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My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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TEDx Talk: An Army of Good Fathers

TEDx Talk: An Army of Good Fathers

How do we end violence against women and girls, and how do we make allies out of men and boys?

To learn more about what My Choices Foundation is doing to include men and boys in the army fighting to end violence against women and girls, watch Elca’s TEDxHyderabad talk.

“It always seems impossible until it is done.” These are the words of Nelson Mandela, a man who helped a nation withstand and eventually win its greatest battle for justice. He helped lead South Africa out of apartheid.

Looking at a seemingly impossible task, one has no option but to innovate, and to try untried and difficult solutions. Often, one has to reassess prejudices, and choose to set aside bias. Mandela helped a nation segregated by race focus on forgiveness, peace and hope for a united future.

Similarly, in India where half the population is subjected to pandemic violence, abuse and exploitation, the impossible task seems to be to get both genders – men and women – to work together. Yet, this IS the task, and every day it is being done and becoming less impossible.

Elca Grobler, Founder of My Choices Foundation speaks of an “Army of Good Fathers” committed to keeping their daughters safe, and raising them to be strong women who are confident in their value and purpose. When confronted with the harsh statistics and reality in India, this seems daunting enough to be called impossible. However, this is why Elca calls her team “dragon slayers”. Each day, My Choices Foundation sets out to take on two of India’s most difficult issues – Domestic Violence and Sex Trafficking – and to conquer them with relentless optimism, determined that it is possible to end violence against women and girls, and to have men as allies.

How do we end violence against women and girls, and how do we make allies out of men and boys?

To learn more about what My Choices Foundation is doing to include men and boys in the army fighting to end violence against women and girls, watch Elca’s TEDxHyderabad talk.

My Choices Foundation partnered with Oculus’ VR for Good and Director Jayisha Patel to create the world’s first virtual reality documentary on sex trafficking. The film is called Notes to My Father, and you can view it on Facebook. The film narrates the story of sex-trafficking survivor Ramadevi, and highlights how, together, we can prevent this issue from affecting more innocent girls.

[The embedded video below only works on select browsers. Please visit our Facebook video to watch the film Notes to My Father in 360 on your smart device (phone or tablet).]

Want to support our mission to build an army of good men and boys dedicated to ending violence against women and girls? You can donate through our website – Donate Now

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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Your donations make it possible for us to give women and girls the choice to live a life free from violence and exploitation.

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The end of poverty demands the end of violence against women

The end of poverty demands the end of violence against women

Similar to the analogy that you cannot expect a starving child to study well, we cannot expect women facing violence and exploitation to make full use of financial empowerment.

Modern analysis of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and of human rights affirm control over bodily safety as basic human necessity and right. It is a requisite of human advancement.

Sandhya’s Story

In 2015, Sandhya was much more than a wife and mother of two beautiful girls. She was also the manager of her family’s kirana shop, including the cash flow and budgets. Kirana shops typically sell groceries and basic household items, but Sandhya was industrious and also sold petrol and collected and recycled liquor bottles. She did this without any support from her husband. She used to tell her mother I literally take care of my husband as a child. Yet, Sandhya did not control any financial decisions at home or have access to the money she helped earn. While she managed the shop, her husband was in complete control of her life. She suffered 14 years of life-threatening violence at the hands of her husband. Access to financial resources and business skills did not empower her enough to take control of her life to keep her and her daughters safe.

Sandhya finally raised the courage to save money and plan her midnight escape, only after sessions with a counsellor helped her build an empowered perspective of self. Now, in 2017, she and her daughters live free of violence. Sandhya rents an apartment, sends her daughters to a private school and even pays the salary of an assistant who works in her new shop. She is capable of working hard, but none of that mattered before she was empowered to take control of her life and put an end to the daily abuse she suffered.

It is stories like Sandhya’s that led My Choices Foundation Founder and Director, Elca Grobler, to work in the space of gender based violence rather than economic empowerment. Elca’s combined educational and work background of 23 years was spent entirely in financial services. Her most formative years were those spent working in microfinance. Yet, when she moved to India and listened to what women really needed help with, she was compelled to leave her expertise behind and build a non government organisation providing services to women desperate to escape domestic abuse.

Praseeda Kunam of Samhita Microfinance in India, who serves over 62,000 women in Madhya Pradesh with economic opportunities, found that women who do not have access to knowledge about their rights are not fully empowered. These women, although provided with economic opportunity, were still often powerless at home and over their own safety. Praseeda now works to make sure each of her clients are educated about their right to safety.

Gary Haugen, Founder and CEO of global anti-trafficking NGO International Justice Mission (IJM) stated:

Far below the headlines, a plague of hidden, everyday violence – like rape, trafficking, and police brutality – is devastating the developing world and undermining our efforts to end poverty.
A world free of poverty will not be realized until it is a world free from violence.

Unfortunately, violence around the world is distinctly gendered. Women and girls are the worst affected in any crisis, cause or issue. Violence, abuse and exploitation hinder and bar our dream of equal opportunity becoming a reality.

