Grants database

North East Network (NEN), which has been working in the north eastern region of India since 1995, adopts an intersectional approach to various forms of rights violations and discrimination. The NEN’s Green Hub will engage young people and communities in the conservation of biodiversity. They will use innovative audio-visual mediums to renew and revive love and respect for protecting natural resources and encouraging these communities to be the environmental spokespersons of tomorrow. The grant will create a platform for young people to connect with each other, learn a livelihood and to provide new avenues of opportunity. The main focus of the grant is a fellowship programme for youth from the region to learn filming, biodiversity and conservation.

Muktangan – Open Centre for Children on Railway Platforms

Set up in 1997, Praajak, works to build a gender equitable and just society for children vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Its primary focus is to address issues of children living on railway platforms. It provides walk in open shelters near stations where children can receive counselling and emergency services. This grant will continue this work and demonstrate that this model is a viable alternative to closed shelters. The grant will also establish newer and innovative practices.

Nedan is a well renowned organisation in the field of counter-trafficking and have received awards for their work in the North East India. Nedan works to create a protective environment to prevent trafficking in Kokrajhar District, Bodoland Territorial Council of Assam. This grant will allow Nedan to set up an adolescents’ club, survivors’ network and to work closely with police to intervene and counter trafficking in the region. Nedan will also work to provide more livelihood opportunities to vulnerable families.

Jana Sanskriti uses a form of forum theatre called Theatre of Oppressed to address the social issues of marginalisation and oppression that emerge from a patriarchal mind-set. Jana Sanskriti, which has over thirty years of experience using these tools, will create a network of theatre teams in local communities to act together to address issues of child marriage, trafficking and the drop-out of girls from education.

Institute of Psychological Health (IPH) is a specialist organisation working on the management and treatment of mental illnesses. This grant will focus on the social rehabilitation of patients living with Schizophrenia. IPH’s approach focuses on understanding the mental health needs of the patient, providing counselling and treatment, and ensuring the patient’s community plays a positive role in their care. IPH will work to help improve lives of around 100 schizophrenia patients over a two year period: reducing the burden of caregivers and providing greater visibility to treatment of mental illnesses.

Digdarshika provides specialised services for people with disabilities, including early intervention and special schools. As part of its programme of community-based interventions, Digdarshika has developed and tested a methodology for working towards inclusive education in government schools for children with Special Educational Needs. This third phase grant will support a collaboration with Parvarish, another PHF grantee based in Gwalior, to help them to take on this work and expand this approach to the rural areas of Gwalior.

Dang Vikas Sansthan (DVS) was formed to address local development issues relating to poverty in the Karauli region of eastern Rajasthan. A first phase grant focused on work with mine workers in the region. During that period, progress was made towards improving working conditions and 4,500 new suspected cases of silicosis were identified. This second phase grant will help to improve the lives of mine workers by improving working conditions in the mines and exploring alternative safe livelihoods.

The Banyan is one of the largest mental health service organisations in India. They will set up alternative and inclusive assisted living options to systematically address the issue of long term care for people recovering from serious mental illnesses. The Banyan will work towards successful transition of 300 people from care institutions to shared homes. It will also develop a ​‘replication through adaptation toolkit’.

In Northern Ireland, Full Steam Ahead is designed as a two-year intervention working with colleagues from ten schools to increase teacher confidence in using film and film making as an aid to raising pupil attainment in literacy, numeracy and information, communication and technology.

In Scotland, the Art of Learning programme focuses on supporting teachers to embed a range of arts-based practices which allow pupils to develop their executive functions and creativity skills. Pre-designed activities to develop executive functions are based on a theory of learning; these stress the value of complex tasks which simultaneously engage children socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually, and the importance of high-functioning learning. The project is formed of a partnership between Creative Scotland, Education Scotland, and Creativity, Culture and Education.

Performing Pedagogy focuses on building the skills, confidence and capacity for innovation amongst primary teachers and supporting their use of drama and theatre to improve students’ literacy, language development, and storytelling abilities. Primary school teachers are participating in a series of workshops supported by the project leads and by the artist practitioners to introduce and share approaches to drama-based pedagogies. They are also working collaboratively with artist partners skilled in drama with children to co-design and evaluate drama-based interventions for pupils.

School Without Walls aimed to transpose ​‘school’ into an arts environment or cultural setting, inviting teachers and children to interrogate and reshape teaching and learning in and through the arts. The programme sought to transform teachers’ ​‘philosophies as educators’ and give children ownership to explore and express their ideas and engage with the arts and culture in their locality. The project was run by the Bath Cultural Education Partnership – a partnership between 5x5x5=Creativity, the Egg Theatre, Bath Festivals, Mentoring Plus and Bath Spa University Institute for Education. This pilot project ran from June 2016 to July 2017.