The President of India’s State Visit to the UK in October included a meeting at Clarence House where HRH The Prince of Wales hosted a discussion on Philanthrophy in India with key members of the British Asian community.
During the meeting, The Prince of Wales announced details of the latest education projects to benefit from The Trust’s support in India. These projects are working to provide a sustainable future for children, young people and women living in rural areas.
Mumbai Mobile Crèches is the only NGO in Mumbai that focuses on providing essential services to the children of migrant construction workers. The funding from The British Asian Trust will enable Mumbai Mobile Crèches to reach its target of providing services to 7,000 children on construction sites by 2011. The Trust partnered with EdelGive Foundation on this grant.
The charity Saath trains those who have not completed their education, equipping them with skills and confidence to access entry-level jobs in high-growth service industries. Saath will now be able to help 15,000 young people in 2009 – 2010 to acquire a sustainable livelihood. The Trust partnered with the American Indian Foundation on this grant.
One of the British Asian Trust’s partners is the HSBC Foundation and Stephen Green, Group Chairman HSBC Plc introduced The Mann Deshi Udyogini Business School for Rural Women as the third NGO which would benefit from a Trust grant. This charity is India’s first and only business school for illiterate rural women. The collaboration between HSBC Foundation and The Trust will enable the Mann Deshi Business School to reach out to 10,530 business school graduates generating a total of over 7,000 new businesses in the region.
The UK’s top business men and women including Sanjeev Ahuja, Amit Bhatia, Anwar Hassan, Stephen Green, Dalip Pathak, Nat Puri, Girish Sanger, Tony Sarin and Arjun Waney were there to support The British Asian Trust as was Eastender’s actress Nina Wadia in her capacity as Ambassador for The Trust.
The President commended the Prince on the work being done by The British Asian Trust in trying to create a more strategic approach to philanthropic giving from the South Asian Diaspora in Britain and talked about areas of further work including empowerment of young people, women and farmers.
Manoj Badale, Chairman of The British Asian Trust, said that:
“We were honoured to have this opportunity to showcase the work of The British Asian Trust to the President. The organisations which we are working with in India are running vital and inspirational projects with a high impact. We are delighted to be able to support their work in creating a sustainable future for these communities.”