Women’s access to financial services is on the rise, and definitely a critical part of both women empowerment as well as the global end of poverty. However, statistics tell us that it is not addressing the root problems of inequality. An Indian woman is 100 times more likely to die of child-bearing related causes than a woman anywhere else in the world. This tells us that family resources are not being directed to her care. Around 50% of Indian women face domestic abuse. This tells us that while their education, employment and leadership is being encouraged, they are still not respected as equals at home.

To address inequality and achieve an end to poverty, we must address women’s control over their own safety. As Sandhya and thousands of other women’s stories demonstrate, ending violence in women’s lives is a precursor to taking advantage of economic empowerment. If this is true, then ending (gender-based) violence is a requisite to ending poverty.

Hannah Surabhi

Hannah heads up marketing and communications for My Choices Foundation. Hope is her favourite concept. Her passion is working to help every person understand their role in making this world better, for everyone.

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Run for a Reason – Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2017

Run for a Reason – Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2017

We are proud to announce that My Choices Foundation is an NGO partner for the upcoming Airtel Hyderabad Marathon to be held on August 20th, 2017. We would love it if you could run for us, campaign for us and cheer us!

My Choices Foundation is very proud to kickstart the “Run For a Reason” Campaign and invite you to sign up for Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2017 and #Runforareason.

Before cruising into this year’s marathon, we would like to go back to our previous year’s #Run2Respect Campaign. We had over 200 runners running and raising funds for us. We thank them with all our hearts and look forward to some of them partnering with us again this year!

Here are a few glimpses from last year….

Why should you Run for a Reason?

Running is fun, but when you #Runforareason, it is pride.

Running a marathon can be extremely gruelling, but the thing that gets you through, is knowing that if you just put one foot in front of the other, you will eventually make it to the finish line.

For many women experiencing abuse or exploitation, there is no finish line. Day after day, they endure violent physical and sexual abuse, often with no help from friends, family or police.

Why Campaign for us?

You may or may not be a runner in Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2017, but you can support us, campaign for us and raise funds for us. My Choices Foundation lets you choose between two teams: Team Red and Team Orange.

Team Red: When you are in Team Red, you are running for every girl in the country who is vulnerable to be trafficked for sex slavery. You are running on behalf of Operation Red Alert of My Choices Foundation.

Did you know that Every 3 minutes an Indian girl is sold into sex slavery? The average age of these girls is 12, and only 1% of them are ever rescued. The road to rehabilitation, if she is rescued, is extremely difficult. Yet, there are very few NGOs working to prevent this from happening.

Operation Red Alert is leading the prevention movement in India through a groundbreaking 3 Pillar approach. We work at the grassroots level (which is what your run will affect), national response, and through mass media. We work to keep little girls in highly trafficking prone villages safe from traffickers, and with your help, we can do so much

With the money you help to raise for team Red, you will enable thousands of girls and women across various most vulnerable villages gain awareness about human trafficking, help them be on Red Alert against human traffickers and stay Safe. Rs.5,000 can sponsor one Safe Village Program that impacts around 500 stakeholders in an at-risk village. This covers the costs of 2 in-person visits to that village, and the delivery of our village toolkit into the hands of families and little girls who need it most.

Team Orange: Through Team Orange, you are not just running the marathon but providing solidarity and support to lakhs of victims of Domestic Violence in India. Nearly 50% of Indian women experience violence in their own homes. Over 50% of men, women, boys and girls believe that this is normal.

Operation PeaceMaker aims to reduce domestic violence in India through thousands of PeaceMakers who are trained in family and marriage counselling and all aspects of the Domestic Violence Act. Operation PeaceMaker provides counselling to victims of domestic violence and their families, provide legal aid to support survivors to take action, seek out and provide survivors with In field support.

The money you will raise for Team Orange will help Operation Peacemaker in supporting their counselling centres and PeaceMakers. Thousands of women benefit through our counselling, gaining support and strength to make a decision of their own, take legal support and take steps to end the violence in their life. If you raise between Rs.3000 to 5000, you will be providing a “Start Up Fund” to a victim of domestic violence, A start up fund can be used for any of the immediate, urgent needs a survivor and her family has. This may include smaller requirements like a few pots and pans for her new home after leaving a shelter, or paying her first 2 months rent while she accrues her first income. Or, it could be for something bigger like her children’s initial school fee instalment, or a sewing machine to get her own business set up. The start up fund is allocated to women who have been left destitute by the abuse they faced, and have no other option to move forward in life.

So choose your team, Buckle Up, Get Set Go!

How do you sign up and campaign on behalf of My Choices Foundation?

You can login to My Choices Foundation Page on Letzchange.org and create a campaign for us. We will be constantly co-campaigning with you, help you with content, images and lots of support for your social media campaign! You will be emailed more information through our “Fundraiser Pack” when you sign up!

For more information, please call Usha on +91-9100048849 or send an email to [email protected]

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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Social Good and Entrepreneurship: The best of both worlds

Social Good and Entrepreneurship: The best of both worlds

Increasingly, Social Entrepreneurship is being recognized for the fantastic dedication, skill, and innovation it takes to be successful. It takes all the business savvy and grit of running a successful start-up, plus the passion and dedication to overcome the obstacles unique to setting out to achieve “for good” outcomes.

