Dream A Dream (NGO)

Dream A Dream

Type	Charitable Trust

Founded	November 1999

Founder(s)	Arjun Dugal, Brinda Jacob, Neha Shah, Pramod Ramprasad, Rahul Mathur, Rashmi Bajaj, Sandeep Wadhwa, Shweta Kothari, Supreeta Sampath, Vipul Chhabria, Vishal Talreja and Vishwa Prasad

Headquarters	Jayanagar, Bangalore, India

Focuses	Education, children, volunteering

Motto	Empowering young people from vulnerable backgrounds through life skills since 1999.

Dream A Dream is a professional, registered, charitable trust. Since its inception in 1999, it has empowered over 50,000 young people, referred from 22 NGO partners, through life skills-based programmes. These are delivered by its core team working with a base of 2,200 volunteers in Bangalore.^[1]

Inception

In November 1999, a group of working professionals founded Dream A Dream. The twelve founders were Arjun Dugal, Brinda Jacob, Neha Shah, Pramod Ramprasad, Rahul Mathur, Rashmi Bajaj, Sandeep Wadhwa, Shweta Kothari, Supreeta Sampath, Vipul Chhabria, Vishal Talreja and Vishwa Prasad.^[2]

Vision

According to the organization, Dream A Dream's vision is to, "Empower young people from vulnerable backgrounds by developing life skills and at the same time sensitize the community through active volunteering leading to a non-discriminatory society where unique differences are appreciated."^[3]

Programmes

Dream A Dream’s programmes use innovative, interactive methods to engage with young people from vulnerable backgrounds. It provides non-traditional educational opportunities designed to allow the youth to explore, innovate and build important life skills. Some of its programmes are as follows:

Dream Life Skills Through Sports

An after-school intervention programme, it complements the school curriculum, helping young adults learn key lessons in team play, overcoming difficulties and understanding basic instructions while playing football. The programme began in 2007 and has impacted over 3200 participants.^[4]

Dream Life Skills Through Arts

One of Dream A Dream's most popular initiatives, the arts programme engages with children of over 10 years. Artists, facilitators and volunteers run sessions and bring their unique touch to each programme.^[5]

Dream Outdoor Experiential Camps

The outdoor camps aim at facilitating the development of specific life skills through adventure games and outdoor activities. These outdoor activities and programmes operate on the model of experiential learning. They have theme-related and age-appropriate activities designed to be child centric, non-competitive, promote skill acquisition and self discovery.^[6]

Dream Connect

Established in 2010-2011,the programme empowers young adults between 14–18 years by offering the tools and foundation skills necessary for career development. It encourages them to make their own decisions and create tangible outcomes such as higher education, positive relationships and employment. The programme has engaged around 1600 young people as of now.^[7]

Dream Fundays

At the Fundays, volunteers accompany young people on educational and learning visits to places such as museums, science centres, zoos, etc. Young people get a peep into a new and exciting world, enjoy a different experience and spend time with caring and compassionate adults.Corporate Fundays. Called ‘…because I Dream’, are organised for specific companies to encourage volunteering as a part of employee-engagement. In 2013, 22 Dream Fundays engaged 1149 young adults from partner centres; 304 unique volunteers contributed 2500 hours. 14 Corporate Fundays engaged 432 young adults from 7 partner schools; 329 unique volunteers contributed 1304 hours.^[8]

Dream Mentoring

The programme supports 14- to 18-year-olds from vulnerable backgrounds through the critical phase of embracing adulthood. Designed with the help of professional clinical psychologists Dr. David Pearson and Dr. Fiona Kennedy from The United Kingdom, it recruits, trains and matches volunteers with young people for 1-to-1 mentoring for a defined period. It guides them to make informed decisions about career, higher education, workplace and personal relationships, and manage conflicts better, as they enter adulthood. Since 2007, the programme has impacted close to 200 young people.^[9]

References

External

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