PANAJI: Make A Difference (MAD), the NGO working for the upliftment of underprivileged vulnerable children, has been named as one of the three honorees for the prestigious 2022 Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize. Selected from almost 100 organisations globally, honorees will receive an unrestricted financial award of $100,000 and executive training and support from the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania, states a press release.
The Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize at the University of Pennsylvania acknowledges efforts from individuals and organisations towards initiating far-reaching transformation in the social sector. The evaluation criteria of the award are leadership, impact, innovation and transferability. The honorees were announced at an in-person awards ceremony last week in Philadelphia, USA.
MAD co-founded by Jithin C Nedumala in 2006 mobilises young leaders who relentlessly work towards ensuring equitable outcomes for children in the organisation’s shelters by empowering them with academic support and life skills. The organisation has built a holistic, age-transitional model that integrates individual care and attention for children, teenagers and young adults in the range of 10-28 years until they achieve stable middle class outcomes as adults. It operates in 23 cities across India and touches 3485 lives annually through 3022 volunteers and 60 shelters.
While acknowledging the recognition, Jithin C Nedumala, Founder and CEO, MAD said, “It’s a great honour to be recognised at the global level for the work we have been passionately doing to ensure life with dignity for underprivileged and socio-economically at-risk children. Over the last 15 years, we have been working closely at the grassroots level with the most vulnerable groups of children in India. Because of our holistic approach, 90% of the children we support are on their way to break the cycle of poverty in one generation. These children will eventually lead positive transformations for the future generations in their families. In the next 10 years, we’ll be working towards supporting 100,000 children in India and further scale up this programme”.
Nedumala co-founded MAD at a young age of 19 while studying in college.
Apart from MAD, other two honories for the prestigious prize are CDD Society (Consortium for DEWATSTM Dissemination) which works to promote inclusive water and sanitation solutions and Yamba Malawi which works for the cause of underprivileged children.
“In our 11th year, we learned about so many impressive organizations from around the globe. We are thrilled to be able to finally celebrate our three honorees with an in-person event in April and continue the passion for change, growth, and discovering and solving today’s societal challenges,” said Euria Min, Director, Lipman Family Prize.
“The important work of these three honorees in such challenging times highlights the continued need of our innovative social impact work. It is truly inspiring to us as an organization and as a growing community to expand our honoree base in such a way,” said Barry Lipman, Founder, Lipman Family Prize.
In addition to the unrestricted financial award, the Lipman Family Prize honorees gain access to a growing community of change-makers and thought-leaders to accelerate pioneering change worldwide.
