Social Entrepreneurship Course: Term-Break Internships

Last year when my course on "Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship" grew into a 2-term course, it threw open a new opportunity to provide the students a short internship/attachment with a social venture during the term-break.

The purpose of the internship/attachment was to give them a ground-level feel of ventures in this sector - their learning came through their interactions with the functionaries and staff, by visiting the project sites and interacting with customers/beneficiaries; if they could do a short field project (though the time was limited - just about 7-10 days), that was invaluable.... and then when they returned, we shared the stories and learned from each other.

This year too, the 35 participants of the course have identified their areas of interest and we could find social ventures (for-profits, not-for-profits, NGOs), which are willing to host them for 7-10 days.

Here is the list:

Bhumi (Hyderabad)
http://bhumi.in/
BHUMI is a "Center for learning transformational Grass Roots Leadership" fuelled by a vision to create an equitable and strife free society by grooming transformational leaders who will bring about large scale, holistic and sustainable transformation.

Biotech India (Thiruvantpuram)
http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/biotech
Getting rid of waste, both food and human, is essential to hygiene. But waste is also a cost-effective and sustainable source of fuel. Since 2004 Biotech-India - the recepient of the Ashden Award for 2007 - has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Kerala, Southern India and saved several thousand tonnes per year of CO2 simply by getting rid of waste.

Children's Rights in Goa (Goa)
http://childrightsgoa.org/
Children's Rights in Goa (CRG) is involved in child protection and the advocacy of children's rights. CRG is dedicated to the goal of improving the status of children in Goa. It strives to create awareness about the rights of the child and is committed to protecting children from sexual abuse and all forms of exploitation.

Conserve India (Delhi)
http://www.conserveindia.org/
Born of a desire to reduce India's rubbish mountain, improve energy efficiency, and help some of Delhi's poorest out of the city's slums, Conserve India achieves all this by turning plastic bags into high fashion.

Desi Crew Solutions Pvt Ltd (Chennai)
http://www.desicrew.in/
DesiCrew Solutions Pvt. Ltd - winner of Sankalp 2009 Award and recepient of the Manthan Award - is a rural BPO company, incubated by RTBI of IIT- Madras. By setting up IT enabled service centers in rural areas, it provides meaningful livelihood to educated people of rural & semi-urban India.

Financial Information Network & Operations Ltd. (FINO) (New Delhi)
http://www.fino.co.in/
FINO - winner of Global Financial Times "banking at the bottom of pyramid award" - provides electronic banking technologies to enable financial institutions (FIs) to serve the under-served and the unbanked sector and also to service the technology requirements of entities engaged in servicing the bottom of pyramid customers.

Health Management and Research Institute (HMRI) (Hyderabad)
http://www.hmri.in/
HMRI is a nonprofit organization working towards improved access and quality of healthcare services for all. HMRI leverages state-of-the-art information and communication technologies and modern management practices to transform healthcare delivery by creating the world’s largest integrated digital health network.

Mirakle Couriers (Mumbai)
http://www.miraklecouriers.com/
Mirakle Couriers - winner of Helen Keller Award 2009 and recepient of Echoing green Fellowship 2008 - is a courier company with a difference; the venture provides livelihood to deaf people from underprivileged background, while providing professional service to some of the well-known corporate clients.

Palsa Pally Unnayan Samity (Mushirabad)
http://www.karmayog.org/ngo/PPUS
PPUS is an NGO which works to develop poor rural communities in the Murshidabad District to promote communal harmony, gender equity, and neutralisation of caste, creed and religion. It does so by by providing healthcare and education, and facilitating active community participation in self-governance, .

Pratham (Patna)
http://www.pratham.org/
Pratham is the largest non governmental organisation working to provide quality education to the underprivileged children of India. Pratham was established in 1994 to provide education to the children in the slums of Mumbai city. Since then, the organization has grown both in scope and geographical coverage.

Pravah (New Delhi)
http://www.pravah.org/
Pravah works with adoloscents and diverse groups like youth organizations and institutions to impact issues of social justice through youth citizenship action. Its programs aim to promote internalisation of social orientation and regard for common spaces, and to develop socially responsible decision makers of the future.

Priyasakhi Mahila Sangh (Indore)
http://psmssm.org/
Priyasakhi Mahila Sangh promotes development and livelihood activities for the underprivileged of the society. The organisation specifically works with women to strenghten women SHGs in rural and urban areas of different districts of Madhya Pradesh

Project Why (New Delhi)
http://www.projectwhy.org/
Project Why is a New Delhi (India) based non-profit organisation engagedin education support and life skill enhancement of slum children and their families. It works to create a model whereby quality education support in underprivileged areas can be provided by pooling community resources.

RAICO (Ranchi)
Some RAICO Products
RAICO is a young start-up, which works with 350 rural women of Jharkhand, and uses and enhances their skills to make and market designer hand-woven, hand-embroidered apparels and artificial jewelery.

Rang De (Chennai)
http://www.rangde.org/
Rang De is a non profit entity which aims to make low cost microcredit a reality for people to whom even ‘traditional microcredit’ is unaffordable. It does so by enabling individuals to become online social investors, and brings microcredit and online lending to the forefront, thus bringing down the cost of microcredit

Sasha (Kolkata)
http://www.sashaworld.com/
Sasha is the not-for-profit marketing outlet for more than a hundred groups of craftspersons and producers from all over the country. Apart from marketing, Sasha also involves itself in the formative stages of craft groups. Sasha works with these groups to revive crafts and develop new designs and techniques.

SOS Children's Villages India (Bawana)
http://www.soscvindia.org/
SOS Children's Villages is a non-governmental social organisation, which provides family-based long-term care, education and development of orphaned and abondoned children through its "villages".

Ujjivan (Bangalore & Delhi)
http://www.ujjivan.com/mission_goals.htm
Ujjivan is an micro-finance organisation - with 500 branches in urban and rural India - which provide financial services to the economically active poor, to enable them to lead a ‘better life’. It also participates in a holistic approach to poverty reduction through a partnership with Parinaam NGO by collaborating with institutions focused on childcare, education, health, vocational training, community development, shelter and disaster relief.

URAVU (Wayanad)
http://www.uravu.net/
URAVU provides livelihood to the marginalized and economically disadvantaged social groups, especially the traditional artisans, women and the indigenous people, through end-to-end bamboo-processing and producing eco-friendly handicraft products.

Women’s Interlink Foundation (Kolkata)
http://www.womensinterlinkfoundation.org/
WIF is a Kolkata-based organisation which works with disadvantaged women, children and communities (specifically with sex-workers, abondoned and trafficked children and women) to provide them with access to basic amenities and societal resources, and empowers the to improve their quality of life.

Hamara Footpath: Restoring Childhoods

Mumbai-based Hamara Footpath is a community effort taking responsibility for its city and for its children who are deprived of their childhood on the streets. It engages engage volunteers to educate children living on the streets through creative, fun and participatory methods.



Read more about them here.

Or, better still, if you are in Mumbai, and want to support what they are doing, participate in their "Fashion Street" initiative on Aug 14-15, 2010


Click on the image to view the details