In the Government Model Primary School located in Kadugodi, Karnataka, one suddenly comes across a young bunch of children between 8 years and 14 years practising football in their school playground and training them is an equally enthusiastic coach. These young girls are learning football via the ‘Giving Every Dream A Chance’ of Akshaya Patra foundation.

One beneficiary who is an example of how impactful this initiative is 9-yr-old Javeriya. She is an aspiring footballer from Bengaluru, Karnataka.  She is a student belonging to an economically backward family engaging in small scale farming and studies in Government Model Primary School, Kadugodi. Just For Kicks (JFK) assigns a coach to train the children. Football classes are conducted for twice a week for an hour and a half each. The timings are usually   in the morning from 7:00 AM to 8:30 AM.

For the last one year, Javeriya has been learning how to play football at her school premises and is part of under-12 team. Football has improved Javeriya and her teammates’ quality of life. Teachers and families of Javeriya and her teammates claim they are active, happy and more regular to school.

Before the commencement of the programme, attendance was a concern where the children were mostly irregular and remained absent from school also. This indirectly influenced not being able to avail the mid-day meal scheme of the school also. However, post commencement of the football classes, children like Javeriya has been more regular, more active and do not miss classes unnecessarily. As Javeriya says “Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistake wins".

^{Javeriya, practising with her teammates}

In terms of physical fitness also there has been an impactful change. baseline to end line assessments. Now Javeriya manages to do 120 planks from an initial 30. Technical aspect average has also gone up from 1.67 to 2.

Javeriya's family is gratified because of the wonderful exposure and opportunity by Akshaya Patra. They are thankful to Akshaya Patra for their initiative for giving children like Javeriya and the family a hope, a ray of light that leads to the path of success. They are also proud of her achievements. As Javeiya’s mother says, “We are happy to see her excel. We could never think of supporting her for football classes given our economic condition. Owing to this initiative by Akshaya Patra Foundation and support from Just For Kicks and the school we could see our child realize her dream of learning football”. They want Javeriya to follow her dreams in the future, as well.

^{Javeriya showcasing her football skills}

The Akshaya Patra Foundation who is behind this initiative is a not-for-profit organization headquartered in Bengaluru, India. who works towards eliminating classroom hunger by implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in the government schools and government-aided schools.  The Foundation is continuously leveraging technology and indirect methods to multiply their reach. However, to ensure holistic support, Akshaya Patra also aims at countering malnutrition and supporting the right to education of socio-economically disadvantaged children.

In an effort to provide overall development for its beneficiaries, the Akshaya Patra Foundation launched ‘Giving Every Dream A Chance’– an initiative to cultivate the unique ambitions of children. It is the Foundation’s effort to identify children with special dreams and give them the opportunity to realize their dreams by providing mentorship programmes wherein children will be coached, groomed, and guided by the experts of respective fields. This concept of all-round development is noteworthy as it goes beyond providing the necessities and providing children from economically backward families a platform to achieve their goals and aspirations.

Shri Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice-Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation says that “The Akshaya Patra Foundation harbors on the principle to nurture dreams of its beneficiary children and provide the right path to accomplish anything they aspire. To implement this resolution, in 2015-16, the Foundation took a step beyond the mid-day meals and started the project, ‘Giving Every Dream a Chance’ - our attempt to identify children with special dreams and give them the opportunity to realize it. Starting with just three children, the initiative has grown to provide mentorship to more than 300 children and we plan to scale it up to 5000 children in 2018-19.” -.

Under this initiative the Akshaya Patra Foundation has embarked on the project where it will support children who will be trained in football by Just for Kicks – a not-for-profit organization that uses football as a medium to hone life skills for children.

Currently under this programme the Foundation is supporting 2 under 12 teams (1 boys and 1 girls) with 11 students each. The children were selected based on their interest level to learn football.

The implanting partner for this initiative was Just For Kicks, a Not-For-Profit organisation working towards developing life skills among children from low-income families, using football as a medium. Just For Kicks' flagship curriculum is used by coaches to conduct rigorous training sessions, honing critical life skills, technical skills, and fitness for all children throughout the year. Furthermore, Just For Kicks conducts an annual pan India football league for all its partner schools, with the aim of providing them exposure to sport and competition. The league also serves as a platform for all stakeholders within the school ecosystem to come together, thereby creating a positive learning atmosphere for all those involved. Just for Kicks also selects top performers, provides further training, nurtures them and includes them in special training opportunities by renowned international football clubs.

Initiatives like these are commendable as they help a child follow their dream and the fact that they are mentored and groomed at a young age the effect is more.

Impact-Story is a series on development and CSR interventions leading to some impacts on the ground. If you have a project, innovation or intervention that has changed the lives of a few people or a community, please share a brief note at csr@ngobox.org. Our Team will get back to you after validating the information for a detailed coverage.