In an effort to connect and work with organisations operating in similar sectors, YUVA representatives met Mr Rajeev Sharma, the General Manager, Mr Mishra, the Co-Founder and Mr Dham, the Chief Operating Officer of Smile Foundation on Monday, 6 May 2019.

Smile Foundation is an NGO in India directly benefitting over 750,000 children and their families every year, through more than 350 live welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment, in over 1000 remote villages and slums across 25 states of India.

Doubtless, education is the most powerful catalyst for social transformation. But child education cannot be done in isolation. A child will go to school only if the family, particularly the mother, is assured of healthcare and empowered. Moreover, when an elder sibling is relevantly skilled to be employable and begins earning, the journey of empowerment continues beyond the present generation.

Realising this, Smile Foundation, an NGO in India, beginning in the corridors of education, adopted a lifecycle approach of development, focusing its interventions on children, their families and the larger community. Smile Foundation believes that unless members of the civil society are involved proactively in the process of development, sustainable change will not happen. Following this model of Civic Driven Change, Smile Foundation sensitises and engages the civil society, making it an active partner in all its welfare initiatives.

With both Mauritius and India facing similar issues of poverty and unemployment, establishing a partnership between YUVA and Smile Foundation is an important starting point in solving these global issues.

Together, we can bring change and make it last. Collaborative efforts between NGOs can create a bigger and more sustainable positive impact on the lives of those afflicted by poverty.