Two recent events have started us thinking about the increased recognition of and appreciation for social impact focussed entrepreneurship, where it is going, and how it is impacting the world.

First, My Choices Foundation Founder and Director Elca Grobler won the 50 Most Impactful Social Innovators Award by World CSR Day and Social Innovation in February

Second, Elca was privileged to be the MBA graduate and alumni out of 17,000 alumni to be honored for her work at the Australian Graduate School of Management’s (AGSM) 40th Anniversary Celebration that took place in Sydney, Australia in March. She received special recognition for her work with My Choices Foundation, and has been featured as an ambassador for the AGSM scholarship fund as an exemplar graduate.

Somehow the intersection of social impact and good business is indivisible. Around the world, the role of CSR Director is becoming more and more sought after and respected, CSR budgets are expanding, awards for social impact in business are becoming more and more popular, and there are even large global conferences and movements held to organize and award social impact by businesses. A quick look at Google Trend data shows that since 2004, searches for the term “CSR” have increased by an average of 21% globally.

While Social Entrepreneurship is not a new concept, it wasn’t until the 1990s that the first reports and books on topic were published. Popular academic interest in the topic only began around 2000. Now, in 2017, nearly every business school offers a degree or certificate in Social Entrepreneurship.

The rise of social entrepreneurship has made the marriage of business and social impact a powerful duo. Just ask Muhammad Yunus who has won a Nobel Peace Prize and teaches business leaders the world over due to his incredible work harnessing business principles for good.

Increasingly, Social Entrepreneurship is being recognized for the fantastic dedication, skill, and innovation it takes to be successful. It takes all the business savvy and grit of running a successful start-up, plus the passion and dedication to overcome the obstacles unique to setting out to achieve “for good” outcomes. Changing mindsets, creating culture, leading movements, and strategizing empowerment is not for the faint of heart. Moreover, measuring success is often not nearly as straightforward in social entrepreneurship as standard business. Businesses have a very clear performance measure: Profitability. Social enterprises need to look at a wider set of measurements. Success is measured in “for good” impact.

How do you quantify being able to stop violence in a woman’s life? How do you measure the impact of preventing a little girl from being trafficked? While the best social enterprises have created robust measurement and reporting systems, there is still a universal multiplier effect on every number. One girl kept in school doesn’t just mean one girl in school. It means one girl who will get married later and have fewer children, which means she is able to keep them healthier and educate them better. It means that a whole new future is created in her family, and therefore a whole new set of economic possibilities for her community. The ripple effect of doing good can be exponentially powerful. But that success is a very difficult thing to measure for social enterprises.

Yet, the world is waking up to the impact and potential of social good. Companies who used to focus on the bottom line of profits are now massively more concerned with the second bottom line – social impact. Not all of these companies with new found focus on the second bottom line are doing so because of compliance and reputation issues. Many realize that social impact affects everything from brand value to customer satisfaction to employee loyalty. Doing good does exponential good for their main bottom line of profits.

We are incredibly proud of being leaders in social entrepreneurship in India. We are thrilled that the incredible work it takes to bring constant creativity and dedication to effectively doing, measuring, and achieving “good” is now being recognized worldwide for its contribution not just to society, but also to business and business learning.

For the women and girls of India, we are hopeful that social entrepreneurship means that the best minds, practices, and investment will come to their aid to develop powerful enterprises for empowerment and development. We a proud to be among the social entrepreneurs of India, giving the cause our 120%.

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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Why getting onboard with crowdfunding platforms is a good idea

Why getting onboard with crowdfunding platforms is a good idea

Long before digital fundraising platforms were invented (or the internet for that matter), Indians had their own systems of ‘giving’, from donating to temples, to organising food for the homeless or sharing spare coins with someone in need. So, you might be thinking, if we’re already good at ‘giving’, why do we need to get onboard with crowdfunding platforms?

While the concept of ‘crowdfunding’ is relatively new to India, generosity is certainly not.

Long before digital fundraising platforms were invented (or the internet for that matter), Indians had their own systems of ‘giving’, from donating to temples, to organising food for the homeless or sharing spare coins with someone in need.

So, you might be thinking, if we’re already good at ‘giving’, why do we need to get onboard with crowdfunding platforms?

I must admit, at first I was very sceptical of crowdfunding platforms, I thought it was like every other type of giving. But after running the Operation Peace Maker, Pavani and Pallavi crowdfunding campaign, I realise that they’re an extremely powerful tool for mobilizing support for causes that might otherwise be overlooked.

What is crowdfunding?

For those of you who don’t know, crowdfunding is a type of fundraising, which allows verified organisations or individuals to raise money online. It works on the premise that a broad donor base of individuals donating just a small amount of money each will reach large fundraising goals. It lets a community – or “crowd” – of individuals act collectively to make a really big difference. Crowdfunding has been used to finance some of the world’s coolest innovations (like those on Kickstarter) and support some of the world’s most life-changing non-profit initiatives.

