Bangalore, 1 September 2017 : Smile Foundation in collaboration with The Wilde Ganzen Foundation, the Netherlands, have organized a national five day capacity building workshop in Bangalore for grassroots NGOs and CBOs under Change the Game Academy from 29th Aug to 2nd Sep 2017. Grassroots NGOs and CBOs, despite their last mile connect, are often faced with challenges in funding and resource mobilization due to lack of proper management system, communication and mobilization skills. Driven with a vision to mitigate these challenges, Change the Game Academy is launched to help the local community welfare projects to reap benefits of “Digital India” at the very grassroots.

Change The Game Academy www.changethegameacademy.org, a unique and one of its kind, e-learning platform that offers training to the Grassroot NGOs on sustainable solutions such as – local fundraising, building organizational capacity and mobilizing support to name a few.

Fourteen grass root NGOs from across India have participated in the workshop. The curriculum of this 5 day workshop is scientifically designed which matches international standards and yet is applicable to India’s socio-political scenario. The workshop is conducted by experienced trainers who have been specially trained for this occasion. The academy follows a mentoring approach as this physical workshop will be complimented by the online platform as well.

Through this effective five-days National Consultation, the NGOs received a first-hand training by the industry experts in areas such as – CSR Act – how to raise and manage CSR funds, Proposal writing, Project Management, Good governance etc. Speaking on the role and governance of NGO’s in India in getting benefited from the CSR ACT, Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co- Founder & Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation emphasised that “ It demands a high degree professionalism of NGOs if not corporatisation to access the available CSR Fund. Ideally, grassroots NGOs and CBOs should become an interface between the community and the government, helping implement the schemes and policies to the last mile and reflecting the gaps by becoming the voice of the community. But to make this possible, there is an imminent need to incubate and handhold grassroots NGOs. We are hopeful this training will be instrumental in equipping these grassroots NGOs at a larger scale.”

Change the Game Academy uses the blended learning approach, combining face-to-face courses, full e-learning courses, separate e-learning modules and toolkits and collective and individual coaching. The e-learning platform has easy modules, designed by international experts, adopted in the Indian context by the Smile Foundation. Representatives from the CBOs and grassroots NGOs can learn and complete the courses at their own pace and convenience.

About Smile Foundation :

Smile Foundation is a national level development organization benefitting over 400,000 underprivileged children, their families and the community directly through 250 welfare projects on subjects such as education, healthcare, livelihood, and women empowerment across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.

About The Wilde Ganzen Foundation:

Wild Geese Foundation since 1958 supports people in their efforts to achieve a better future for their community. In addition to supporting small-scale projects, Wilde Geese Foundation invests in domestic resource mobilisation and claim making capacity in low & middle income countries for structural, long term change.