Social Welfare
We have seen the multifold and exponential impact on a community when we have focused on just the key members. Not the designated leaders, but the real change makers - the women and children in each family. Our work at MMF UK has been at the grassroots. Addressing the core of any challenge, taboo or superstition. We've seen that if respect and empathy is given, and dignity is restored, the beneficiary can continue to effect change on their own. This is at the heart of our work in social welfare.
St James’s Church Piccadilly
2023
Designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672, today St James’s Anglican Church in Piccadilly in central London also manages various community outreach programmes. In 2023, MMF UK lent its support to the Church's weekly evening meals for 35 homeless individuals living in the area.
Serving Meals to Children with Akshaya Patra Foundation
2023
In the UK, the Akshaya Patra Foundation provides wholesome meals to children from poorer-income families, especially during school holidays, when nearly three million children sleep hungry each night. Since 2021, MMF UK has supported its various initiatives and programmes:
In 2021, as schools remained closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, MMF UK supported Akshaya Patra Foundation’s ‘Nourish to Flourish’ programme. Since 2019, the programme has made nearly one million freshly-cooked meals for children from poorer families in holiday clubs, council-run holiday centres, and community hubs across London.
In 2022, MMF UK participated in the ‘Beat The Hunger’ campaign, providing hot meals to over 3,000 poorer adults living in central London. Our donation was matched by the Childhood Trust, dedicated to alleviating the impact of poverty on children and young people living in London. Our donation went to help over 1,000 children in the London boroughs of Ealing and Brent.
In 2023, MMF UK made three further donations to support the Akshaya Patra Foundation, including its appeal to support the victims of the devastating 7.8 Mw earthquake in southern Turkey and northern Syria, which affected over 14 million people and killed nearly 60,000. Furthermore, as in earlier years, MMF’s funding also helped to provide cooked meals to school children and students.
Transforming Lives with Caudwell Children
2023
Mukul Madhav Foundation stepped in to help Caudwell Children support differently-abled children. The foundation has provided support and access to essential equipment, support and therapy needed, like Autism assessment and care, mobility, and multi-sensory equipment. Access to a vital support system will help create equal opportunities and dignity for children with disabilities.
As creators of cost-effective, innovative, person-led services that change societal issues for disabled children, young adults and their families, we want to build a world where disabled children and their families have choice, opportunity, dignity and understanding.
In 2022, the John Caudwell Trust supported 65 thousand children and their families across 700+ medical disabilities by providing £85 million worth of services. We strive to ‘see the child, not the disability’, influencing the acceleration of humanity through collaboration with others on inclusion, diversity and equity.
So we further funded their projects for children with Autism and Cerebral Palsy in 2023. We also pledged our support to Caudwell Children at the Butterfly Ball London 2023.
Support to Turkey-Syria Earthquake Relief Efforts
2023
Over 100,000 people were injured in Turkey and Syria following an earthquake in February 2023. We funded the relief work by ActionAid International, who responded with shelter, food, medical aid, warm clothing, heaters and cash for those who had lost their homes. We supported their relief efforts in the region.
Akshaya Patra Foundation also initiated their relief efforts in the 11 provinces of Turkey. While they focussed on serving the worst-affected population in Adıyaman, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Malatya and Adana provinces, we sent around 400 food kits. Each kit would provide for a family of four for up to a week.
Promoting Indian Heritage & Culture
2023
We supported Venkatakrushna Vrundavana, UK, with funds to support their purchase of new premises in Uxbridge for a temple and monastery.
Cooked Meals for Underprivileged College Students
2023
We funded Akshaya Patra Foundation’s feeding programme at four universities in London for the duration of a month in May-June 2023. They provided 1,600 meals for research students from Masters and PhD programmes at Imperial College and University College, medical students at Kings College and business school students at Queen Mary University.
The Women of Influence Gala in London
2022
The Baroness Sandy Verma hosted the Women of Influence gala at the Institute of Directors in London to celebrate inspirational women working towards gender equality and inclusion in November 2022. The event has previously celebrated phenomenal women like Anne Bond, Founder & CEO, Starling Bank; Kanya King, Founder & CEO, The MOBO Awards, the first annual British Awards for music of Black origin; and Nimco Ali, a human rights activist.
The evening also found support for the Rajasthan Bal Kalyan Samiti (RBKS) in Udaipur, India, which undertakes ground-breaking work supporting tribal communities in Rajasthan and Madya, notably in the fields of education, medical assessment camps, agricultural enhancement, improved clean water management systems and women’s empowerment. We have been a loyal and long-standing supporter of RBKS and its work. We announced our support to RBKS for a roti-making machine to provide better nutrition to children, which was installed on March 12th, 2023, at the institution.
Support to the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022
2022
We donated to the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022 in support of Akshaya Patra Foundation’s hunger eradication programme that provides cooked meals for children and underprivileged families. The Big Give matched every donation made during the week of November 29th to December 6th, 2022, thus doubling the donation.
The Felix Project
2023
The Felix project was established in 2016, in memory of a young boy, Felix Byham Shaw. With over 1.5 million adults in London struggling to afford to eat and 400,000 children at risk of missing their next meal, the Felix Project has teamed up with the food industry, including restaurants, supermarkets, wholesalers and other suppliers, to rescue good surplus food that would go to waste. Additionally, food is prepared in the kitchens of Poplar, east London, and distributed by volunteers to over 1,000 charities to provide meals for the homeless, poorer families and children, the vulnerable and those suffering from mental health conditions.
