40k plus program

40K plus program education changes lives

| 340K Case for Support

Having seen the impact that education is having on the lives of the children at the Banyan, this experience has made me truly appreciate the difference that 40K is making to the lives of these children, and through its upcoming education projects, to the lives of many more children throughout India.

James Mesiti, 40K Volunteer and now a graduate at the Freehills Law firm.

““

education changes livesWe provide thousands of underprivileged kids with access to education to help reduce extreme poverty.

We engage hundreds of motivated young Aussies to do this.


message from chairman & ceo

bob thomas, chairman A most warm welcome to the 40K Foundation, an organisation of young professionals and volunteers who are totally committed to providing and improving educational opportunities for underprivileged children in India.

We are incredibly excited about our new 40K PLUS programme where expertise and experience will be introduced into village communities in particular. The opportunity to provide quality education and the associated improved family lifestyle that complements our primary focus is one that I sincerely trust will appeal to our growing band of 40K supporters.

Be part of the passion that is the 40K Foundation and offer the ‘chance to be’ for potentially vast numbers of very grateful children!

clary castrission, ceo & founderWe’re a young organisation, but we’re old enough now to celebrate our first graduate’s completion of school. Shruthi came to us from a family of five. Her father died young, her mother is disabled, and her two older sisters work as tailors for $1.50/day. They were both married at the age of 15 and were rearing children within two years. Rather than follow this trajectory, Shruthi has now gone to college to become a police woman.

It’s simple, really. Education changes lives. And not just lives of people. It changes the lives of families and communities too.

If our first phase of building the school confirmed our belief in education’s power, our next phase is about scaling it to hundreds of thousands of children.

So I’m proud to introduce you to 40K PLUS.

6 | | 740K Case for Support 40K Case for Support

At 22 years old, Clary Castrission, a law undergraduate from Sydney Australia, took a holiday to India that would change his life forever.

Upon witnessing firsthand the devastating impact of extreme poverty effecting so many children, Clary’s life took a complete departure from the law career trajectory he was on.

Clary believed that education would change the lives of these children, and give them the opportunity to change and shape their own futures. He figured that he only needed $40K to build a school for a community outside Bangalore. Five years and $400,000 later, the Banyan opened its doors to its first children. Had it not been for 40K’s work, the 100 children who are now at school, would still be spending their days in a nearby quarry with their parents.

We never changed the name 40K because it represents something that we never want to lose sight of: the naivety, creativity, drive and power of youth.

Now that the school is opened, we’ve added years of further learning how to identify need, plan projects, and successfully implement them.

The Banyan School was just the beginning for us and today 40K has launched its mission to roll out PLUS, our high impact complimentary education program, to hundreds of thousands of children.

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maiden project In October 2010, 40K officially opened the Banyan school providing education to severely underprivileged kids from the local villages and nearby granite quarry of Bangalore.

The first 85 students walked through the doors in June 2011 at the start of the Indian school year. The school has since been handed back to 40K’s local partner to operate.

The Banyan School had challenges over the years but culminated in a successful project that is now operating without requiring further support from 40K. The Banyan School

is a clear demonstration of 40K’s ability to commit to and deliver a project on time and budget in the Indian environment. The knowledge obtained through building the

Banyan School has allowed 40K to move forward in developing more effective education solutions whilst leaving a successful school which will grow to serve 200 kids.


“I was moved to see first hand the work of 40K at the Banyan School in Bangalore, where education is provided to over one hundred severely underprivileged children whose parents work in nearby quarries.”

Premier of New South Wales,

The Hon. Barry O’Farrell MP

19 November 2011

“When we built the school, we learnt that education does change the trajectory of someone’s life. In moving forward though, we wanted to be more cost-effective and we figured that we can create the same educational outcomes without having to invest in infrastructure, but instead: a dynamic and highly-effective education program.

We further learnt that if we wanted to extend our reach to thousands more kids, then building schools was not going to be the answer. It took us months, but we have found a better way: It’s the 40K PLUS program.”

Clary Castrission, CEO


The concept scale is one of the major lessons that 40K has taken away from the Banyan. Following the school opening, we reflected hard about how 40K could most effectively move forward to reduce poverty in India through the provision of education.

