Dream A Dream (NGO)

Dream A Dream (NGO) is a professional, registered, charitable trust. Since its inception in 1999, it has empowered over 50,000 young people, referred from 22 NGO partners, through life skills-based programmes. These are delivered by its core team working with an ACTIVE and enthusiastic base of 2200 volunteers in Bangalore. Dream A Dream's long standing vision is to, "Empower young people from vulnerable backgrounds by developing life skills and at the same time sensitize the community through active volunteering leading to a non-discriminatory society where unique differences are appreciated."

Inception

In November 1999, 11 working professionals; including a marketing officers, management graduates, software engineers, chartered accountants, photographers, advertising professionals and a contemporary dancer; decided to give back to the community thereby unleashing the 'power of one'. This is when Dream A Dream was born. The twelve founder dreamers were Arjun Dugal, Brinda Jacob, Neha Shah, Pramod Ramprasad, Rahul Mathur, Rashmi Bajaj, Sandeep Wadhwa, Shweta Kothari, Supreeta Sampath, Vipul Chhabria, Vishal Talreja and Vishwa Prasad.

Values

Dream A Dream stands by certain values which it functions by. They are:

Opportunity - Provides a range of opportunities to meet the needs of the people IT Works with.
Integrity - Believes in being consistently honest and transparent in its thoughts and actions.
Inclusiveness - Aims at celebrating the diversity of culture, race, religion, age, gender, ethnicity, perspectives as well as beliefs, talents, abilities, [...] orientation and socio-economic status.
Child-centred focus - Focus on the child’s needs, abilities, interests, choices and learning styles.
Partnership - Builds sustainable working relationships with all its stakeholders
Innovation - Consistently develops novel and effective approaches to its work.

Programmes

Dream A Dream’s programmes use innovative, interactive methods to engage with young people from vulnerable backgrounds. It provides non-traditional educational opportunities designed to allow the youth to explore, innovate and build important life skills. Some of its programmes are as follows:

Dream Life Skills Through Sports

An after-school intervention programme, it complements the school curriculum, helping young adults learn key lessons in team play, overcoming difficulties and understanding basic instructions while playing football. The programme began in 2007 and has impacted over 3200 participants.

Programme objectives

To create an opportunity for every child to have the right to play.
To empower children to become leaders in their communities.
To break barriers in the community with respect to caste, creed or [...].
To enhance self-esteem and self-confidence in the children.

Dream Life Skills Through Arts

One of Dream A Dream's most popular initiatives, the arts programme engages with children of over 10 years. Artists, facilitators and volunteers run sessions and bring their unique touch to each programme.

Programme objectives

To focus on uniqueness, appreciation of individuality and self-expression.
To develop team-skills, sense of worth, responsibility and discipline.
To develop critical life skills in a fun-filled, unobtrusive environment.

Dream Outdoor Experiential Camps

The outdoor camps aim at facilitating the development of specific life skills through adventure games and outdoor activities. These outdoor activities and programmes operate on the model of experiential learning. They have theme-related and age-appropriate activities designed to be child centric, non-competitive, promote skill acquisition and self discovery.

Programme objectives:

To create a fun, learning environment where young people can express themselves freely.
To develop critical life skills such as communication, team work and conflict management.
To promote freedom in making life choices independently.
To encourage leadership and initiative.
To engaging volunteers in the programme through clearly defined roles.

Dream Connect

Established in 2010-2011,the programme empowers young adults between 14–18 years by offering the tools and foundation skills necessary for career development. It encourages them to make their own decisions and create tangible outcomes such as higher education, positive relationships and employment. The programme has engaged around 1600 young people as of now.

The center includes:

A computer lab – to allow young adults to improve their information technology based technical skills and ability to gather information related to career, higher education and learning.
Career guidance resources – and mentoring to guide them through their career or higher education decisions.
Resource centre and library – with access to educational, non-fiction and fictional books, database of vocational training institutions, scholarships, higher educational institutions, work and study educational programmes and career opportunities.
Skills enhancement training – a comprehensive curriculum of practical short-term modules and workshops on key skills relevant for career development.

Outdoor experiential camps – four-day camps for young adults to develop critical life skills such as leadership, problem solving, teamwork, managing conflict, taking initiative and learning to be independent.

Dream Fundays

At the Fundays, volunteers accompany young people on educational and learning visits to places such as museums, science centres, zoos, etc. Young people get a peep into a new and exciting world, enjoy a different experience and spend time with caring and compassionate adults.Corporate Fundays. Called ‘…because I Dream’, are organised for specific companies to encourage volunteering as a part of employee-engagement. In 2013, 22 Dream Fundays engaged 1149 young adults from partner centres; 304 unique volunteers contributed 2500 hours. 14 Corporate Fundays engaged 432 young adults from 7 partner schools; 329 unique volunteers contributed 1304 hours.

Dream Mentoring

The programme supports 14-18 year olds from vulnerable backgrounds through the critical phase of embracing adulthood. Designed with the help of professional clinical psychologists Dr. David Pearson and Dr. Fiona Kennedy from The United Kingdom, it recruits, trains and matches volunteers with young people for 1-to-1 mentoring for a defined period. It guides them to make informed decisions about career, higher education, workplace and personal relationships, and manage conflicts better, as they enter adulthood. Since 2007, the programme has impacted close to 200 young people.

Awards and Achievements

Dream A Dream was recognised by the National HRD Network in 2007 as a leading NGO impacting change. The Credibility Alliance too recognises it as a leading non-profit organisation that is transparent, accountable and meets national reporting standards. The Charities Aid Foundation, India, too validates its work.

Some of its accolades include:

Among the eight regional finalists at the Apeejay India Volunteer Awards in 2011.
Regional Winner (South) in the Medium Category at the India NGO Awards 2009 and Regional Winner (South) in the Small Category in 2007.
Winner at the Outstanding Annual Reports Awards, 2011 (medium category); runners up in 2009 and 2010 in the small category.
Global Runner-Up at the Japanese Award for the Most Innovative Development Project hosted by the Global Development Network.
Co-founder and Executive Director, Vishal Talreja, is an Ashoka Fellow.