Provide Help and Hope to Orphaned and Destitute Children in India

Project location: India, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala
Project start date: July 2012 - Project end date: December 2012
Project number: 2012-014
Beneficiary: Hope Abides

In 2011 and 2012 the Hope Abides project goal is to establish relationships with existing well-run orphanages in India to help improve the likelihood that children will be able to go to school and receive a decent education. While the organization is providing this help, it also identifies the challenges these orphanages face and the best practices they utilize to operate their organization.

The organization has three major phases in its work:

1) Hope Abides partners with existing well-run orphanages in India to help them with child sponsorships and the funding of necessities. In 2011 the organization identified several orphanages that met the preliminary criteria as potential partners. After a thorough screening process it has chosen a handful of orphanages as partners and it is funding the needs they identify as most urgent. Hope Abides provides funding in the areas of education, food, clothing, medical coverage or inexpensive facility repair and upgrade. In exchange partners help it learn about the challenges and best practices for running a successful orphanage in India.

Projects currently in progress or completed include:

2) Hope Abides will take lessons learned from the previous phase and help existing struggling orphanages with funding, budgeting and other issues. They are orphanages that are operational, but have severe issues with adequate food, decent facilities, or access to schooling. The organization will subject these orphanages to a strict screening process including interviews and site visits. Finally, the organization will select a small number of these orphanages and work to lift them to a point where they are providing more than just bare sustenance to their children.

3) Ultimately, the organization wants to expand the operations of existing orphanages or plant new orphanages so that increase the total number of orphans being helped. As Hope Abides progresses through these three phases, it will leverage relationships with existing partners to maximize the efficiency and scope of its assistance. They expect that will have clusters of partners in various geographic areas based upon the relationships and networks they establish. This third phase will likely begin in 2015 or 2016.

The orphanage will be selected in Various locations in India, including the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

There are three possible ways the organization would use coming donations.
They are listed in order priority:

1) Mission for the Rural People in Andhra Pradesh, India has recently been donated an acre of land directly opposite the orphanage by a local farmer. The plan is to build a English medium school for around 300 children (maybe up to 800 in years to come) and a Medical care centre on this land.
There are several volunteer teams that are coming over the summer, so they will provide a start in terms of starting the compound wall and levelling the ground ready for the foundations. 
Money will be used towards the costs of the foundation and compound walls, if the orphanage has enough money for those costs, money will be applied towards a classroom or other school related need.

2) The organization intends to support education costs for 60 children in the Precious Children Orphanage in Kerala, India.

3) Tuition for university or vocational school training in the 2013 - 2014 school year for older children from the Precious Children Orphanage in Kerala, India. Exact number of students would depend on actual tuition rates.
The anticipated achievements or outcomes of this project, which received a grant from the Nando Peretti Foundation are as follows.
During the first few years, metrics to measure the success of the project may include pounds of food purchased, number of insurance policies purchased, number of medical exam performed, number of tuitions paid and number of children passing to next grade level.
The approach of Hope Abides is unique because one of its main goals is to work towards a mentoring relationship between well-run and struggling orphanages. This allows it to maximize each dollar spent since each orphanage partner will be expected to pay-it-forward. The strategy is structured so that it is scalable to the level of funding.

Hope Abides is a U.S. based organization whose mission is to provide help and hope to orphaned and destitute children in India. Its ultimate goal is to help these children with their immediate needs and to work towards providing them the ability to grow into independent and productive adults.
Hope Abides understands that an education is the best tool a child can have to escape poverty; however, in order to get an education a child first needs the necessities of life such as shelter and food. Hope Abides works with existing orphanages and organizations in India to make sure that basic needs are provided and children have the opportunity to go to school.
Hope Abides knows that poverty, hunger and illiteracy are not limited by gender or religion - therefore, it helps children regardless of their gender or religious background and seek help and participation from all regardless of nationality or faith.