They’re unique in that they provide giving opportunities on a large scale, with full transparency into how your money will be used and by whom. They’re becoming increasingly popular amongst millennials who know how to harness the power of online communities and bring people together to support an organisation, idea or cause. The power of crowdfunding is that it puts the the ability to make a BIG difference in our hands. No big donor machines, no long waiting times, no stale project reports. Just face to face interaction with the cause or project, and real-time support.

Pavani and Pallavi School Fund

The Pavani and Pallavi School Fund was developed in response to the need of one of our Operation PeaceMaker clients, Sandhya, who made the brave decision to leave her husband after 16 years of extreme abuse. Her main concern about leaving her husband was that she wouldn’t have enough money to send her two daughters to school while waiting for the court to grant her maintenance.

We knew that we would need approximately Rs. 100,000 to pay for the girls tuition text books, uniform and stationary, and we only had one month to get the money together. Our program budgets do not include funds for individual needs like this, but we knew we had to help. We chose the crowdfunding platform BitGiving because we wanted to support a local Indian company helping to pioneer crowd-based generosity in action in India. We loved how easy they made setting up our campaign, donating and spreading the word about our project. We were really comforted by the campaign application process, where each charity was required to submit a number of legal and financial documents to ensure their legitimacy.

In under one month we were able to raise 102 percent of our fundraising target, and extended our fantastic community of supporters in India. Last week, we were able to take the girls shopping for their school books and uniforms, we made a short video to keep our supporters in the loop.

Top five reasons to give through crowdfunding platforms:

1. No posers… You can be assured that the charity and campaign are legitimate because every organisation is put through a very strict vetting process where they are required to submit legal and financial documents as well a proposal for their campaign before they are allowed to use the platform. If you want to know more about how this is done, it’s easy to look into the process each site uses, or just contact the charity and ask them directly. You deserve to have all the facts.
2. Full transparency… You know exactly where your money is going. Sometimes when you give to a larger charity, you can’t be sure which project your money will be spent on. With crowdfunding platforms the charity has to specify in detail where and how the money will be spent. You decide if the story is compelling enough, and if you don’t have enough detail …. Again, just get in touch!
3. Stay in the loop… You become part of a community. We were so humbled by the community we built around the Pavani and Pallavi School Fund. Its exciting for us to share our successes with everyone who contributed to the campaign with videos and newsletters updates. We also keep our community in the loop about other giving opportunities. The best crowdfunders love every comment, email, tweet, post they get and interacting with supporters.
4. Commitment phobic? No worries… Unlike other types of giving, you are only required to give as much as you like when you like, no strings attached. So whether you want to really engage with the cause or just “do good” and move on, you can have it your way.
6. Make a real difference…The best part is, you get to choose what you want to support. The power is in your hands to made a decision about what campaigns you think will have the most impact or are of the most important to your community.

We really believe that India is entering a new phase of giving, which is being driven by our young and generous millennials! So if you’re feeling generous today, why not check out some of India’s leading crowdfunding platforms today and see what they’re all about.

Also, if you’re running the Airtel Hyderabad Marathon you can help us raise money for our anti- domestic violence and sex trafficking programs by creating your very own Ketto fundraising platform.

We love co-campaigning with you! So, if you have any questions just let us know in the comments section below, via email or through our Facebook page!

Happy crowdfunding to you!

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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12-year-old saved from forced marriage

12-year-old saved from forced marriage

Operation Red Alert has successfully saved a 12-year-old girl from entering a forced child marriage scheduled to occur on 20 April 2016, in a small village called Racharla, Pentapadu Mandal, Alampuram in Andhra Pradesh.

With the help of The Social Service Centre in Eluru which is a CHILDLINE service provider (hereafter referred to as CHILDLINE), Operation Red Alert has successfully saved a 12-year-old girl from entering a forced child marriage scheduled to occur on 20 April 2016, in a small village called Racharla, Pentapadu Mandal, Alampuram in Andhra Pradesh.

During a recent visit to the girl’s village as part of our Safe Villages Program Operation Red Alert field workers were approached by the young girl who asked for help to have her marriage stopped. She explained that despite being a minor her parents arranged for her to marry a much older man without her consent. Our on the ground team explained how we would be able to help and called CHILDLINE Eluru for extra support.

Through extensive community consultation the CHILDLINE team were able to reach a signed agreement between the parents, Sarpanch and a teacher from the local school promising to protect the girl from forced married now and in the future.

Unfortunately, forced child marriages are all too common in India, particularly in small and remote villages and sadly many young girls do not have the recourse to have these marriages stopped. According to the National Family Health Survey III – NFHS, nearly 45 percent of girls in India will marry before their 18th birthday. This is why CHILDLINE and Operation Red Alert work so hard to bring support and education to communities across India.

We’re extremely excited to see that our programs are having such an immediate and real affect on the communities that we visit. The Safe Village Program is the result of 18 months intensive research and planning and aims to help people of all literacy levels learn about how to protect themselves and others against sex trafficking and domestic violence.

