Grants for Social Action
In 2016 I was given a grant of £200 from O2 Think Big, that changed my life, with that grant funding I was able to bring leading women scientists across the UK to share their research with the wider public and open up dialogue on the latest cutting edge work, create more women role models for wider society and girls to look up to.
After seeing the recent rise of protests in light of social justices around the world, The Grants for Social Action aim to create a new generation of young leaders, committed to positive change in themselves, their communities and the world
I have partnered with The PeaceJam Foundation Europe to create the Laureate of the Future Mini Grants Program giving grants to young people from Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Greece, Romania and the UK for those working on causes inspired by their Nobel Peace Laureate Areas of Work.
Growing up in Mumbai, surrounded by but never being in poverty myself, has made me question my privileges a lot, initially struggling to accept the fact that life has treated me much better than I deserved, then wondering what I could do as an individual to make higher education more accessible
Due to the lack of social mobility in India, I enrolled for a Masters degree in the UK, to understand more about education accessibility tools, which one day would help me set up a scholarship fund in India, and got a role at a tech consulting firm in the UK to continue finding solutions.
Seeing the gender imbalance in the tech sector and wider lack of social mobility and the lack of role model representation in mainstream media, led me to undertake various outreach initiatives, I reached out to women scientists via Twitter and invited them to talk about their research via a series of free public science lectures called- Explore Science, aimed at making science more accessible, I made a documentary showcasing women in tech as role models which led to the Feminist Library in London launching a year long free tech skills prorgam for women.
I also made a documentary on young change makers in the UK. I was only able to get these off the ground because I got mini grants from O2 Think Big (which has now been shut down), for someone who has just arrived from India and had no friends in London but had a lot of passion to make a difference using creative arts tackling hard hitting issues (well atleast hard hitting to me) I was so motivated to push myself beyond my comfort zone when I came across those grants, it made me want to give back even more to society
And so 6 years since I undertook those and a few other initiatives, I was wondering what else can we do to help many other young people in the UK with these mini-grants and thus helping them with social mobility?
I have launched the Grants for Social Action as an initiative that the newly formed Rotaract E-club of Great Britain and Ireland will undertake to empower young people by not only giving them grants but also mentors and partners to make a difference.
