Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all is among the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. There are many meritorious students who are unable to continue their higher education due to economic difficulties in different parts of the country, including Karnataka.

To bridge this gap, DailyRounds/Marrow partnered with Vidya Poshak, a grassroots-level organization that has been on a mission to make education accessible to children residing in the rural parts of Karnataka for the last 20 years.

We recently marked the 5th year of our CSR partnership with Vidya Poshak. In this journey of contributing towards equal education and sustainable development, we were able to support the education of 535 students. These students have been awarded scholarships through the Nurture Merit program for Bachelor’s degrees and the Nurture Merit Excel program for Medical and Engineering degrees.

This journey of collaboration started with the aim of providing scholarships and making funding more accessible to those in need. Over the years, it developed from being only a scholarship program to a program where skill-development training and excursion trips were conducted to concentrate on students' skill sets.

Today, the impact shows that 60% of female students and 72% of male students are first-generation college students from their families, creating a difference in their daily lives. Additionally, 77% of students feel that the scholarship support is extremely beneficial to them.

Reducing or eliminating extreme poverty worldwide is a critical strategy included in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In remote parts of India, there are communities with limited livelihood opportunities that are socially, economically, and geographically isolated. Ensuring livelihood and access to healthy food are still critical concerns for many families in these communities.

DailyRounds/Marrow, through its CSR initiative, decided to address this issue. The vision was to contribute to a project that aims to impact the grassroots level with the PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups) communities, ensuring long-term sustainability through livelihood practices and skill development. That's when we partnered with Nudge Lifeskills Foundation for their 'End Ultra Poverty Program.'

Through this partnership, we aim to create sustainable livelihoods for 1,400 women from rural communities in Jharkhand and West Bengal over the next three years. The goal is to empower women from ultra-poor families by building sustainable local livelihoods to help them break the ultra-poverty cycle.

400 women from rural communities in the Latehar and Lohardaga districts of Jharkhand have entered the program. The households are shortlisted based on different criteria, after which they are provided with grants for consumption and livelihood. Goatery and piggery have been the chosen livelihood activities for women in the selected households based on the market opportunity. The women will also be trained in the practical implementation of livelihood activities, income savings, and village marketplaces.

The program was also initiated in 1,000 women-led households in the Jhargram and Nayagram districts of West Bengal last year. This is done in collaboration with the West Bengal State Rural Livelihood Mission, which ensures the program's sustainability with maximum grant access for the beneficiaries.

This journey of collaboration started with the aim of providing scholarships and making funding more accessible to those in need. Over the years, it developed from being only a scholarship program to a program where skill-development training and excursion trips were conducted to concentrate on students' skill sets.

Today, the impact shows that 60% of female students and 72% of male students are first-generation college students from their families, creating a difference in their daily lives. Additionally, 77% of students feel that the scholarship support is extremely beneficial to them.