Dear Professionals and Friends, 

Warm regards from Deshpande fellowship program (DFP)

We are pleased to inform you that the Deshpande Fellowship Program is now receiving applications for tenth batch. Deshpande fellowship program was begun in order to empower a major untapped resource in the development field:hungry young people with plenty of potential to go for in their field who are held back only by their skills and self- confidence. DFP seeks change that and help participate to realize the true potential and ambitions.

This rigorous 7½  month residential leadership development program, Through NGOs visits, village studies, entrepreneurial and Leadership activities and intensive course work, fellows gain skills needed to become true leaders in their chosen field.  

With a concentration on social entrepreneurship and innovation, the DFP has transformed over 200 fellows into entrepreneurial young leaders. 

Kindly spread the words in your colleagues, friends and who interested to become part of the Fellowship Program. 

They can download application from online-http://www.dfp.org.in/ and send to us by mail. 

For more information you can reach us at fellowship@dfmail.org or  9740011883 and read the Flyer. 

Champions Program Agriculture Site Visit on 8- July -2012.

Site Visit 1:  We should learn how to improve the Ground Level Water. Creating our own pond we should utilize the Water Resources for 4 to 5 Years. The Private Organization S.R.D.S. is helping the farmers to improve their Economic Status.

Site Visit 2: In this visit we learn How to implement Shree Methods of Planting the Seeds. Shree Methods We should grow more Food rather then using other methods.AME Organization is guiding the farmers to develop their food grains.

Site Visit 3: In this visit we should learn the different types of trees should be planted in stipulated area. It should help green economy as well as less carbon with more food products. B.I.F.E. organization is guiding the farmers to grow more foods & Non Chemical Seed.

What makes MSE program special?  With an aim to demystify social entrepreneurship for young and creative minds this residential program is carefully designed from a practitioner’s perspective. MSE is hosted by Deshpande Center for Social entrepreneurship (DCSE) that has been a breeding ground of several start-ups, an international network of enterprises and concrete partnerships with over 100 for profits and not –for profits who all are engaged in solving social issues with a compassionate heart and entrepreneurial mind set.

Two year program is packaged with 25 different courses that blend with cutting edge practical experience as well as personal mentorship through real entrepreneurs.




Our international experience in US and Canada where Deshpande Centers been launched in renowned universities with a sole objective to make “learning relevant and responsive to real time challenges” and embark on an even more ambitious aim to help students not just ‘learn’ about entrepreneurship but find the inspirations and tools of becoming an entrepreneur themselves. Learn more about our international work at www.deshpandefoundation.org.

Who should join MSE?  Graduates in any field who are looking to step into creating or managing a social enterprise themselves. People who are passionate about social issues but still possess an entrepreneurial acumen to venture into innovative and yet sustainable initiatives. We are pleased to share that being located DCSE MSE program brings an added advantage of possibility of getting incubated in our Entrepreneur in Residence program, an incubation centre where several other start-ups will accompany you as you chart the journey of developing a small idea into a big impact. Closer to home we bring synthesis of our learning’s in northwest Karnataka as well advantage of our global network in the form of MSE program.

How to apply?

Please find the application attached and flyer and visit-www.detmse.com Facebook http://www.facebook.com/detmse for details on application and admission process. Seats are limited and deadline for us to receive application is 31st July 2012.

Spread the word!

We look forward to your support to get the word out to your network and eligible candidates and be part of our yet another remarkable initiative at DCSE!

For more details of MSE, go through the Blag(http://www.detmse.com/about.html), Facebook(http://www.facebook.com/detmse) and attached Flyer.

Deshpande Foundation’s Hubli Champions in association with Gram Shikshan Foundation are organizing a day long Cancer Awareness and Pre-Cancer Screening Program on June 24, 2012(Sunday), from 8:00AM to 4:00PM at Deshpande Foundation, Vidyanagar, Hubli.  

All age groups are encouraged to undergo Pre Cancer Screening test 

The Sunday's Screening Camp will be conducted by Super Specialist panel of Doctors consisting of a surgeon, a physician, a gynecologist and an ENT specialist from Cancer Patient Aid Association, Mumbai. Thus every person who attend the camp will get the required information and general test aimed at detecting cancers at a early stage which are preventable and curable.

Be ready for check up....

