Child Protection India Project #49541

Sponsor a child living in poverty in India.

by OSCAR (Organization for Social Change, Awareness and Responsibility) Foundation

Project Report | Oct 12, 2021
A long journey of transformation

By Elsa | Senior Manager Partnerships

Pooja taking a session with the girls

The Sponsor a Child Programme at OSCAR Foundation was started in 2017 with an aim to uplift children from marginalised communities and help them access their rights.
With over 80 donors supporting 130 children this project has been one of the strongest pillars of our programme through the years.

Read on to know more about the journey of Pooja - from a sponsored child since teenage she has grown to be a successful independent Coach who is leading our gender programme in the community

“I can help you. I will get a job and help the family,” a 13 year old Pooja said to her father, a cook at the Indian Navy while her mother sobbed silently in front of the charred remains of what used to be their home. The Gautams, a family of five lost their home and all their belongings to a fire in 2013. Her father refused to take her up on her offer. “You will help the family by studying and succeeding in life,” he said.

After convincing her parents that she wouldn’t let football affect her academics, Pooja joined OSCAR’s football and life skills sessions with her sister. Pooja said, “There was always something to learn on the pitch. We may fall down after a tackle but we get up and continue to play. We may concede a few goals down but we always try our best to come back. Football is a lot like life.”

Pooja also enrolled herself into the education programme as she had a keen interest in computers. She got to learn a number of new things at the OSCAR digital centre and was especially touched at how kind and genuine her teachers were. “Throughout my journey, my coaches and teachers have been compassionate. They genuinely cared about us and wanted to help us,” she said.

Pooja soon enrolled into the Young Leader programme and started working with her own girls’ batch. “I am so happy that I can impart what I have learnt to the next generation. Being an OSCAR Young Leader gives us an amazing opportunity to give back to the community,” she said. However, her journey as a Young Leader has had its fair share of challenges. “I realised that despite our work and success, people are not very open-minded. They do expect girls to stay at home and do household chores. We have a long way to go as a society. When I was young, people used to mock me for wanting to play and these thoughts still remain in the minds of many. It is difficult for a girl to prosper in a slum community but we do our best to fight that oppression,” she said with a look of indignation.

Change may take time but Pooja is steering her community forward. She was selected to represent OSCAR at the FIFA Foundation festival at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. “It was a proud moment for my family. These visits are symbolic, perspectives change, people start to notice. After my visit, people were more open to sending their kids, especially girls for football and life skills sessions,” she said. Pooja is pursuing an arts degree and also holds a diploma in sport management. Pooja is currently working with OSCAR Foundation’s gender programme which aims to promote gender equity across all our programmes.

A note to Pooja from her Sponsor
"It is good to hear all the things you have been doing. You have done so well completing your studies and now working for Oscar. I want you to know how proud I am to have been your sponsor for the last few years and to see what you have achieved. I hope things will go well for you in the future" - Liz

Community Mobilisation

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Jun 15, 2021
Sponsorship inspires OSCAR children to raise their game.

By Lucinda Sowerbutts | Head of OSCAR International

OSCAR children are very proud to be sponsored. It inspires them to perform well at school, take part in the OSCAR programmes and to be role models in their community. The kids know their sponsors by name and love to put photos on their wall. They take pride in sending welcome and update videos and always keen to share their achievements. We know from experience that our sponsored children and their family feel protected and valued. Sunita, our Child Sponsorship co-ordinator was raised and still lives in a Mumbai slum and was fortunate to be sponsored as a child. (She now has an MBA!) Her own experience makes her ideally placed to identify the most vulnerable kids. Sunita runs the programme sensitively and efficiently and it is largely due to her hard work the programme continues to go from strength to strength, but with over 3,000 children, we do urgently need more sponsors!

Child Sponsorship is a vital part of the OSCAR fundraising campaign and throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has become even more important. Regular donors create the sustainability OSCAR needs to confidently plan for the future and to develop and expand the programmes. Throughout 2020 and 2021, the families of sponsored children have received regular food rations. During the strict lockdown the team communicated via WhatsApp, providing educational, physical and recreational content. It was wonderful to see so many children, siblings and even parents joining in. When lockdown measures are relaxed, the kids have access to the fully equipped OSCAR Digital Learning Centres, now open in several locations across Mumbai.

Child Sponsorship is a proven long-term solution to the systemic problem of kids from deprived communities not attending school. Schools remain closed in India, so it is even more important to ensure the boys and girls use the DLCs and keep up with their education. In particular we are focussing on our girls, who due to the financial hardships created by the pandemic are more at risk of dropping out.

We are immensely proud of all OSCAR children, who are eager to learn, to perform well and make you proud.

Links:

Global Giving OSCAR Child Sponsorship donation page

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Feb 16, 2021
A sustainable child sponsorship programme for a bright future.

By Lucinda Sowerbutts | Head of Operations - OSCAR International

Throughout 2020 the OSCAR Foundation team concentrated all efforts on raising funds to provide life saving food provisions for families living in slums across Mumbai. An overnight lockdown meant parents lost their jobs and without savings and access to provisions the landscape was bleak. The GlobalGiving community rallied and we are delighted to have supported over 2,500 families with 33,000 kgs of rations.

2021 is brighter and OSCAR is focussed on the Child Sponsorship programme. A popular initiative in the UK, with over 120 children supported. OSCAR is optimistic this will be emulated by our GlobalGiving community and look forward to welcoming more generous sponsors to the OSCAR family. In particular we are seeking sponsors to support our girls, who are at greater risk of dropping out of education. The closure of schools across India and switch to digital learning is challenging for low income communities with limited access to computers. OSCAR is proud to have over 1200 girls in the programme and determined to keep them engaged. Sadly girls are under parental pressure to drop their education and take up poorly paid labour to support the family income. Please help us in our efforts to give the girls a chance of an education and a better life, not just for them but that of their family.

Sponsors receive a personalised video message from the boy or girl and a bi-annual update on their progress."My family and I love being part of Viju's life. We follow his progress and feel blessed to be playing our small part." Child Sponsor. Sponsored kids feel special. They are proud to display photos of their sponsor and tell their friends and family, it inspires them to perform well at school and on the sports field. Child sponsorship is a very significant initiative for OSCAR and we never take our sponsors for granted.

Links:

Experience life in a Mumbai slum with Sitaram

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