During this visit, our team spent two days with the community taking them through a series of fun and interactive workshops targeting all members of the community. They included sessions such as, movie screenings, school programs, village elders and leaders meetings, and fathers and mothers meetings just to name a few.

The focus of the sessions are not to dictate classic do’s and don’t, but to open up a dialogue about how to speak about tough issues like domestic violence, sex trafficking and in this case forced child marriage.

If you or someone you know needs help or protection, please call CHILDLINE on 1098 or Operation Red Alert on 1800 419 8588.

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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We Won! Award for Women Empowerment through Social Media.

We Won! Award for Women Empowerment through Social Media.

This is our second award for our digital campaigning, and a prized accolade. There were 266 entries from 8 countries, narrowed down to 66 finalists in 10 categories. In our category, there were amazing 9 finalists and 3 winners. We were acknowledged for our consistent campaigning to end domestic violence and child sex trafficking.

We are thrilled to announce that My Choices Foundation won Grand Jury Award for Women Empowerment at the Social Media for Empowerment Awards, 2016 by Digital Empowerment Foundation.

This is our second award for our digital campaigning, and a prized accolade. There were 266 entries from 8 countries, narrowed down to 66 finalists in 10 categories. In our category, there were amazing 9 finalists and 3 winners. We were acknowledged for our consistent campaigning to end domestic violence and child sex trafficking.

We must say a BIG thank you to all of our co-campaigners (that’s YOU!) for your contribution to our campaigns through profile photo changes, online pledges, making videos, writing poems, taking photos, and sharing your stories.

As an NGO focussed on providing grass-roots services to victims of domestic violence and human trafficking, it’s easy to wonder what we’re doing in the digital advocacy space.

This is our vision in a snapshot.

We were proud to stand with Breakthrough, and Safe City as tri-winners of the award. Both NGOs do amazing work in effort to keep women in India safe from sexual harassment. Make sure you check them out, if you haven’t!

This was Digital Empowerment Foundation 3rd edition of Social Media for Empowerment Summit and Awards, 2016. SM4E is a platform for the recognition of social media-driven initiatives taken for the development of masses. It is also an opportunity to meet innovators and social media experts.

We are honoured to have been selected as the Grand Jury Award recipient, and look forward to achieving more for the cause in the future!

#Respect2Protect – Indian Cricketers from My Choices Foundation on Vimeo.

We were interviewed by the SM4E team interviewed us for our insights into digital campaigning, and because we prize investment into others, we’re sharing that interview below.

1. What was the motivation behind starting the initiative?

Our NGO leadership has long had a vision to include and champion men in the cause of ending violence against women and girls. This part of our DNA is reflected in the inclusive approach of our programs that invite men to be a part of the process in ending domestic violence in their homes and communities and keeping their girls safe from trafficking.

Our online campaigns are an extension of this vision. We had the incredible opportunity to connect with the Indian Cricket team, and ask them to contribute to a campaign. We had a short window of time to execute the plan, but we were already ready with the messaging – we knew that men speaking out about respect for women’s safety, independence, mobility, dreams and capabilities would be phenomenally empowering for women and even more game-changing for men. Respect2Protect is a campaign for men, by men about how men can be the change. We believe that men are at least 50% of the solution to ending violence against and exploitation of women and girls.

2. What were the challenges you came across?

This was My Choices Foundation’s first full-fledged digital campaign. We had never been a part of anything like it before. So there was a big learning curve the whole way through, from the production phase to the management phase. We had to learn on the go. What made all the difference was the diligent work of our team that worked in overhaul mode to get things done and volunteers with expertise in digital tools.

The lash back we got from those who disagreed with the campaign was expected, and didn’t amount to enough to actually be considered a challenge.

3. How are you planning to scale it up?

The scale of our Social Media initiatives will be increased through future campaigns as well as the ongoing, expanding reach of #Respect2Protect. We are already planning our next campaign, again geared towards men and boys, focussing on the role of fathers. Stay tuned!

4. What does winning SM4E Awards mean to you, and how will you leverage it?

Winning the SM4E Award for Women Empowerment is a very meaningful accolade. We appreciated the prestige of the Grand Jury and the rigor they applied to narrowing on finalists out of so many nominations. This created a confidence in finalists that, if won, the award was indeed a great accolade.

Additionally, the quality of the work and brand of the fellow finalists was further validation of the honour it was to have made it as a finalist. It was particularly interesting because the finalists were a combination of NGOs, government, and corporates alike. It is one thing to stand out among our fellow-resource strapped NGO peers, but to also be recognized along side groups and campaigns with very different organizational structures was particularly exciting.

The Award is an objective confirmation of the quality and impact of our work in the digital sphere. it will certainly help raise our NGO’s public profile and help us in fundraising as well as garnering important partnerships. It is also an impactful way affirming the good faith of every donor, volunteer and partner of our work who has believed in and championed our work so far.