What hit us hardest, is that there are 275,000 villages in India and 110 million children in primary school- most of whom are not being educated to an acceptable standard.

We are now guided by the aspiration that everything we do with PLUS has to be done sustainably so that we can achieve maximum scale.

understanding scale

“I was blown away by the fact that here we had young people who had a vision, and were turning it into reality. When I went to the Banyan opening, I was unprepared for what I was going to see and feel and I was unprepared to have my life changed.

I thought, imagine if my children had to live like that. Imagine if my children didn’t have access to an education. It is a geographical accident that they were born in this country.

What I see with 40K is that they’ve done what they said they were going to do- against all the odds.”

Julie Goodwin Australia’s first Masterchef & 40K Ambassador


1.21 billion people

of the population

400 million below the extreme poverty line

1/3=

more poor than all 26 african nations put together.

1 australian

20 indiansliving in extreme poverty to every

why india?Cited from The Sydney Morning Herald July 13, 2011

India might be on the way to becoming a major global economy but plenty of Indians still need our help.

It was just after 5am when Swamy, a stonemason from just outside Bangalore, India, invited me to have chai with his wife Rani. As Rani boiled the tea, Swamy proudly pulled down a

red plastic bucket containing all his earthly possessions; a faded wedding photo album, a motorcycle mirror, and a broken comb.

As the water boiled, Swamy sat there with mirror in hand combing his moustache. I flicked through his wedding album looking at the unfamiliar smiling faces. It struck me that the reasons Swamy got up in the morning were the same as any of us Australians; pride in yourself and the desire to provide the best life possible for your family.

Shortly after, he left their single thatched leaf hut - with no light, electricity, running water or sanitation facilities - for the quarry where he has worked for the past 30 years breaking up granite with a hammer and chisel for 12 hours a day.

I thought of Swamy and his family in their hut as Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced Australia’s new direction on foreign aid and in particular his decision to “phase out” bilateral aid to India.

The question I’ve been asking myself is, why? I found the answer on online public forums where many Australians have said India is simply showing too many signs of being a developed country.

It is true that India is rapidly advancing in global economies: it holds a seat at the G20, it is now the sixth biggest economy in the world; and it has launched its own international aid budget for other developing countries.

But it is not as simple as that. I’ve been a regular visitor to India since 2005 and signs of growing wealth abound. Last year, I saw the new home of India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani under construction - all 26 storeys of it, six of which are for his luxury car fleet alone.

Another example is the $1.4 million per year that Australia’s own Andrew Symonds is being paid to play cricket in India. But these overt examples of India’s growing wealth do not justify Australia

turning its back on India’s poor. The fact is that roughly a quarter of the world’s poor live in India. A staggering 300 million people live below the extreme poverty line, on less than $1 dollar a day. Most of them live outside the cities - far from Ambani’s home and beyond earshot of the rapturous crowds filling stadiums to see Andrew Symonds play. Most of these millions are just like Swamy.

Sometimes this reality is lost in political discourse. Whilst Mr Rudd made a good point when he said last week that India had “considerable economic capacity” to help its own, this ignores the fact there remains hundreds of millions of people who simply do not get the help they need.

Now, it might have taken my not-profit organisation six years, but last year we inaugurated a school for kids coming from quarries outside Bangalore. When that school opened, one hundred children walked through the gates; two of which were Swamy’s grandchildren.

At the opening the Australian flag flew proudly alongside the Indian cousin; a small but significant symbolic moment in light of the controversy last year surrounding the treatment of Indian students in Australia.

The school, which cost $400,000, was funded by contributions by Australians, and supported by those expats living in India, including $20,000 from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Direct Aid Program. And up to a hundred children now have a future that is beyond that of the quarries. This is the impact of direct aid.

So, by all means, acknowledge the Ambanis, and the well-paid cricketers, and India’s growing list of the rich and famous, and tell me that they should look after their own.

But remember this. At the time of the Brisbane floods earlier this year, Lance Armstrong said that what distinguished Australians from Americans is that when trouble struck in America with Hurricane Katrina, there was traffic gushing out of the city. When trouble struck Queensland earlier this year, traffic poured into the state. This unique Australian value of giving a mate of hand should not end at the continental shelf, as Mr Rudd rightly said.

