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MUMBAI: Dasra, India’s leading strategic philanthropy foundation, will host Dasra Philanthropy Week (DPW) from March 5-7th, 2014, in Mumbai. Supported this year by USAID, Omidyar Network, BNP Paribas Wealth Management and Vodafone Foundation, the event will bring together more than 600 philanthropists, corporates, foundations, impact investors and policy makers to solve pressing social and developmental issues faced by our country especially around adolescent girl empowerment.
Dasra’s report, ‘Owning Her Future’ recognized that the 113 million adolescent girls in India are a largely vulnerable and abused group. India, home to 60 million child brides, has 95% of its adolescent girls drop out of schools by age 15 in leading states and over 50% girls face domestic violence. Over the next five years, Dasra will work on several girl-related issues including child marriage, domestic violence, menstrual hygiene and nutrition among others. Dasra Philanthropy Week will raise critical questions in an effort to drive visibility and action on both the issue and the role of philanthropy and stakeholder collaboration in supporting adolescent girls and helping India leverage its demographic dividend.
“To draw 700 million people out of poverty, Dasra has built powerful social change ecosystems, engaged multiple stakeholders and brought strategic funding, knowledge and skills to India’s social sector. With increasing support from global and Indian partners, we will ensure that maximum lives are impacted in the most effective way possible,” said Neera Nundy, Partner and Co-Founder, Dasra.
She further added, “To build urgency around adolescent girl issues,we are proud to introduce Dasra Girl Power Awards, India’s first-ever awards to identify and honor path breaking non-profits empowering adolescent girls in the country. Our goal is to help these organizations scale with funding, networks and skillsso that millions of girls get the opportunities they deserve.”
In partnership with the BSE, Dasra Philanthropy Week will kick off on March 5th with keynote addresses by Mr. Ashish Chauhan, CEO, BSE, and Mr. Marten Pieters, CEO, Vodafone India. Sessions on the Companies Act 2013, approaches to giving, and employee engagement will equip corporate companies to be more strategic in their philanthropy. An exclusive panel on impact assessment led by Rice University Research Professor, Marc Epstein, will highlight the value of building impact assessment into CSR for greater social impact. The day’s highlight will include the announcement of the winners of Dasra Girl Power Awards, launched as part of Dasra’s $14 million alliance with USAID and Kiawah Trust.
March 6th, day two of the event, will bring together foundations and impact investors to discuss both grant and equity based models for social change. The panels will explore how innovative on-profit and for-profit models can work in tandem to help social sector organizations scale.
Dasra Philanthropy Week will conclude on March 7thwith Dasra’s signature event–the Indian Philanthropy Forum (IPF), India’s largest platform for visionary high net-worth philanthropists. The event, founded in 2010 and in its fifth edition this year, will feature a high profile gathering of over 300 leading philanthropists, business and social change leaders. As Dasra’s partner, BNP Paribas Wealth Management will host a discussion on Next Gen philanthropy by interviewing Roshni Nadar Malhotra. For the past 7 years BNP Paribas Wealth Management has awarded major philanthropists the BNP Paribas Prize for Individual Philanthropy. In 2013, Mr. Shiv Nadar, founder of the Shiv Nadar Foundation was the recipient of the BNP Paribas Prize.
The day will place the spotlight on social change stories, insights from Bain& Company on ecosystem building, presentations on Dasra’s upcoming research including the launch of the Domestic Violence Report, and conversations with leading local and global philanthropists who will share their perspectives on giving.
Bringing the day to a grand finale will be video keynote addresses by Jennifer and Peter Buffett from NoVo Foundation. Past IPF speakers include visionary philanthropists like Rohini Nilekani, Hemendra Kothari, Rati Forbes, Dr. Raj Shah, Jayant Sinha, Shabnam Sinha, Kenneth Roth, Jack Sim, Mathew Bishop, and Nisa Godrej.
