-impact models to raise funds for sustainability. 

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~Smile Foundation joins hands with the Olympic silver medalist to promote uninterrupted education for underprivileged children through the blended learning approach~

New Delhi, October 06, 2021: Smile Foundation has joined hands with Olympic silver medallist wrestler Ravi Dahiya for the promotion of its educational initiative Shiksha Na Ruke, which seeks to provide underprivileged children access to uninterrupted education through blended learning.

The ace wrestler will work with Smile Foundation in implementing the blended learning program for children who lack access to the internet, laptops, or smart phones. As part of this campaign Mr. Dahiya will visit Smile Foundation’s education centers and meet children. He will share his experience with children and encourage them to take up sports. He will enlighten the children on how they can make a career in sports.

Smile Foundation’s Shiksha Na Ruke campaign has nearly 50,000 students enrolled across the organization’s 201 Mission Education centers in 22 states of the country. The initiative targets reaching out to another 50,000 children living in difficult circumstances across the country by enabling access to education through the blended learning approach.

On a visit to Smile Foundation’s center in South Delhi earlier today, Smile Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer Mr. Sanjeev Dham accompanied Mr. Dahiya to announce the tie-up. Mr. Sanjeev Dham, Chief Operations Officer of Smile Foundation, said “We truly believe in democratizing education and driving access to all children, and the Shiksha Na Ruke initiative is geared to do just that for underprivileged children across the country. We are delighted to be partnered in this mission by Mr. Ravi Dahiya, with whom we share a deep commitment to education for all.”

Talking about his association with Shiksha Na Ruke, Mr. Dahiya said, “I am happy to team up with Smile Foundation for such a cause. I hope this campaign will help in increasing awareness about the problems faced by underprivileged children who lack facilities for online education. I also hope to motivate these children to face up to the challenges caused by the pandemic.”

During his visit to Smile Foundation’s centre, Mr. Dahiya interacted with the students and shared personal experiences from his journey to the Olympic medal. He explained how he battled resource constraint and other difficulties in his quest for excellence. Mr. Dahiya explained that unflinching support from his parents was the vital ingredient for his success.

“The pandemic has made life even more challenging for underprivileged children as access must be driven through gadgets like mobile phones, tablets and laptops which they cannot afford. Smile Foundation came up with a campaign called ‘Siksha Na Ruke’ so that all children can continue to dream,” Mr. Dahiya said.

“I request my fans to contribute to the campaign and support underprivileged children by funding their education and contribute in providing them devices for uninterrupted digital education,” he added.

“I also would like to encourage children to start playing a sport, which can help them make a name and strong future for themselves. I would urge people to come forward and help in every possible way so that each child can attend classes and study without difficulty.”

Under Shiksha Na Ruke, Smile Foundation provides tools for online education like smartphones and tablets to underprivileged children. It also creates educational content for delivery through radio, television, and door-to-door visits by its volunteers.

The organization trains teachers for the dynamic digital learning environment and even counsels parents to ensure children’s active participation. Additionally, Smile Foundation runs helplines to deliver one-on-one mentoring sessions to children to keep them engaged.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:

Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~Health Cannot Wait seeks to strengthen public healthcare system~

New Delhi, December 8, 2021: Smile Foundation’s Health Cannot Wait campaign has won CSR Times’ Silver Award for outstanding work during the COVID pandemic.

The Health Cannot Wait campaign seeks to drive access to healthcare for people from disadvantaged sections of the society. The pandemic put our country’s healthcare infrastructure to the test.

Throughout the most severe phases of the pandemic, interventions like Health Cannot Wait successfully strengthened healthcare services and their delivery. The campaign sought the help of corporates and individuals to augment supply of essentials like oxygen concentrators, RT PCR kits, oxymeters, and masks and PPE kits.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “This award motivates us to carry on from strength to strength. The Health Cannot Wait campaign seeks to bring equity to public healthcare in India. We are delighted to have the support of some of the leading corporates for this initiative and are grateful to them for the continuous encouragement. Quality healthcare is the right of every citizen and Smile Foundation is determined to give just this through the Health Cannot Wait campaign.”

Smile Foundation’s Health Cannot Wait campaign solicits long-term investment through donations to strengthen COVID care centers with critical supplies like oxygen cylinders, oximeters, and oxygen concentrators. The initiative helps set up of oxygen banks for critical patient support among vulnerable communities, mobilizes support to provide PPE Kits & N-95 Masks for frontline health workers. Smile Foundation distributes hygiene kits (including masks, soaps, sanitizers, oximeters), and provides tele-counseling to dispel vaccine hesitancy, spread awareness on COVID-appropriate behavior, apart from providing primary healthcare services.

So far, Smile Foundation has provided over 27.7 million meals to more than 200,000 families in 23 states of India. It aims to provide three square meals to more than 250,000 families and is working to provide 50,000 home isolation kits to Covid patients.

About Smile Foundation

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~Smile Foundation’s 201 Mission Education Centers support the school re-opening effort~

New Delhi, September 29: As schools gradually reopen in various states, Smile Foundation has led the effort to bring classroom education back on track. The effort has enabled as many as 19,456 students back to classrooms so far, besides helping 87 schools to reopen across India.