5. How did you arrive at the technology you used for the project?

The technology we used for our campaign was determined by:

1. Goal of virality: The goal of the campaign is that it would have a “by the people for the people” feel to it. While it utilized the voice of celebrities, it encouraged every-day voices to become THE VOICE. Campaigns run on TV and/or in print just don’t have this feel or capability. Social media relies on real people for its success. People are able to own the cause, and express it how they relate to it.
2. Versatility and Timing: We had very limited time to produce the campaign and get it running. Social Media provides you with control over these factors in a way that traditional campaigns do not. Also, it allows for flexibility for the campaign to adapt to keep up with the viral uptake. All the mediums used were chosen for their potential to encourage conversation and individuality, and to disseminate multiple rounds of collateral tailored to the responses received.
3. Resource availability: Digital campaigns allow hard work to carry a message further than financial resources. There are an arsenal of tools available to anyone with a message that help you leverage it, if you have the skills.

6. What are the learning’s you would like to share with us?

We have just 3 simple tips for anyone planning a campaign for social change.

People are looking for honesty, practicality and that something special. If we want to design campaigns that will speak to people, we have to make it simple and to the point enough so that it resonates as truth. Yet, people need more than words. What happens after the initial buy in to the campaign is so important to the longevity of passion, the follow through of getting help, and the completion of transformation. Our campaigns feature different layers of action, and more crucially, offer to recourse to those who need help. Finally people on social media are desperate for social currency. They desire something special – a new perspective, an influential voice, an unlikely story – to take ownership of and spread among their peers. These three aspects of a campaign are what we have found to be so successful in catalyzing meaningful change.

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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Warangal Team Expansion

Warangal Team Expansion

Strategic Expansion: Find out why our Warangal team is growing!

If you have been following us on social media over the past year, you would have probably noticed how often we share updates on the work of our wonderful Warangal team.

Yet, we don’t share even a quarter of the news on the work that our team does in Telangana’s second largest city! The Warangal Team often educates hundreds of community members and schoolgirls, week after week, through Basti Meetings and the Schools Programme. The team has managed this with only* three PeaceMakers and one Senior Counsellor.

Warangal city is Telangana state’s second largest city, and strategically one of the most important areas of the work of the My Choices Foundation. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have some of the worst statistics in the country for domestic violence (increasing by 10 per cent every year) and trafficking of young girls. The violence at home acts as a propellant for girls, by making home seem unstable and opportunities to leave more attractive. Warangal district, in particular, reports a high number of girls being “exported” for exploitation. There are a few areas where our work to create safe, peaceful families and societies could be as important.

With just over a year of high-impact awareness initiatives, which work to educate communities and schoolgirls on identifying, speaking up, and ending abuse, we were receiving a higher volume of cases than a small team of three PeaceMakers could handle. Expansion of the Warangal team was urgent.

On August 13, we graduated 20 incredible women from PeaceMaker training and they began a two-month internship of in-field testing of their new skills. 15 of these women have now been hired to work as full-fledged PeaceMakers, providing counselling, rights education and support to victims of abuse and their families.

These 15 PeaceMakers are those whose work will be directly funded by the contribution you made to our GlobalGiving campaign! (Haven’t yet? Then do it now!) In the next year, these PeaceMakers will provide direct support to at least 150 families, and reach out to a conservative estimate of 2,000 women and schoolgirls providing education on rights and protections from abuse and exploitation.

The new batch of Warangal PeaceMakers is a particularly capable and passionate group of women, and we cannot wait to see what they achieve. We look forward to introducing each woman to you and letting you get to know how her story has shaped her journey to becoming a PeaceMaker. Throughout the remainder of 2015 and 2016 we will share one PeaceMaker story per month, so you can follow the PeaceMaker journey starting with the impact of training through their experiences as in their first year as PeaceMakers impacting Warangal.

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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Announcing our rebranding: My Choices Foundation

Announcing our rebranding: My Choices Foundation

We’ve re-branded. We’re still doing the same, amazing work. Just with different names and cooler logos.

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. – Walt Disney

Anything new is always exciting and it leads us to paths undiscovered. Today, we too have something new and exciting to share with you all. You’ve seen the sneak peeks, but this is the official announcement! Yes – we’ve rebranded!

The original My Choices logo. 2012 – 2015.

The name ‘My Choices’ has been our identity for over 3 years now, and we LOVE this name too much to let go of it. Therefore, ‘My Choices’ has become our mother brand of two distinct operations and become the My Choices Foundation. We have a new look to our visual identity and have honed in on what the true ethos of My Choices is. You might be wondering why we need a mother brand?

We have been thinking about the organisational efficiencies of two separate NGOs, My Choices working in the area of ‘Anti Domestic Violence’ and Red Alert working in the area of ‘Anti Human Trafficking’ for some time now. While the two NGOs always had a significant amount of overlap of teams, resources, and messaging, they have up until now been marketed to supporters, partners and clients as distinct entities. The close association and common objectives become increasingly difficult to communicate to our key stake holders. Connecting the two took far too much elaborating. So why not let our branding speak for itself – that’s the point isn’t it?

Today, we want to re-introduce you to the two NGOs you have been following and supporting, not as two NGOs, but as one Foundation with two distinct but complimentary set of Operations.

