Ignite Change in India's Youth: Fuel MAD's Leadership Circle

In India, there are currently 60,000 vulnerable children growing up in 9,589 Child care Institutions, according to The Women and Child Development Ministry. Their families cannot provide them with the necessary support, and these children struggle to acquire the education, life skills, and financial & emotional aid they require to succeed. 

The main reason for such a high number of children in need of care and protection in India is poverty and a lack of community support for those from underserved and underprivileged communities. Studies show that 60% of parents or guardians of these children are illiterate, and 72% of families earn less than INR 6,000 per month, putting them Below the Poverty Line (BPL). 

Consequently, the need to survive often supersedes other essential prerequisites, such as education, leading to low education permeability across these communities. Without adequate education, the ability to find a well-paying job and escape poverty is significantly reduced, perpetuating the cycle of poverty for generations to come. 

This leads them to take up menial jobs or, even worse, fall into the traps of alcoholism, violence, drug abuse, prostitution, and trafficking. Unfortunately, solutions to this issue are often one-dimensional and isolated. 

Make A Difference (MAD) is committed to creating a community-powered social-protection system that provides comprehensive, long-term care for children in need. This includes After-School Support, College Placement, Scholarships, Stipends, Job Placements, Career Progression Support and Family Planning/Crisis Management Support.

To ensure that our volunteers and community leaders (MAD Fellows) have the skills and knowledge to create self-sustaining communities, we are hosting two-day regional training conferences at 5 locations to equip over 300 leaders. This conference will produce high-potential leaders who will help shape the future of India's youth and foster positive social change. 

Our primary goal is to ensure that our Fellows have the necessary skills and knowledge to

1. Feel a sense of connection to MAD and the cause

2. Deliver MAD's interventions for the year, and

3. Develop positive relationships with their peers.

With this training, we are confident that our leaders will be well-equipped to make a meaningful impact on the lives of children in need.

Our organization has made great progress and is recognized globally for our impact model. Our primary focus is to build capacity at the community level so that children receive support without being institutionalized. We believe that our Leadership Circles are key to driving effective and enthusiastic delivery of our programs on ground. Therefore, we consciously measure their impact and establish continuous learning and improvement mechanisms.

Our ultimate goal is to become scale-ready by building a robust tech platform and forming strategic partnerships so that we can help every child in need of care and protection.

Our Leadership Circle is India's largest Youth Leadership Program, with over 350 young leaders from 23 cities participating each year. Our program focuses on seeding social change in the minds of the youth of India and includes induction, training, ongoing mentorship, and Leadership Circles (LCs). Our 3-day intensive residential training is based on Stanford’s Design Thinking principle, which encourages problem-solving and leadership skills in participants.

We prioritize on-ground implementation over mere ideation. Our Fellows become solution drivers in their own ecosystems, leveraging the benefits of Learning by Doing.