Indian Dreams Foundation

Punit is a well-deserving person for this Nobel recognition because he is selflessly dedicated his life to being the voice of those suppressed by substantial sections of society. He is committed to providing educational opportunities to children, especially girls, who belong to the most marginalized sections of society. He believes that education is the most efficient tool to address global poverty.

Punit is an ordinary man, but his vision is extraordinary and has propelled his organization to achieve what others may consider impossible or tiresome. Under his guidance, thousands of children have been blessed with the Foundation of a better life, one that may not have been possible without his assistance.

He is an incredible personage that bestows in his efforts towards changing the lives of many children through education. He is a pillar of strength, which always motivates his team and other stakeholders to dedicate all combined efforts to the organization's vision and mission.

Through the elevate prize, Punit will scale up the project through funds and expert support, focusing on the impact that every girl passed a minimum of 12th standard. She also must be trained in vocational education with a minimum of five years commitment.

During his childhood, Punit was inspired by his mother when his father passed away; he was just ten years old. He has faced numerous severe conditions after the sudden death of his father. At this tender age, he came to understand the real meaning of inadequacy and deprivation.  

Most children enjoy their childhood and play with a peer group at this age, but for Punit, life becomes challenging. The extended family of Punit intimated her mother that the young child should work for family survival. Still, his mother stood up for her children and stated that all would complete their education. For anyhow, with the hard work of Punit's mother, he completed his schooling. He was determined to improve the lives of other low-income children like himself and began visiting slums. He founded Indian Dreams Foundation, an NGO in 2005, to give a structured platform to address social causes and started supporting children's education through different projects. He realized that he was meant to improve the lives of these families for whom iniquity, dirty conditions and illiteracy were the only accepted way of life. He began working on bringing knowledge into their lives,  e.g. education, gender equality and basic sanitation.

The organization is running multiple projects to accommodate children to get access to quality education.  The organization's principal focus is on providing excellent educational opportunities to children, with a special focus on girl's education to achieve gender equality.  It continuously works to create positive narratives of progress and resilience.

The organization is working in three stages approaches' for involving children from different age groups.  The organization is running a non-formal learning program, “Ready to School”,  this is a non-formal educational initiative. Total 1100 children get benefitted from the non-formal educational initiative so far.

The organization is also continuing a distinctive girl's education program for addressing gender equality and providing equal educational opportunity to girls through sponsoring and mentoring regularly. The program "Honhar Ladki"(Intelligent girl) takes a multi-faceted approach to tackle a critical condition – that of girls dropping out due to poverty, inequality, unawareness and community influences. Total 907 girls enrolled with this girls' education program since the year 2011.

Organisation also works with government schools and dedicatedly transforming government schools into model schools by enhancing quality education, infrastructure support, and human resources capacity. 5 Government schools renovated and 12 toilets built for children in five schools. 

Indian Dreams Foundation is the only organization with a model to engage with communities through varied programmes and activities on menstrual health, education and sanitation awareness at their doorsteps. IDF believes in shared values, strengthen partnerships with the local people in the communities, and engage them in regular activities for practising accountability and a democratic working environment.  

 IDF takes a holistic and inclusive approach and believes that education means more than just academic excellence; it should incorporate the development of soft skills, a value system and civic-mindedness.

Additionally, IDF believes to create leadership at the grassroots level among the target vulnerable groups. Transform the lives of adolescent girls from vulnerability and make them confident girls through access to education & reproductive health services by using direct interventions approaches at the community level.

Additionally, IDF is obligated to achieving gender equality through different projects and is committed to creating leadership at the grassroots level and creating leaders from beneficiaries, especially adolescent girls, and awards them as GIRLS CHAMPION.

IDF is dedicated to empowering these girls to champion in such a manner that they can lead and act as the change agent and motivate others with their learning, confidence and experiences.

The organization continually drives itself to develop innovative theories to improve performance and manage every project to ensure that each contribution we receive does not end up wasted on unrelated projects.  Also, the organization holds high accountability to all its stakeholders, i.e. our beneficiaries, donors, partners, and government. IDF holds a high clarity of vision of what has to be achieved through its activities and direct engagement.

 The selection of the intended beneficiaries takes place through a rigorous mechanism which includes community mapping, demographic surveys, shortlisting of beneficiaries followed by an internal analysis by IDF's team.

 Besides, the organization directly engages itself with the target families to discuss their problems and aspirations for their children with them, which in turn help in strengthening the trust and belief of the organization's beneficiaries.

 IDF continuously engage in learning mechanism to keep pace with the complex, changing environment. The team comprises a diverse staff that is highly efficient, self-motivated, team-oriented and holds a positive outlook besides being excellent and effective communicators.

Since its inception, IDF has marked desired outcomes in different perspectives, including girls' education, gender equality, delayed early marriages, and targeted girls and young women towards menstrual health, hygiene, and well-being.