The Mission

The My Choices Foundation started as a response to an issue that is so prevalent that it affects every household in India in some form. Violence against women and girls. While not every household experiences or witnesses violence within it’s own walls, at least one member of that family is certain to be exposed to it in some form whether first hand or through the experience of another person. Yet at around 60% of Indian homes do face violence at home.

The first response to this violence was to develop a program that would address the type of violence that is perhaps the most intractable, yet sits at the root of every other category of violence against women and girls: Domestic violence. By targeting the household, Operation PeaceMaker aims to access the very home of the mindsets that perpetuate violence and discrimination against women and girls. The home, just like the mindsets they house, is one of the most difficult spaces to access and difficult to affect change from within. PeaceMaking, getting families to work together to end violence against women and girls, is tremendously focussed work, and our efforts have stayed local in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for the last 3+ years. Yet, we have long known of and been stirred by another massive dearth in education allowing families to be fooled and the lives of young girls and women destroyed.

The second response has been to address one of the most harrowing forms of violence: trafficking of young girls for sexual exploitation. Focussed on pre-empting girls and their families from falling off the cliff so to speak into exploitation, Operation Red Alert has worked for over one year on research, ground work, and networking to take shape into three major pillars of action.

Both Operation PeaceMaker and Operation Red Alert have been born from the desire to see families to become the focus of prevention and transformation of the most pervasive and intractable forms of violence against women and girls. Over three years into PeaceMaking and over one year into building Red Alert, there is much impact accomplished and a phenomenal amount more to come. There is no better time for every one of the supporters, friends, partners, and clients of both Operation PeaceMaker and Operation Red Alert to understand the common values and missions of both operations and how our teams work independently as well as together across these.

To help make our story and work clear, we have rebranded our logos and positioned them under a single Foundation, The My Choices Foundation. We believe that while both missions or operations are distinct, their success commonly relies on the choices of educated and empowered men, women, boys, and girls.

Our work is all about giving women and girls choices to live a life free from abuse, violence and exploitation. That has, and will continue to be, our guiding principle, and our new brand will reflect that. It’s a reflection of the journey we’ve been on for the last 3 years.

The Logos

The My Choices Foundation has been built on the vision of restoring the spice of life into the lives of women, girls and families, and making sure that this spice is never diminished by discrimination, exploitation, or violence. The most powerful spice in the Indian arsenal of vibrant flavors is mirchi (red chili powder), and red is the traditional color of many Indian festivals and celebrations. The My Choices Foundation logo is a heaping, circle of red powder. It is vibrant, it is Indian, it is bold, it is versatile, and it is a beacon of a life lived with zest and fullness.

The DNA of Operation PeaceMaker, once called “My Choices”, is bravery, compassion, and truthfulness. The turmeric yellow embodies the ideals of health and happiness that we hope can be the trophies of transformation in the lives of our clients. The heart is symbolic of both the goal of internal transformation in the lives of our clients and their families, and of our PeaceMakers who, choosing everyday to love a difficult world, are the bravest hearts you can find. The Operation PeaceMaker invites us all to join the story of peace-in-the-making.

Operation Red Alert as the name suggests aims to get people on alert for human trafficking.The red powder in the logo reflects the spice of life. Red colour is energizing, it excites the emotions, inspires urgency, and motivates us to take action. Similarly, the exclamation mark expresses strong emotion, urgency and action. The Red Alert logo aims to affect this kind of response in each person in India. It aims to trigger the emotion within us to take action and STOP this injustice! If we are alert, she will be safe! #BEONREDALERT

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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Your donations make it possible for us to give women and girls the choice to live a life free from violence and exploitation.

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TEDx Talk: An Army of Good Fathers

How do we end violence against women and girls, and how do we make allies out of men and boys?

To learn more about what My Choices Foundation is doing to include men and boys in the army fighting to end violence against women and girls, watch Elca’s TEDxHyderabad talk.

“It always seems impossible until it is done.” These are the words of Nelson Mandela, a man who helped a nation withstand and eventually win its greatest battle for justice. He helped lead South Africa out of apartheid.

Looking at a seemingly impossible task, one has no option but to innovate, and to try untried and difficult solutions. Often, one has to reassess prejudices, and choose to set aside bias. Mandela helped a nation segregated by race focus on forgiveness, peace and hope for a united future.

Similarly, in India where half the population is subjected to pandemic violence, abuse and exploitation, the impossible task seems to be to get both genders – men and women – to work together. Yet, this IS the task, and every day it is being done and becoming less impossible.

How do we end violence against women and girls, and how do we make allies out of men and boys?

To learn more about what My Choices Foundation is doing to include men and boys in the army fighting to end violence against women and girls, watch Elca’s TEDxHyderabad talk.

[The embedded video below only works on select browsers. Please visit our Facebook video to watch the film Notes to My Father in 360 on your smart device (phone or tablet).]

Want to support our mission to build an army of good men and boys dedicated to ending violence against women and girls? You can donate through our website – Donate Now

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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Your donations make it possible for us to give women and girls the choice to live a life free from violence and exploitation.

