Systemic Education Reform
Under the Systemic Education Reform program, our strategy is to support diverse Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) engaged in school education, to develop and deepen their capacities to work towards systemic reform of education in the country.
We currently support two categories of organizations across the country through organizational grants: (a) Early and mid-stage organizations working in school education and (b) Established Community-based organizations or Non-Education Organizations with a keen interest in the field of education
(a) Early and mid-stage organizations working in school education
For organizations currently working in school education, our grants aim to deepen capacities or build additional capacities of the organization to take its work to the next level. This could mean any of the following:
Building capabilities in specific areas of focus within education, by working on the ground with support from experienced organizations or resource people
Consolidating the work so far into approaches and models of engagement that are extendable, scalable, and sharable
Building capacities to become a resource organization for other organizations in education in its area of focus/expertise within education
(b) Established Community-based organizations or Non-Education Organizations keen to strengthen their education program/team
We support organizations with a strong community presence that work on one or more aspects of community development and desire to strengthen their work in school education
The grant is also open to organizations working on health, environment, livelihood, human rights, governance, etc., and are keen on working in school education specifically to improve the public education system in their areas of operation
Our grants could support the following:
Building a core team to work in the area of school education
Developing or furthering capacities to work in school education, particularly the public education system, through on-the-ground work and specific capacity building opportunities
Guiding Principles
Demonstrated Capacities and Commitment: The program supports organizations with a serious commitment to the social/education sector through their past engagements
Clear Organizational Objectives and Structures: The program aims to facilitate the development of stable educational CSOs that can engage with school education in the long-term and expects the work in education to align with the organization's overall vision and objective. Structures and processes to facilitate smooth organizational functioning should also be in place
Engagement with Class/School Issues: While issues outside schools/classrooms such as those related to community, nutrition/health, etc., are essential for effective education, we believe that to create effective educational NGOs that can have a systemic impact, a core education team that engages directly with the children and teachers within-class/school issues (such as curricular and pedagogic aspects) is critical
Focused Approach: Education requires some degree of specialized knowledge, and effective educational NGOs are often willing to go deeper into a few educational domains/disciplines as opposed to being generalists who attempt to address all educational issues at once or play the role only of mediators (e.g. by providing readymade content available to a set of schools)
Balanced Teams: If organizations have to develop and sustain over the long run, it is important to have balanced teams of partners/co-owners who while on one hand have allied sensibilities and interests (which geography to work in, which educational domains to focus on, which demographics to cater to, etc.); on the other hand, are also able to provide constructive feedback to each other and complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses
Selection Criteria
School Education Organizations
Clarity on, and understanding of the sub-domain/focus within education
3+ years of work experience in the chosen education sub-domain
Willingness to work with the public education system and relevant stakeholders
Clarity on operational model/aspects
The operational model must include education for children in the age group of 3-16 years as the key component
A long-term commitment to a particular geography, preferably locations which are underserved by education-focused Civil Society Organizations
Community Organizations/ Established Non-Education Organizations
Strong community presence and/or expertise and credible track record in other areas of social action (e.g. health / environment / livelihood / governance / human-rights)
Firm desire and strong rationale to work with School Education system (ideally within the same community context)
An existing, committed team with some prior experience of working in the education field
Willingness to engage with the public school system and relevant stakeholders
The operational model must include education for children in the age group of 3-16 years as the key component
Some existing demonstrable work in education (e.g., running 1-2 learning support centers; working with children/teachers in schools)
A long-term commitment to a particular geography, preferably locations which are underserved by education-focused Civil Society Organizations
Selection Process
The selection process involves the following steps:
Interested organizations fill up an Expression of Interest (EoI) form
Shortlisted organizations are contacted and requested to provide a detailed proposal
Wipro Foundation team gets in touch with the organization for further clarifications and/or field visits
A detailed proposal is presented to the review committee
A decision on the grant is conveyed to the organization via email
Note: The review and decision-making process involves multiple stages and could take a few months. Due to large number of EoIs / Proposals received, we may not be able to share individual updates. Shortlisted EoIs can expect to hear from us before 31st May, 2021