The Freedom Foundation
Care and support of HIV infected orphaned children and their care givers.
- Bronze Certified 2023
- FCRA
- 80G
- 12A
- CSR-1
About
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Headquarters
Bangalore, Karnataka
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Since
1993
Freedom Foundation (www.thefreedomfoundation.org)is an NGO registered trust started in 1993 as a dream of two friends who had witnessed firsthand the Read moredevastation of alcoholism and drug abuse. Began work in the field of substance abuse and then due to the urgent need of the times, started working for People living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) in 1996. Freedom Foundation has been the pioneers of HIV/AIDS & Substance Abuse interventions in India, especially in the area of comprehensive care & support in; Freedom Foundation is credited to have set up the first comprehensive Community based comprehensive care and support center in India at Bangalore and is recognized as a model by NACO (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India) and other national and international agencies. Freedom Foundation has worked with many organizations /partners who have supported the work over the years. Established 52 centres across five states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Goa and Maharashtra offering comprehensive care and support to over 50000 HIV positive beneficiaries. In the year 2000, initiated Highly Active Anti-Retro-viral Treatment (HAART) program. PMTCT (Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS) was started in the year 2002 and reached more than 4 lacs of pregnant women for Voluntary Counseling and Testing. Currently, the foundation is focusing on its pioneering initiative of providing comprehensive care and support for orphan children living with HIV and AIDS and developing an ecosystem of care givers:
Issue
HIV is a pandemic that affects the person’s life physically, psychologically, emotionally, socially and economically. When it comes to children, whether they are infected or affected, they become entangled in the web of complications that comes with the disease. This child care initiative of the Foundation was a response to the disease, death and abandonment that children faced due to HIV. The disease and financial burden caused by HIV/AIDS on the family, make the children infected / affected vulnerable to various social evils like child labor, trafficking to sex work and other sexual abuse. We have a responsibility to see that these children are not denied the basic rights to their childhood due to stigma/discrimination but should lead a hopeful existence, free of exploitation, violence, neglect, illness and extreme poverty. They need education, health services, consistent support systems as well as love, hope and encouragement; all these things and more are required in order to experience childhood to the fullest, and to eventually develop into healthy, capable adults. By enhancing access to treatment, psycho-social care, education and nutrition support, the Foundation ensures that the children while remaining healthy continue to pursue education and life skills training are thus protected from these threats and have a brighter future. This intervention was started in the year 2004.
Action
Freedom Foundation started focusing on OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) in the context of HIV/AIDS way back in 1996. The foundation has hundreds of children registered with the organization. The Freedom Foundation has been working in this niche area for more than twenty years. While there are thousands of such children in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and lakhs across the country that need help, as of now the foundation has approx. 60 orphans’ children living with HIV/AIDS and approx. 60 caregivers nurtured by the foundation over the years to care for these children. Freedom Foundation’s work in the residential facilities for the children stems from the belief that “No child needs to sacrifice the quality of life to an illness.” We strive to deliver and uphold the fundamental rights of the child within the family, community, and institution. The right to Life, Protection, and Health & Education form the four pillars of this intervention. This is achieved through three vertical components: • Holistic residential care for HIV Positive Orphan children. • Education & Nutrition for HIV infected/affected children in the community. • Creating and establishing an ecosystem of care givers who support the development of these orphan children. The children are provided with all that is necessary to experience a relatively normal childhood. All children are provided with the fundamental concept of “a house and family atmosphere” all educational, nutrition, medicine, counselling, extra circular activates and other social needs etc. for the children and care givers. The age group of the children are from 4 years to 19 years. The maximum number is below 15 years. These children come here at an age below 8 years and spend anywhere between 10 -15 years with us. The Foundation’s policy advocates not to displace a child which is in the community living with some kind of support. We partially support the nutritional and educational needs of these children and their care takers on a monthly basis. Our work in this field is twofold wherein, we support the child who is orphaned and the care giver who works with Freedom, to provide a relatively normal childhood for these kids in the society by offering them access to essential services like education, healthcare, and psychosocial support. Only when there is a crisis situation where no kind of support available for a child in the community, that we encourage the child to come to the residential care. These children come here at an age below 8 years and spend anywhere between 10 -15 years with us. The age group of the children are from 4 years to 19 years. The maximum number is below 15 years. Freedom created the unique concept of creating an ecosystem of caregivers and the orphaned kids and facilitating an environment in which both the child and the care giver are nurtured and come together to mitigate the risk of orphan hood for these orphaned kids. Additionally, our community support programs focus on raising awareness, reducing stigma, and improving the quality of life for care givers who are PLHIVs (People living with HIV). Overall objective of the project is to uphold the rights of the children infected with HIV and orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. To enhance the life quality of the care takers and children in the community of People living with HIV.
