Project CTRL +S
The CTRL + S by The Iksha Foundation, is our youth climate action movement that addresses two critical issues simultaneously – environmental sustainability and the lack of educational resources for underprivileged students. Our end goal here, is to support underprivilged students receive a quality education, and to achieve that, we hope to bridge their gap through education materials. To tackle this probelm, our solution was through the creation of a circular green economic model.
This process begins with extensive drives lead by our youth volunteers across schools and apartments, rallying citizens and institutions to contribute their unused paper. Scrap paper, which might otherwise end up in landfills, becomes a very valuable raw material for the CTRL + S initiative. This collection phase not only promotes responsible consumption but also fosters community involvement, making citizens active participants in a transformative cause. Our collaborations have been with almost 100+ schools including Vibgyor Groups of Schools, Bangalore International, Delhi Public School, Legacy School etc who actively contribute to our project.
This scrap paper goes through a process of recycling and these notebooks are further distributed to these underprivilged students who lack access to such essential materials. This not only bridges the resource gap but also ensures that every child has the tools they need for a quality education. Our goal is not to be a charity, but be a changemaker and provide opportunties for changemakers - who we hope would be our volunteers and the unerprivilged students we support as well. We achieve this through incentivising the students themselves to firstly take charge of their materials, ensure its used efficienlty and kept safely.
Our youth volunteers are mentored through our program to conduct workshops for these students, specific to their grades with the aim of equipping them with necessary knowledge on Climate Change and Environmental Awareness of whats happening around them. Our workshop modules equip and enables these young students to take ownership of the environmental issues directly affecting them and be a part of their own local environmental governance. We do not want these students to be dependant on us, but rather work with us or rather we work with them, to make their ideas a reality.
Our CTRL + S initiative has been able to bring together over 400+ volunteers through the past five years, in various cohorts to execute the different elements of this project. Our goal here, is not to just provide our volunteers with volunteering hours, but rather these hours that help them with an exprience that leaves a mark on them or rather one from which they learn some important life skills - leadership, communication, sensitivity, coordination, and filled with memories of empathy, joy, happiness and climate change ofcourse. Something we've been proud about, is that all our volunteers are aged between thirteen to twenty one, while most of them being seventeen. It brings us happiness to see our network grow larger and larger, while making a change with and for the future of the nation.
We have so far through hundreds of drives, hundreds of volunteers hours and hundred of volunteers themsleves, have been able to collect over 30,000 kilograms of scrap paper and successfully recycled them to provide for more than 10,000 students over the years. We have worked with various other NGOs, Corporate Organisations, Local Intiatives, Retail Brands and other collaborations over the years with the aim of broadening our vision and also finding support along the way.
Project Cov-Action
In response to the profound socio-economic challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, The Iksha Foundation initiated its flagship project, "Cov-Action" Launched on May 13, 2021, by a dedicated team of about 40 volunteers, many of whom were high school students, the project reflected the Foundation's commitment to catalyzing positive change through acts of humanity.
The core focus of the Cov-Action Project was to address the pressing issue of unemployment and the hardships faced by families who had lost their primary breadwinners. The project took a holistic approach by providing underprivileged communities with essential food kits containing staples like rice, wheat, dal, and more.
What set Cov-Action apart was its unique outreach strategy. Beyond the initial distribution of food kits, the Iksha team maintained ongoing communication with the beneficiaries. This personalized approach involved understanding the specific circumstances of each family and exploring additional avenues for support. Whether it was offering employment opportunities or assisting with monthly expenditures, the Iksha team remained dedicated to making a lasting impact on the lives of those they touched.
Motivated by the generosity of donors, Cov-Action made a meaningful impact in just two months. The project reached out to approximately six hundred individuals across eighty families, providing not just sustenance but a lifeline of compassion and understanding during those challenging times. The Cov-Action Project exemplified the power of youth-led initiatives in fostering empathy, resilience, and transformative change within communities.
