“We are delighted to be part of the extraordinary achievements that are recognized by the award.  For U.S. donors, Pratham provides an extremely cost-effective opportunity to directly combat child illiteracy," says Pratham USA President, Atul Varadhachary.  

 

CNN-IBN’s recognition of Pratham stands as a strong testimony to the scale and effectiveness of the organization’s work and the passion and dedication of its people.  The other nominees in the public service category were Anna Hazare, Association for Democratic Reward,
Dr Devi Shetty, Ecosphere Spiti and Naaz Foundation. Winners are chosen through a rigorous four-step process.

 

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh spoke about Pratham
at the awards ceremony in New Delhi on December 21st.
He remarked, “One organization that does work for the upliftment of the silent majority is Pratham. In honoring them today, we recognize a pioneering NGO model that draws on the expertise and experience of educationists, corporates, workers, activists and professionals and unites them in the common vision of a better life for all our children.”

 

Madhav Chavan, Co-Founder and CEO of Pratham accepted the award on behalf of the organization and commented on the significance of receiving the award “in the year that the Parliament passed the Right to Education Act.”  

 

About Pratham:  

 

Pratham is one of the world's largest non-profit organizations in the field of primary education.  Pratham, which means "first" in Sanskrit was founded in the slums of Mumbai in 1994 with UNICEF support.  Pratham’s direct programs, including pre-schools, community libraries and remedial learning programs reach more than 1 million children every year.  Pratham's Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), which is supported by Google.org, evaluates India's status of education through direct testing of over 700,000 children in 16,000 villages across India.  To support newly literate children across India, Pratham Books has developed and published over 130 titles and printed over
3 million children's books in local Indian languages.

 

Pratham launched the Read India program in 2007
to reach the ~100 million children in India who cannot read. Supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this catalytic program works in partnership with state governments and local communities to ensure that primary school children can read, write and do basic math.  The program has reached over 34 million children so far!  

 

With an annual budget of less than
$15 million, Pratham combines large-scale impact with an extremely efficient use of funds.  Pratham USA , a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a four-star rating (the highest possible) from Charity Navigator, accepts tax deductible contributions from U.S. donors.