Number of Beneficiaries: 100

About the Partner : ‘Milan – Be the Change’ is a development organization started by a group of motivated youngsters who want to contribute in their own way towards nation building. Based on the premise that 80% of Indians still reside in villages and if India has to accelerate its development then it is this majority whose lives must be transformed, Milan has its focus on rural India. Milan aims towards triggering a self-sustainable all-round development in rural India by empowering the villagers with the power of education.

About the Project : Milan has chosen Ambarpur village in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh as its area of operation in pilot phase. Dhirendra Pratap Singh, the chief functionary of Milan reasons, “ The main reason why we have selected this area as the starting point for our pilot project is because of the gaping lack of any public senior secondary schools in this region along with the dismal standard of the few government schools present. The literacy rate in this village is abysmal with only 0.2% women having studied beyond class 8th and only 2% males with qualifications beyond 12th.” Dhirendra further adds, “If you feel that the reason behind this pathetic level of literacy in the village is lack of interest in education on the part of the villagers then you are sadly mistaken. We have been operating in this area since July’07 through a makeshift structure where most of the furniture required for the purpose was supplied by the villagers themselves. The four teachers who are presently managing the school are undergraduate youth from the same area too. Last but not the least, the one acre land on which we are planning to construct a Model school up-till class 12th has also been donated to us by the wealthy members of village.”

Smile Foundation, is supporting Milan initially for the construction of 3 rooms of a model senior secondary school in Ambarpur village under its innovative programme, ‘Action for Children’. The funds were raised on one on one basis by mobilizing support from individuals. Going a step further, Smile Foundation has matched the net funds raised to strengthen the project.