Schools across states like Haryana, NCT of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Puducherry, and Assam have reopened in a phased manner. Throughout the past one and a half years, Smile Foundation’s Shiksha Na Ruke initiative has helped underprivileged children continue their education through a blended learning approach.

Under the Shiksha Na Ruke initiative, Smile Foundation provides smartphones and tablets to underprivileged children, curates educational content tailored for mediums such as radio, television, and door-to-door visits by its teachers and volunteers. Smile Foundation has been training the teachers specifically on the dynamic digital learning environment and counseling parents to ensure children’s regular participation in online education. A helpline service for children is also part of the Shiksha Na Ruke initiative, offering them one-on-one mentoring and engagement sessions.

Smile Foundation’s 201 Mission Education centers across 22 states have nearly 50,000 students enrolled in it. These students have continued online education over the past 18 months once the pandemic forced closure of schools. These Mission Education Centers have also been supporting schools to reopen through direct interventions.

The Shiksha Na Ruke campaign targets reaching out to another 50,000 children living in difficult circumstances across the country by enabling access to education through its blended learning approach.

Talking about the school reopening effort, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder & Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation, said, “It gives us great satisfaction to see the contribution of our Mission Education centers in helping schools re-open. The re-opening of schools is a step in the right direction as it will help students learn in the physical classroom environment, while bonding once again with their friends and teachers. As more states decide to re-open schools, all stakeholders must come together to make the school re-opening effort a grand success.”

Children are one of the worst affected victims of the pandemic. Children from financially weaker backgrounds often have been deprived of learning as they do not have computers or smart phones. Their parents are also unable to guide them in learning at home. Further, such children often must overcome challenges such as poverty, the danger of slipping into child labor etc. before continuing their journey of empowerment in schools. All of a sudden, the pandemic pushed them out of the schools. Shiksha Na Ruke is Smile Foundation’s way of ensuring that underprivileged children continue their learning well.

About Smile Foundation

Smile Foundation is an Indian development organization directly benefiting over 1.5 million children and families through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment spread across 2,000 villages and urban slums in 25 states.

Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

~Smile Foundation, under its health cannot wait campaign, is providing doorstep delivery of critical healthcare services across India~

XX May 2021, New Delhi:  The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the country and seems to be even more devastating than the first. Fighting the new, more infectious variant of the virus, frontline health workers are working round the clock even as hospitals run out of beds and oxygen supply, and thousands succumb to preventable deaths. India has become the second-worst affected country, with more than 24 million cases, and more than 270,000 deaths.

During this time of need, Smile Foundation has come forward with its ‘Health Cannot Wait’ campaign to strengthen the existing public health infrastructure.

Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder, and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation said, “The pandemic has put to test the entire healthcare infrastructure, and our main motive is to support the country, help the underprivileged get timely access to healthcare, and spread awareness to tackle vaccine hesitancy in remote areas.”

“It is important to understand the reality and educate everyone about the virus. Young people are much more affected in the second wave,” Mishra added.

The Health Cannot Wait campaign solicits long-term investment through donations to strengthen COVID care centers with critical supplies like oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators and oximeters. It entails the setting up of oxygen banks for critical patient support among vulnerable communities, mobilization of PPE Kits, N-95 Masks and sanitizers for frontline health workers, distribution of Hygiene Kits (including masks, soaps, sanitizers, oximeters) to the vulnerable population, tele-counseling to dispel vaccine hesitancy, spread awareness on COVID-appropriate behavior and the provision of primary healthcare services to reduce the load on existing health infrastructure.

So far, Smile Foundation has provided 27.7 million meals to more than 200,000 families in 23 states of India. It aims to provide three square meals to more than 250,000 families and is working to provide 50,000 home isolation kits to Covid patients.

An important part of the campaign is the provision of free tele-consultation to the underprivileged through a toll-free number for tele-calling and outreach through bulk SMS service. The tele-consultation will emphasize the personal and community benefits of vaccination. Its objective is to address questions of people who are hesitant to get vaccinated, dispel myths, give them the right information, and encourage them to get vaccinated. Smile Foundation has sensitized more than 100,000 people through tele-counseling and aims to reach out to 500,000 people through this medium.

Smile Foundation is providing doorstep healthcare services to around one million people from 2,200 marginalized communities in 14 states. It aims to benefit 2 million people with mobile hospital & telemedicine projects in FY 21-22.

The Health Cannot Wait campaign has so far provided over 80,000 protective gears to frontline health workers and aims to provide 1 million protective gears to frontline health workers. As part of this campaign, so far, over 2,00,000 hygiene kits have been provided to vulnerable communities, and the target is to provide 500,000 hygiene kits.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation, is an NGO in India directly benefitting over 15,00,000 children and their families every year, through more than 400 live welfare projects on education for poor children, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment, in over 2000 remote villages and slums across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families, and the community.

Media Contact:
Sreeparna Chakrabarty: [email protected]. | 9811502059
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/