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The end of poverty demands the end of violence against women

Similar to the analogy that you cannot expect a starving child to study well, we cannot expect women facing violence and exploitation to make full use of financial empowerment.

Similar to the analogy that you cannot expect a starving child to study well, we cannot expect women facing violence and exploitation to make full use of financial empowerment.

Modern analysis of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and of human rights affirm control over bodily safety as basic human necessity and right. It is a requisite of human advancement.

Sandhya’s Story

Gary Haugen, Founder and CEO of global anti-trafficking NGO International Justice Mission (IJM) stated:

Far below the headlines, a plague of hidden, everyday violence – like rape, trafficking, and police brutality – is devastating the developing world and undermining our efforts to end poverty. A world free of poverty will not be realized until it is a world free from violence.

Unfortunately, violence around the world is distinctly gendered. Women and girls are the worst affected in any crisis, cause or issue. Violence, abuse and exploitation hinder and bar our dream of equal opportunity becoming a reality.

Unfortunately, violence around the world is distinctly gendered. Women and girls are the worst affected in any crisis, cause or issue. Violence, abuse and exploitation hinder and bar our dream of equal opportunity becoming a reality.

Hannah Surabhi

Hannah heads up marketing and communications for My Choices Foundation. Hope is her favourite concept. Her passion is working to help every person understand their role in making this world better, for everyone.

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Run for a Reason – Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2017

We are proud to announce that My Choices Foundation is an NGO partner for the upcoming Airtel Hyderabad Marathon to be held on August 20th, 2017. We would love it if you could run for us, campaign for us and cheer us!

My Choices Foundation is very proud to kickstart the “Run For a Reason” Campaign and invite you to sign up for Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2017 and #Runforareason.

Before cruising into this year’s marathon, we would like to go back to our previous year’s #Run2Respect Campaign. We had over 200 runners running and raising funds for us. We thank them with all our hearts and look forward to some of them partnering with us again this year!

Here are a few glimpses from last year….

Why should you Run for a Reason?

Running is fun, but when you #Runforareason, it is pride.

Running a marathon can be extremely gruelling, but the thing that gets you through, is knowing that if you just put one foot in front of the other, you will eventually make it to the finish line.

For many women experiencing abuse or exploitation, there is no finish line. Day after day, they endure violent physical and sexual abuse, often with no help from friends, family or police.

Why Campaign for us?

You may or may not be a runner in Airtel Hyderabad Marathon 2017, but you can support us, campaign for us and raise funds for us. My Choices Foundation lets you choose between two teams: Team Red and Team Orange.

Team Red: When you are in Team Red, you are running for every girl in the country who is vulnerable to be trafficked for sex slavery. You are running on behalf of Operation Red Alert of My Choices Foundation.

Did you know that Every 3 minutes an Indian girl is sold into sex slavery? The average age of these girls is 12, and only 1% of them are ever rescued. The road to rehabilitation, if she is rescued, is extremely difficult. Yet, there are very few NGOs working to prevent this from happening.

Team Orange: Through Team Orange, you are not just running the marathon but providing solidarity and support to lakhs of victims of Domestic Violence in India. Nearly 50% of Indian women experience violence in their own homes. Over 50% of men, women, boys and girls believe that this is normal.

So choose your team, Buckle Up, Get Set Go!

How do you sign up and campaign on behalf of My Choices Foundation?

For more information, please call Usha on +91-9100048849 or send an email to [email protected]

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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Social Good and Entrepreneurship: The best of both worlds

Two recent events have started us thinking about the increased recognition of and appreciation for social impact focussed entrepreneurship, where it is going, and how it is impacting the world.

First, My Choices Foundation Founder and Director Elca Grobler won the 50 Most Impactful Social Innovators Award by World CSR Day and Social Innovation in February

The rise of social entrepreneurship has made the marriage of business and social impact a powerful duo. Just ask Muhammad Yunus who has won a Nobel Peace Prize and teaches business leaders the world over due to his incredible work harnessing business principles for good.

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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Your donations make it possible for us to give women and girls the choice to live a life free from violence and exploitation.

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Why getting onboard with crowdfunding platforms is a good idea

While the concept of ‘crowdfunding’ is relatively new to India, generosity is certainly not.

Long before digital fundraising platforms were invented (or the internet for that matter), Indians had their own systems of ‘giving’, from donating to temples, to organising food for the homeless or sharing spare coins with someone in need.

So, you might be thinking, if we’re already good at ‘giving’, why do we need to get onboard with crowdfunding platforms?

What is crowdfunding?

Pavani and Pallavi School Fund

In under one month we were able to raise 102 percent of our fundraising target, and extended our fantastic community of supporters in India. Last week, we were able to take the girls shopping for their school books and uniforms, we made a short video to keep our supporters in the loop.

Far below the headlines, a plague of hidden, everyday violence – like rape, trafficking, and police brutality – is devastating the developing world and undermining our efforts to end poverty.
A world free of poverty will not be realized until it is a world free from violence.