That is why Australia’s new direction on foreign aid should not threaten the future of our bilateral aid relationship with India. We should keep giving mates like Swamy a helping hand.

Because it is because of our help that when Swamy gets up tomorrow at 5am to work at the quarry, at least he will be safe in the knowledge that two of his grandchildren are going to school to significantly improve the chances that their livelihood will not come from a chisel and hammer, but rather from a healthy middle-class income stream like our own.

Clary Castrission is founder and CEO of the 40K Foundation. He was a NSW Young Australian of the Year 2011 Finalist.

What’s happened to our sense of fair go?

14 | 40K Case for Support

why primary education

but

million primary schools 95 attendance1

Rural Government

Schools

Under resourced

No extra-curricular Poor teacher quality

Teacher absenteeism

“In preparation for launching the 40K PLUS program pilot, I have been spending a lot of time in Marenahalli Bande, a quarry community to the North of Bangalore. Two families in particular have struck a chord.

The first own three lorries, earning four times more than the majority of their neighbours - enough to send their three children to a high quality, private school. The siblings all speak outstanding English and have great aspirations in life. Radiating confidence, they jostle each other out of the way to tell me their story. Teju, aged 13 years wins “I want to go to college and then go back to my native and become a teacher. I want to teach 8th to 10th standard because I will be excellent at it. I want to become the best teacher in my school.” The children soon leave the house to go to their private tuition class.

In the second family, the father died 18 months ago and the mother works in the granite quarry, earning Rs. 2500 a month - $50/month. She has two sons but they are painfully shy, hiding away behind their mother. Both went to the local government school but the oldest failed English in the Year 10 exams, meaning that he cannot continue to college. He is now working full time in the quarry and his mother is desperate for him to have tuition so he can re-take and pass his exams.

The youngest son, aged 14, has started to break rocks outside of school to help put food on the table. His mother is keen to get support, and so he does not follow in his brother’s footsteps. The contrast was shocking. It demonstrated that a poor quality education is little better than no education at all. Yet, it showed me the enormous opportunity we have. Through PLUS we can level the playing field, putting an end to these stories.”

Rachel Bennett, 40K Country Manager, India. Please note names have been changed for Child Protection Policy purposes.

rachel’s story

poor family

poor education

no ‘poverty reducing’ employment opportunities


our aim: the educated childWe aim to empower primary age children coming from poor villages with the attributes of ‘The Educated Child’ through a village-centred integrated education program.

Primary Education Attributes

Poverty Reducing Attributes

Financial Literacy

Literacy

Lateral Thinking

Access to ICT/Internet

Access to Aspirational People

The World Around You

Physical Education

Personal Development

Ethics

Cultural Development

Numeracy

the program:

Building schools is about construction. Teaching kids is about education.

110 million primary school-age children in India lack the fundamental skills in literacy and numeracy so vital for a solid educational foundation.

As a result, 41% of boys and 51% of girls never progress to secondary school in rural areas, abandoning their education in favour of exploitative labour, paying them less than $1.50 per day. It often does not even occur to them that life could be different.

We have set about changing this one village at a time.

40K PlusCentres bring together teaching in literacy, numeracy and life skills, as well as library services, and technology, to bridge the gap between primary and secondary education in rural India.

One PlusCentre can be set up and run for an entire year, for a single donation of $10,000.

This means 25 children can get the education they need at a minimal cost, in a fraction of the time it takes to build a school.

Donate or Undertake to raise $10,000 and be the exclusive sponsor of a PlusCentre and its children on an on-going basis.

For more information please call 02 9221 4030.

Empowering Kids to Aspire

18 | 40K Case for Support

our first 5 plus centres In June 2005, we opened up the first five PlusCentres according to our new model. This is what our coordinator in India, Rachel Bennet, had to say.

“The demand has been overwhelming. Hordes of children queued up on the opening day in Maranahali, and less than a week after opening we were oversubscribed and forced to turn children away in four out of the five centres. With seventh grade government school children failing our fifth grade maths test, the reasons why soon become clear.

