Press Release
S M Sehgal Foundation received the Sabera Award 2021 in the category Special Jury Commendation for NGO of the Year. Ms Anjali Makhija, chief operating officer, S M Sehgal Foundation, received the award on behalf of the team and represented the foundation in the virtual award ceremony. SABERA21 Awards webcast included engaging interaction with Dr. Prakash Amte and Dr. Mandikini Amte, special speaker sessions with Dr Bibek Debroy, chair Economic Advisory to PM Narendra Modi, and others, along with people-centric inspiring stories of change. SABERA (Social and Business Enterprise Responsible Awards) recognize India’s responsible businesses, entities, and leaders who champion sustainable development. The awards are organized by Simply Suparnaa Media Network, a UN Women WEP.
What makes us NGO of the Year?
Active in eleven states across India, S M Sehgal Foundation’s responsible initiatives in addition to the rural development work in the past year have been to support to communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected the lives of millions of people in India. Foundation teams focused on urgent relief work, while also maintaining a balance to sustain the momentum of the ongoing sustainable development initiatives and programs that are creating long-term positive impacts on rural India.
Sehgal Foundation’s initial activities in response to COVID-19 focused on distribution of essential items such as soaps, sanitizers, masks, gloves, and thermal scanners to frontline workers and villagers, and food and nutrition kits to underserved communities. COVID-relief materials distributed across nine states to district hospitals included 350+ oxygen concentrators; 8,500 PPE kits, 75,000 gloves, 11,550 liters of sanitizer, 82,000 surgical masks, and 3,000 N95 masks for frontline medical and nursing staff.
Moving from relief to rehabilitation, the teams’ activities and programs focused on building rural resilience by improving farm productivity (better agri-technologies and practices); increasing water availability in villages (rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge); making schools safe for children (handwashing stations, toilets, and drinking-water facilities); and making communities safer by building their awareness levels on the relief packages provided by central and state governments, and enhancing local participation and sustainability in rural panchayats.
About Us:
S M Sehgal Foundation (Sehgal Foundation) was established in 1999 as a public charitable trust to strengthen community-led development initiatives to achieve positive social, economic, and environmental change across rural India.
Sehgal Foundation has five main program areas: Water Management, Agriculture Development, Local Participation and Sustainability, Transform Lives one school at a time, and Outreach for Development. These programs are supported by a skilled research team that engages in participatory research, impact assessment, and interactive dialogues to determine informed actions to achieve sustainable results. The foundation has entered its third decade in rural India with presence in over 1,348 villages across forty-six districts in eleven states of India (as of September 2021), and the work continues to grow.
Sehgal Foundation partners, in the corporate, government, academic, social sectors, and on the ground in rural communities, are key to the success of its rural development initiatives and consistent growth. Visit www.smsfoundation.org for more details.
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