It was an absolute pleasure to speak with you today. Thank you so much for the opportunity to continue our partnership with the Smith Family Foundation. Your support is greatly appreciated! Your family are heroes to so many girls and their families in India.
Here's what the IGP team did (and is doing) this year and planning for 2024.
Streamlined and more efficient sponsorship program run from India: Our sponsorship program has been a core aspect of our work over the years. But due to several staff transitions and quick growth spurts, the program began to lag. This year we repaired all our data, and we are streamlining the communications and other protocols to bring our sponsors and the sponsored girls closer, creating a better experience for our sponsors. Our decision to move the entire program to be run from India for the first time helped us in making these efficiency changes in the program.
Reaching over 35,000 in just 5 months: In our first pilot partnership this year, we expect to reach 35,000 people (compared to 7,000 in 2022) in just about 5 months. In 2023 we project reaching at least 150,000.
New "Awareness Initiatives" set up to reach wide segments/larger numbers: This year we revamped our awareness program formerly called Teach and Transform to multiply our reach significantly. Keeping in mind the size of the population to reach, our new model will use a ‘hub and spoke’ model where we equip trainers who will go into the field and multiply our reach. This new approach to reaching large numbers of people to create awareness and change minds will consist of Training of Trainers (ToT), mass awareness programs, and third-party campaigns that take our message even farther. All of these initiatives are now clubbed together under “Awareness Initiatives.”
Ripple effect (first of many!) campaign taking our voice further: As a result of our awareness programs, teachers and students in a school of 1200 students has pledged to conduct an anti-child marriage campaign in their town. We expect to see many such campaigns begin to come together over the years ahead. Our aim is to help create such a ripple effect throughout communities across the country.
Mumbai Board of Educations allows us access to schools in 2 entire districts: As a result of our partnership this year, one of our partners is in the process of getting district wide approvals from the Board of Education in Maharashtra State to cover two whole districts with our awareness programs. If this approval comes through – and we fully expect it will – we will have the opening to reach out to several hundred thousand students in the two districts we are focused on currently alone. I will provide you the exact numbers as soon as they can be confirmed.
Our First curriculum builds our credibility in the Female Gendercide space: We partnered with an organization (a group of university professors, researchers, and other academics) to create our first Curriculum. This curriculum builds our credibility as a legitimate actor in this space. It will also allow us to get a foothold in universities and colleges through credit course/s. The first draft of this curriculum is already complete. The final version should be ready before the end of the year.
Creating new baseline and impact studies: We are currently creating a monitoring and evaluation program to measure impact in the areas we work in. This will comprise of baseline studies in new areas/states we expect to expand to, and impact studies in the areas we have been working in for many years now. We are eager not only to show the impact of our work, but to continue to fine tune our strategies and methods as a result of our findings. In 2023 we expect to run 2 impact studies and 3 baselines in new states.
New funding process to be phased in to prevent mission creep: In 2023, in order to further streamline and strengthen our intake process we plan to introduce a new approach to identifying the most vulnerable girls. Partners will not be given funds, they will need to identify girls and apply for funds that will be only dispersed after a strict and engaging admission process. The reason for this new approach is to reduce any scope/mission creep with our partners, and for us to be squarely focused on our original mission: to end female gendercide.
Audits (for accountability and efficiency): In order to be fully accountable to our donors for their kind and often sacrificial generosity, we have introduced and already implemented a twice-a-year audit of each of our partners. These audits focus on their data integrity, program focus and efficiency, and financial accountability. Our partners have reacted well to these audits. These audits rank our partners on a scale, and they are guided on next steps so as to bring them to a good standing in each area of audit.
Again, thank you for this opportunity. Please let me know what questions you have.