 

Welcome to Hubli Champions. It is one of the several initiatives of Deshpande Foundation. The Hubli Champions program runs for 3 months, with activities schedule for two Sunday of each month. Modules are Education, Health, Agriculture, Livelihood, Youth Development and Social Entrepreneurship. Doing capstone projects and connecting to NGOs.  

The champions’ visit about livelihoods started off with brief introduction by Dr.Neelam Maheshwari , who introduced us about small Entrepreneurs. They are not only helped financially but are also trained regarding marketing skills & quality maintenance. Programs like Navodyami encourage small entrepreneurs to make it big.

Our first site visit was to SKRDS near Navnagar , which is an organisation empowering women mainly housewives in tailoring (mainly stitching skills). They receive training for a month which is not charged & then later recruited in the production unit. People hailing from nearby places are also provided with free stay and food facilities during the training period. Interaction with employees revealed they were quite satisfied with their jobs as it empowers them to support their families financially. The trainees also have chance to get trained for beauty treatment options. The shirts are provided to the market mainly by SIRI organisation.

Our next visit was to VARSHA home foods placed in Hulkoti near Gadag. Their speciality is Vrasha Kardant. Kardant is a famous sweet delicacy from Gokak. The owners, Mrs. VARSHA & Mr.Sanjeev Raddi took it as a challenge to make kardant as tasty as that available from Gokak. They have successful in this venture and doing justice to the product and which most of us felt was tastier than the original Gokak Kardant. They have also consistently maintained the excellent quality of the product (owing to the best quality of raw materials used in the making). This is mainly marketed by the distributors in Bangalore, Tumkur & nearby places. They started their venture with lot of hardships & hardly any financial backing and have succeeded in getting the product for four fruitful years now. Around 1,500 kgs of kardant is made per month & 128kilos at a time. Presently their working place is same as their residence & they do plan to extend so that they are able to meet the increasing demand for the product. Kudos to their perseverance & strong willed efforts.

After a delicious lunch at farmer’s hostel, our next visit was to Shudha Ganga project started by Aqua Safi partnered with SKRDS. Mr Satvik Sarwadae a young enthusiastic engineer briefed us on Aqua safi which is an Indian counterpart of US based H2O for harmony. Aqua safi mainly aims to provide pure and safe drinking water to rural people at an affordable price.   Needless to elaborate on the state of consumable water in the rural areas of our country, the efforts made by Aqua safi tied up with NGOs is more than commendable. The unit works on the principle of reverse osmosis which removes dissolved salts (including fluoride levels which is very high in & around these districts), and softens water. The unit costs about 3 lakhs for installation & has a capacity of refining 1000litrs/hour working for 8 hrs in a day. The waste water (30%) can be used for gardening / cleaning but not for agricultural purposes. The villagers are charged a nominal of 20paisa / litre & can access water at fixed timings in the day. They can procure water in cans provided. The villagers need to register to get the benefit regularly and non frequent users will be charged slightly higher only encourage them use it regularly. The system to be installed needs a fixed source like a lake/ bore well for constant use. The maintenance is completely taken care by aquasafi, 1st year being free of cost & subsequently being charged 60,000 annually. The unit of 1000litre capacity can cater to the needs of 250 families in a village. A report of the efficiency of the unit is maintained and the quality of output water is regularly sent for testing. The most impressive part of Aqua safi is that it tries to reach out to villages which are difficult access.

We concluded our wonderful day expressing our views & suggestions regarding our visits. For SKRDS we expressed our concern regarding the possible postural problems which the employees may encounter in the long run & the need to take preventive measures. We also emphasised the on increasing the outlets for their products so that more people can be benefitted. About Varsha Kardant , all of us were impressed by their hard work & never let go attitude. Surprisingly their product is not available in & around hubli Dharwad. We opined that they need to expand so that they can cater to the remaining 98% of state of which is not covered. They also need to improvise on marketing skills so that they need not have to turn down offers when there is more demand during festival season. Regarding Aqua safi we did not have much to suggest except for our admiration. We felt that a smaller version possibly could cater to the needs of small localities like slum areas in urban areas as well. Mr Satvik responded that this has already been taken up as a pilot project in a place in Mumbai.

Overall the day kick started well and we all were amazed, happy and full of appreciations for the efforts at different sites. The effort to bridge the gap between producer and consumer is almost made up and we only had to add few suggestions and modifications. It was a true inspiration for all of us to make sustainable strong valid efforts.