Cause Area
Impact
Freedom Foundation has been the recipient of many International awards for its work in the Substance Abuse / HIV/AIDS sector. United Nations has published a case study of the Freedom Foundation as a “Center of Excellence” and “Best Practice” on substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS comprehensive Care. The first Commonwealth Award for “Action on HIV/AIDS” was conferred on the Freedom Foundation for its “Outstanding Work in Comprehensive Care”. The US based ASHOKA – Innovators for the Public, conferred a Fellowship award to Dr. Ashok Rau, Executive Trustee & CEO, Freedom Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. UNAIDS has presented the Freedom Foundation with an award “Excellence in Community Care” for its work, this was presented by Dr. Peter Piot (Executive Director-UNAIDS) The Terry Sanford Institute of Public Health (Duke University - USA) has conferred Dr. Ashok Rau with a honorary doctorate and a Senior Research Fellow. Dr. Rau also lectures on Public Health – Ethical issues at The Yale University (USA) as a visiting faculty. Dr. Rau has been appointed as an adjunct visiting faculty at the Drexel School of Medicine (Philadelphia – USA) iCONGO/Kemka Foundation conferred Dr. Ashok Rau with the Civil Society Citizen Karmaveer Puraskaar – Noble Laureate for his cutting edge work in the Substance Abuse/ HIV/AIDS sector through the Freedom Foundation. Letter of appreciation of the work being done at the foundation from Mrs. & Mr. George Bush (Former First lady & President of the United States of America) on Mrs. Laura Bush’s visit to the foundation’s addiction facility and her interaction with the women and children of our Hyderabad HIV/AIDS facility.
Programs
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Care and Support of HIV infected orphaned kids and their care givers.
The Foundation is currently working with HIV+ve orphaned kids and their caregivers. Freedom Foundation’s childcare programs stem from the belief that every child has a right to their childhood—a hopeful existence free of exploitation, violence, neglect, illness, and extreme poverty. The Foundation endeavors to protect and uphold the rights of marginalized children, especially those living with or affected by HIV, and empowers them, most of whom are from economically poor backgrounds and are thus vulnerable to exploitation. The child care initiative of the Foundation was a response to the disease, death, and abandonment that children faced after the demise of their parents. The caregivers play an important role in shaping the future of these kids. We have created an ecosystem of caregivers for these children who mitigate the risk of orphanhood for them.
Leadership Team
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Dr. Ashok Rau
Executive Trustee and CEO
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Anu Mariam John
Project Coordinator
Demographics & Structure
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No. of Employees
0-5
M&E
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Internal, External Assessors
No
Policies
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Ethics and Transparency Policies
No
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Formal CEO Oversight & Compensation Policy
No
Political & Religious Declarations
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On Affiliation if any
No
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On Deployment Bias if any
No
Registration Details
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PAN Card
AAATF0936A
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Registration ID
1143/IV/1992-93
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VO ID / Darpan ID
KA/2018/0217479
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12A
718/10A/Vol.BI/F.26/93/CIT-II
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80G
DIT(E)BLR/80G(R)/683/AAATF0936A/ITO(E)-1/Vol 2009-2010
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FCRA
094420753
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CSR Registration Number
CSR00004827
Location
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Headquarters
Goldline Residency, No-39, Property no- 31/2, Rampura cross, Bileshivalaya, Doddagubbi Post, Bangalore, 560077
Directions
Other Details
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Type & Sub Type
Non-profit
Trust
Financial Details
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2020-21
IncomeRs.NoneExpensesRs.Admin ExpensesRs.NoneProgram ExpensesRs.NoneTip: Click on any value above to exclude it. -
2021-22
IncomeRs.NoneExpensesRs.Admin ExpensesRs.NoneProgram ExpensesRs.NoneTip: Click on any value above to exclude it. -
2022-23
IncomeRs.6,321,366ExpensesRs.6,321,366Admin ExpensesRs.3,100,000Program ExpensesRs.3,221,366Tip: Click on any value above to exclude it.