Udaan India Foundation

Udaan India Foundation (Udaan) is a Mumbai based not-for-profit organization working with children from low-income communities in the field of educati Read moreon. Udaan enables a brighter future for children and youth from low-income communities by providing them with desired knowledge, skills, values and support to break the cycle of illiteracy and poverty and promote social mobility. Most Udaan children are from families where there has been little or no formal education, where education is not a priority and it is commonplace for children to drop out of school in order to contribute to the family income. The beneficiaries are children living in low-income communities in and around Powai. The geographical reach of Udaan is in these areas - Powai, Vikhroli (West), Chandivali, and Sangharsh Nagar. The parents mostly work as construction workers, vendors, house-maids, drivers and daily wage earners, and in other unorganized sectors. Through our work we strive to see the following perceptible changes: Short term · Enhanced academic performance · Decrease in drop-out rate Intermediate-term · Increased enrolment in higher education · Enhanced employability skills Long term · Meaningful employment · Self-sufficiency · Responsible citizenship The above objectives are achieved through Udaan's Working Model. Udaan Working Model - A journey from Foundation through School Years towards Employability The above objectives are achieved through Udaan's Working Model. The Kindergarten lays the foundation for formal schooling for children from low-income communities. Once enrolled in school, Udaan bridges the learning gaps in and after-school programme at the Learning Centre and in partner schools through the School Support Programme. Saturday Clubs provide experiential and co-curricular learning to foster a holistic development of the child. The last lap of a child’s journey at Udaan starts post Grade 10 with Udaan supporting his/her higher education and providing skill training to enhance employability. The children’s programme ( 4 to 16 years) at Udaan strives to address the identified gaps by providing quality education and opportunities for children who otherwise would not have access to holistic learning experiences. It aims to ensure every child gets a happy childhood, quality education, equal opportunities to enable them to realize their full potential. The emphasis continues to be on strengthening grade level competencies along with building 21st-century skills i.e. to train children on collaboration, communication, problem solving and conflict management. The focus is also on building life skills to ensure children imbibe values like grit, gratitude, responsibility, kindness, honesty, and respect. The Udaan Youth programme ( 16 to 22 years) aims at empowering youth by providing them with relevant employability skills such as computer literacy, effective communication, work skills and soft skills to make them meaningfully employed and act as catalysts to change the socio-economic status of their family. Udaan runs two NIIT accredited computer literacy courses, to ensure youth are digitally literate. Financial literacy is integrated with this course to enable students to open bank accounts, fill forms and book tickets online. The Spoken English Programme at Udaan is an 8 month intervention aimed at training youth on functional English and enhances communication skills required in the work environment. Udaan partners with Antarang Foundation to offer the CareerReady programme that trains youth on work skills and provides linkages to internships and part-time/full time employment. The Scholarship Programme provides financial support for youth to continue their educational journey, i.e. continuing education beyond grade 10, be it for mainstream college or open school, a vocational or professional course or coaching classes. The soft skills programme at Udaan enables youth to build skills like communication, goal setting, problem solving, critical thinking to deal with professional workplace situations as well as challenges in their personal lives.

Our Vision
Every child educated and equipped with equal opportunities to transform their lives.

Our Mission
To enable a brighter future for children from low-income communities by providing them with the desired knowledge, skills, values and support to achieve their true potential

Beneficiary base grew from 26 in 2004 to 2800+ in 2022-23
• Established Meri Udaan – The Foundation to Employability journey in 2014
• Partnering with MCGM schools since 2012
• Give India Accreditation with 5-star rating
• Consistent enrolment of more than 95% of children from the Learning Centre, an after-school children’s programme into higher education.
• NEET (Not in employment, training or education number for youth) of 2021-22 at 2.6% as against the national average of 30%
• Udaan Alumni placed in sectors such as corporate, education, hospitality, para medical and small business
• Consistent growth in fostering partnerships with educational institutions, knowledge partners, and corporates in growing our communities that care philosophy