Why AIF
AIF Leverage
AIF constantly finds ways for its grant partners get the leverage of increased resources and for its donors to get the maximum return on their philanthropic investments.
ENGAGING THE GOVERNMENT
AIF’s grant partners engage governments in adopting their successful models to scale them to impact larger populations. Our biggest success has been in educating children of seasonal migrants. AIF directly impacts close to 20,000 seasonal migrant children through its partnerships with eight NGOs across three states. AIF’s partners have gotten governments to support them in scaling up their projects to meet the needs of children who still remain out of school. The state governments of Gujarat, Orissa and Maharashtra are providing significant financial commitments as well as resources such as buildings for use as seasonal hostels and free lunches at schools. AIF’s grant partners have also participated in the review of the central government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan program, which aims to universalize elementary education. By focusing the central government’s attention on educating seasonal migrant children, there is great potential to effect widespread change.
FUNDING PARTNERSHIPS
When AIF makes grants to NGOs, it develops collaborations with other funding agencies to increase the amount of money that the grant partner can receive. For our education grant partner Bodh Shiksha Samiti, AIF provided $103,000 toward a $2 million project to teach 15,000 children living in the slums of Jaipur. We then constructed a funding partnership to secure the remaining funds; our investment was matched with $100,000 from a private foundation in Washington DC and $200,000 from the UK-based Paul Hamlyn Foundation. The Rajasthan government and the Aga Khan Foundation provided the remaining $1.6 million. This partnership is the first phase of the Bodh’s goal of providing education to over 100,000 children in the slums of Jaipur who do not attend school.
SHARING BEST PRACTICES
AIF actively transfers best practices across regions and organizations in order to bring new ideas to solving problems. AIF facilitates this knowledge transfer by:
1. Funding of resource centers – These are learning labs for organizations to develop and share innovative solutions. AIF’s partner Utthan in Gujarat has deep knowledge of community water management and is establishing a resource center to document and disseminate best practices.
2. Transfer of program models –AIF has facilitated the transfer of successful program models across different states. In 2004, AIF funded MAYA Organic’s successful project to develop worker-owned enterprises in the informal sector in Bangalore. Saath, a livelihood grant partner in Gujarat, learned about this program and is now adapting and implementing it in Ahmedabad.
3. Meetings of grant partners – Every year, AIF hosts meetings of its grant partners in education and livelihoods so they can learn from each other’s successes.