Dream a Dream provides innovative, experiential life skills training for young people from vulnerable backgrounds. Through our Arts and Football After-School (ages 8-14) and Career Connect (ages 14-19) Life Skills Programs, we equip and empower young people with critical life skills and give them the tools necessary to thrive. We have reached over 30,000 young people since 2002, and need your help to reach even more.
There are approximately 160 million Indian children in poverty. Due to severe malnourishment, the growth of up to 59% of rural and 48% of all Indian children is stunted. This poor growth pattern indicates developmental delay, and is known as failure to thrive, which is associated with a range of mental health and developmental issues. Our work in life skills development helps empower these vulnerable young people to become healthy adults who can participate fully in their communities.
At Dream a Dream, we believe the key to stem the damage from adversity and turn the curve towards normal child development is life skills. When children develop the ability to take initiative, solve problems, overcome difficulties, manage conflict, interact with each other and understand instructions - it helps them overcome adversity and build resilience. Our After School Life Skills Sessions use sports and arts to teach valuable life skills and empower young people to reach their full potentia
In the next 2 years, Dream a Dream aims to work with 10,000 young people through our After School Life Skills and Career Connect Programs. In addition, we are partnering with state governments throughout India, including the Delhi government to launch a "Happiness Curriculum" aimed at changing the conversation around the purpose of education and ensuring that children remain at the center of every initiative.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).