One of the most encouraging aspects has been the overwhelming pride shown by the PlusCentre facilitators. Madu, a facilitator with only basic English, beamed about how she has been able to teach the children English greetings using the songs on the mp3 player, and Radikha, a facilitator in Gubi village, explained how she had got the children to understand place value, a concept they had been struggling with at school, using the PLUS maths curriculum and resources.

For me, a particularly proud moment has been going on a recent spot check of all five centres, where I was greeted with expectant faces and five proudly sung renditions of the “good morning song” - the latest lesson in the English curriculum. It showed me that if just two weeks in we can have six-year-old children understanding rudimentary English, the possibilities for ten years’ time, when these children graduate, are endless.”

Poor rural village

Poorly educated child

Poorly functioning education system

The Educated Child

Poverty cycle40K

program

breaKing the poverty cycle

Complete primary school education

Taking part in further education

Empowered to gain employment


40K PlusCentres have been specifically designed to ensure each child receives a solid foundation in literacy, numeracy and life skills, to maximise the chances of them breaking free of the poverty into which they have been born, and taking control of their own lives.

Children attending rural government primary schools face many obstacles to getting a solid education.

Teacher absenteeism is high and resources scarce.

Many schools do not even have books.

The chances of ending up working in the local quarry are high.

the community

the 40K plus centre community

2o u r p r o j e c t p i p e l i n e

1 2Our research team will scour the globe to find which syllabi should be included in PLUS to achieve the attributes of ‘The Educated Child.’

‘In June 2012 the first five PlusCentres opened in villages surrounding Bangalore.’ Our partners on the ground provide library books, technology and teaching in literacy, numeracy and life skills.

3These are the prototypes we will use as a benchmark, from which to scale the Plus Program across the Karnataka province and the wider Indian sub-continent. Over 2012-2013 we will set up a further twenty-seven PlusCentres, to reach over eight hundred children.

We will continue to refine our model so it can scale throughout India and beyond.

o u r p r o j e c t p i p e l i n e

PLUS program

the educated

child

scale (2013 & beyond)

prototype villages

(2012)


Volunteering with 40K is equal parts challenging, amusing and fulfilling. Even though 40K is very much occupied by the seriousness of educating in order to fight poverty, we keep a pretty upbeat work culture. Part of volunteering is being able to use your spare time for a cause that’s so much bigger than yourself, and the most motivating reason for being here is knowing that such a small part of our week can directly contribute to the reduction of poverty. One of the most enlightening and humbling aspects of working here has been working with so many volunteers who, despite incredible differences in their interests and passions, all somehow possess a remarkable mix of youth, intelligence and engagement with the world.

Celina Siriyos, Volunteer Editor, Research Team now full time in publishing.

I was drawn to Sunil from the very outset of my trip because of his vibrant personality and his obvious gratitude for the time and effort that we put in as volunteers. He was only 12 years old. It was my final day with the children and we were all playing in the courtyard when Sunil called me aside from the other children. “Tony Uncle” he said with a broad smile on his face, “I have something that I want you to keep, but I want you to promise me that you’ll always wear it”.

From behind his back he revealed a tattered piece of string. “Tony Uncle, my mother gave this to me when I came to the school many years ago and she told me that I would always remember her. Now, when you go back to Australia, you will always remember me and one day you must come back to India to return me my belt”. Aside from the cleverness of Sunil’s insurance policy, I was amazed by his generosity. He had so little in terms of material things, yet he was willing sacrifice something of such sentimental value. It was only then that I realised what a profound impact 40K is having on the lives of these children… I intend to honour my promise and one day return his belt.

Antony Tow, 40K Volunteer and a graduate at Deloitte Private.

Celina

Antony

endorsements

Three years ago, within the Corporate Group of Freehills, we established a committee to seek to positively influence the culture amongst the group. As part of this initiative it was identified that we needed a project to foster a strong sense of team spirit within the Corporate Group, and at the same time make a tangible difference to a social venture organisation.

