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of education can be seen clearly in the
children who have been part of Makkala
Jagriti’s programmes. Mercy is a manager
in a reputed bank; Murali became a
world Taekwondo champion and is now
a Taekwondo teacher; and Prabhu is a
programme coordinator with Makkala
Jagriti itself. Not only are these young people
employed, confident and empowered,
but they are excellent role models for the
marginalized communities they belong to.
‘Joy Srinivasan set up Makkala Jagriti to
create safe and child-friendly spaces where
children from marginalized communities
could gather aer school hours and engage
in meaningful and enriching learning
activities,’ says Sunayana Chatrapathy,
Chief unctionary of the NGO. Along
with creating these safe spaces and child-
centred programmes, engagement with
parents, sensitization of teachers, schools
and government functionaries were also
necessary to build trust and capacity, as
well as create a sense of ownership of the
programmes and the children’s holistic
development within the community.
Makkala
Jagriti
•
•
•• •
Fostering happy, bright and inviting spaces for
children’s learning
Founded by Joy Srinivasan in 2003
Makkala Jagriti believes that there is
no limit to how far a child can go. It
works towards creating ecosystems
that support holistic learning and
development for children and youth
from underserved communities and
engages with all the stakeholders
around a child as well as public policy
advocacy. It propels a value-based
social movement that empowers
children and communities towards
a brighter future. It has partnered
with the Department of Women and
Child Development to implement
programmes statewide. Its
Anganwadi
programme also has a statewide
impact, potentially reaching 13.5 lakh
children across 66,000
Anganwadis
.