Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, began Project Nanhi Kali in 1996 with the objective of providing quality education to underprivileged girls in India. Jointly managed by K.C. Mahindra Education Trust and Naandi Foundation, the project has transformed the lives of over 500,000 girls across 14 states. With the aim of helping girls complete schooling, the project provides girls with comprehensive support including daily afterschool academic support, an annual school supplies kit and feminine hygiene material to every girl, enabling her to attend school with dignity. The project provides girls with access to an AI powered, personalized, adaptive learning software called Mindspark, which is pre-loaded on digital tablets. Further a professionally designed sports curriculum has been integrated into the intervention to promote holistic development. The project’s on-ground operations are managed by an all-woman team of over 6,500 ‘Community Associates’, who are recruited from local communities and trained to become learning facilitators and mentors to the girls. They also engage with parents and community stakeholders to create conducive, girl-friendly ecosystems. The project currently supports over 185,000 girls through more than 7,000 Centres, in over 4,000 government schools across 9 states.