40K was identified as this organisation. 40K’s enthusiasm, energy and passion has been invigorating for the Corporate Group. In fact the 40K spirit has proved quite infectious. In a short period of time a dedicated group of solicitors has worked closely with 40K to come up with challenges for the Corporate Group which has a broad internal application: to engage individual team members in a coordinated effort to assist the work being done by 40K in Bangalore. With one or two great innovations from Clary, the Corporate Group has become completely empowered and energised by the 40K challenge.

Peter Dunne, Partner, Freehills Law Firm.

The University of Technology, Sydney proudly supports the work of the 40K Foundation Australia. We are proud that the 40K journey was started by a UTS student during his law degree here and guided by one of our Professors, who is now an integral part of the organisation. There are students from a number of our faculties including law, communications and design which this dynamic young organisation have engaged.

Prof Ross Milbourne BCom, MCom (NSW), PhD (UC Berkeley),Vice-Chancellor & President University of Technology, Sydney.

Freehills

University of Technology, Sydney


introducing social enterprise into our funding model We understand that donors want their dollar to go a long way. That’s why 40K is now introducing social business into its funding model. These enterprises are designed to run a profit which will help grow our capacity to scale PLUS further.

40K globeIn late 2011, 40K launched our first such social business, 40K Globe. This voluntourism business captures the value of what we have been doing for years: giving the opportunity to Australians to participate in the field to make a direct impact.

In 2012, Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) have been signed with the University of Technology, Sydney, the University of Wollongong and TAFE NSW. These tertiary institutions are funding their students to volunteer with us. The surplus by which the program runs go directly back to the 40K Foundation to use.

“We need to export the things that matter for people hoping to get themselves out of poverty.

We can export the goodwill of the Australian people, and that’s a key part of 40K- the engagement of Australians over there, and the development of our reputation as a caring, passionate, democracy- loving nation that is tolerant of the diversity of cultures that most importantly wants to empower the poorest of the poor with a good education.”

The Hon. Joe Hockey MP Federal Opposition Treasurer speaking at the 40K New Projects Launch, 30th August 2011.

Ella Ryan (The University of Wollongong) with Divya from the Banyan School, 2009.


australians united to solve a pretty big problemWe give real responsibility to young Australians to develop and operationalise our programs, and engage highly-skilled experienced people to mentor them through it.

ways to give

travel with us 40K Globe is all about exporting the goodwill of the Australian people and allowing them the opportunity to participate on the ground in India to make a direct impact. Supported by the University of Technology Sydney, the University of Wollongong and TAFE NSW, these institutions are funding students to have this life-changing experience.

run with usGet involved, get fit and raise money for a great cause on your own or as part of a team as 40K Foundation supporters take to the streets as part of the Blackmore’s Sydney Running Festival, one of Australia’s largest and most diverse running festivals. All funds raised by our runners goes toward supporting the 40K PLUS Program reach more communities in need and the children of these communities.

join us The 40K Foundation has a number of ways you can get involved and give and if it’s a case of wanting to make a difference but not having a lot of time we’d love for you to jump on board Jukebox, our online giving program and nominate a fuss-free monthly donation of your choosing and while it may seem a little, believe us it goes a long way where we are. For further information about any of these ways to give and other opportunities to become a 40K supporter please visit www.40k.com.au.

sponsor a pluscentre For a donation of just $10,000, made either outright or through fundraising over the course of a year, you, your family, or your organisation can be the exclusive sponsors of a PlusCentre for an entire year. The links you forge with the children and the village community can be as proactive or reactive as you choose, your donation making a genuine, tangible difference to their lives. Consider it charity, a means to teach the younger members of your family just how lucky they really are, or a way to unite your whole team in a common, socially responsible goal. Whatever your motivation, you can be sure that your contribution will resonate in the local community for years to come.Please call

02 9221 4030, or email our CEO at [email protected].


The 40K Foundation Australia Limited

Suite 202, 90 Pitt Street Sydney NSW, 2000 Australia

e: [email protected] t: +61 2 9221 4030 f: +61 2 9221 4060 w: 40k.com.au

All Correspondence to: The 40K Foundation Australia Limited G.P.O. Box 1730 Sydney, NSW Australia 2001

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40K plus program education changes lives

40k plus program

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