Unlock Smiles

Dear Codreamers,

We are delighted to share with you the journey of Dream A Dream from the last quarter of the financial year 2013-14. We are also super exited to let you know that we are taking part in TCS World 10K Bangalore 2014, a biggest marathon in the city will be held on 18^th May. With this report I would want to share with you the story of Shruthi (name changed) followed by a few highlights of our organization and programmes.

Meet Shruthi a 12 year old girl studying in the 6th grade at Shama Vidya Shaala, Bangalore. Shruthi has been part of the Dream Life Skills through Football Programme since August 2012.

According to the facilitator, Shruthi is a simple and well-spoken girl. She is regular participant and enjoys learning football and the various activities at the session. During one of the sessions that was themed around Communication and Building Relationships, the facilitator makes the following observation. “We started with a game of Handball. Shruthi was very enthusiastic and started off with lots of energy and excitement. In about 20-minutes, Shruthi seems to have lost interest in the activity and I didn’t notice that she had gone out of the group and sitting in one corner. When I noticed her missing, I realized she had stopped playing and went ahead to find out what happened. Shruthi shared that she was not getting the ball even though she tried and started weeping. I heard and validated her. At the end of the session, during reflection time, Shruthi shared how she felt unseen with the rest of her team-mates. I used that as an opportunity to also share a similar story from my life when I felt unseen and alone and everyone seemed to understand. Shruthi felt reassured and that story helped her feel positive about life.”

At Dream A Dream, our work with young people stands on the belief that when we engage with young people with care and empathy, they respond and learn. In above instance, the facilitator, created a safe space for Shruthi to share how she felt, the facilitator validated and acknowledged her emotions, built a personal connection with her and used this experience to share a personal story from her own life.

In Shruthi’s own words, “I like playing in the team especially playing against friends gives lots of confidence. I enjoy sessions because I get to play. By coming for football sessions I was able to perform well in my social studies, earlier I used to be poor in this subject after speaking to you (facilitator) and hearing to your story made biggest impact to do well in social studies and got good marks. Session makes it even more special by sports as a group.”

• Dream A Dream, In association with Christ University organized the first ever conference on the “Life Skills Assessment Scale”. NGO heads, researchers, academicians and social work students made up the over 200 participants at the conference.
• Dream A Dream invited to be a presenter at the Annual Idea Conference organized be LEGO Foundation in Billund, Denmark between 8th - 10th April 2014.
• The Dream Rugby Team won second prize in the “Touch Me Not Rugby Tournament” organised by Karnataka Rugby Football Union. 5 boys and 1 girl from Dream A Dream participated in the match.
• Dream A Dream planned and moderated a session on “Education – Evolving Role of Teachers” at the Annual Development Dialogue 2014, Hubli organized by Deshpande Foundation.
• Engaged 5369 young people through our life skills through football and arts programme. This includes 2533 boys and 2836 ratio also 52.8% girls ratio.
• 355 young people graduated from the core life skills programme in March 2014.
• 36 Life Skills facilitators trained to deliver the curriculum based sessions.
• Conducted a total of 16 camps engaging 562 young people for year 2013-14.
• Dream Connect engaged 3179 young people in various skill development and career development courses in the Dream Connect Programme.1472 Male and 1707 Female were engaged in the programme.
• Engaged 755 young people engages in Last Mile Support programme in year 2013-14.
• Total job placement provided for 26 Dream Connect graduates in 2013-14.
• 44 applications for scholarships have been received so far out of which 28 have been granted scholarships.
• As part of the ‘Kalarava” initiative, 200 graduates were engaged in new learning exposures.
• Engaged over 533 teachers / youth workers / facilitators in our 4-workshop Teacher Development Programme for the year 2013-14.
• A team of 20 Lead facilitators deliver the training. Received 83.3% overall average rating of excellent/very good on the training from the participants.
• Established 100 relationships in 2013-14 through 4 cycles of training and engagement.
• Engaged 2214 volunteers and clocked 25,341 hours in 2013-14.
• Conducted 56 fundays involving 17 corporates and 4 educational institutions engaging 1713 volunteers clocking 6654 hours in 2013-14.

We look forward to your continued support and enduring relationship. Thank You!!

With Gratitude,

Dream Team