In 2022 and 2023, MMF UK supported the Project’s work with a donation that went to supply and install a new water heater and insulation for all pipework, facilitating reliable hot water to their kitchens.
2022
The Felix project is a London-based food redistribution charity set up in 2016 to feed children, underprivileged families, the homeless and those with mental health issues across London. The charity works with over 500 suppliers, including restaurants, supermarkets, wholesalers and delis.
The project takes their surplus food and distributes it to almost 1,000 front-line charities, primary schools and holiday programmes in London. Over 3,500 meals and 100 kilos of rice are cooked each day. Nearly 2,900 kilos of food is rescued every day and distributed to 18 London boroughs. The Felix project believes in a vision of London where no-one goes hungry and good food is never wasted. And together, it believes we can win the fight against food waste and hunger in London.
We supported this project in December 2022 with funds to distribute 45,000 meals to families and vulnerable people in London.
ActionAid UK
2023
MMF UK continues to support ActionAid, the international charity that works with women and girls to end violence and alleviate poverty, and also responds to international emergencies including earthquakes and conflicts.
In 2023, MMF UK responded to ActionAid’s emergency appeal following the devastating 7.8 Mw earthquake in southern Turkey and northern Syria. ActionAid raised £8 million for an initial 18-month response, and MMF UK’s donation went to the relief work in the districts of İslahiye, Nurdağı and Karşıyaka in Gaziantep Province in Turkey; and Idlib, Aleppo and Al Ramel Camp in Syria.
Partnering with Action Aid to support gender-based violence survivors in Madhya Pradesh, India
2022
Action Aid is an international non-government organisation that works to eliminate poverty and injustice. They work with local partner organisations on a range of community development issues.
Finolex Industries and its CSR partner, Mukul Madhav Foundation, have joined hands with Action Aid in February 2022 to support an initiative called Gauravi, which means 'brave heart'. It aims to support gender-based violence survivors in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar and also provide food security and sustainable livelihoods to migrant and marginalised women farmers.
We trained 55 women in driving, tailoring and computers. As part of the initiative, we then invited a few companies to help us with placements for these women. Namely, We Win Ltd, Star Tech, Magnum BPO, State Bank Credit Card, Maruti Suzuki, UID State Desk, 181 CM Helpline, Reliance Smart, 5 Ace Technologies and Techno Task.
Of the 13 women who were interviewed, 9 were selected for employment. 3 of them are awaiting results and 4 are yet to appear for their interviews.
We also facilitated a farmers’ awareness cum training programme on mushroom production to upskill the women to earn a livelihood.
Humanitarian assistance in Ukraine
2022
(Partner NGOs - Savitri Waney Charitable Foundation, Give Life, Choose Love, Mercy Corps and Voices)
MMF is supporting a number of international NGOs focussing on humanitarian aid and who can offer both immediate relief as well as long term support to people being most affected by the war. Funds were directed to the Savitri Waney Charitable Foundation to cater to the urgent needs of victims of the Ukraine war. The funds were then distributed to several local on-ground NGOs in Ukraine who are supporting the war victims with food, shelter, water, legal support, evacuation assistance, accommodation and medical and sanitation supplies. We are all united for peace and hope the situation returns to normal soon.
Working to Eliminate Child Labour with British Asian Trust
2022
Founded in 2007, the British Asian Trust works to tackle the widespread poverty, inequality, and injustice present in South Asia. On World Day Against Child Labour, Finolex Industries, and its CSR partner, Mukul Madhav Foundation, collaborated with British Asian Trust. The ongoing project has a two-fold approach. The way forward involves eliminating child labour and protecting children in Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh, and preventing child trafficking in vulnerable districts in Bihar. Together, the two organisations aim to safeguard children whose human rights have been hampered and work towards a future free of child labour and child trafficking.
Taking care of the most vulnerable in the most vulnerable times
The second wave of Covid-19 in 2021 left India in a state of devastation. Children suffered the most due to frequent lockdowns; many became orphaned, making them susceptible to child labour and trafficking. Mukul Madhav Foundation in the UK extended generous support to the British Asian Trust (BAT) to respond to this crisis back in India. BAT partnered with Jan Sahas and Samagra Shikshan Evam Vikas Sansthan (SSEVS) to make communities safe, so that children can find conducive spaces to learn, grow and lead healthy, well-rounded lives.
So far, Jan Sahas has set up 47 Bal Panchayats and counselled 242 children in Madhya Pradesh, India. With the efforts of SSEVS, three Panchayat-level Child Protection Committees (PCPC) were successful in budgeting welfare programmes for children in the Gram Panchayath Development Plan for Uttar Pradesh, India. Numerous training and exposure-building workshops have also been conducted with staff across these two states.
Continual support towards safeguarding children from being trafficked
As part of the initiative, we have been able to rescue 719 children from risky situations in Madhya Pradesh and rehabilitate them. Of these, 600 children have been provided educational resources and 527 children have been enrolled in remedial educational centres where they are being taught by skilled tutors. 252 survivors of trafficking were safeguarded from being re-trafficked. And 150 stakeholders were sensitised.
In Bihar, 900 children have been identified and enrolled in schools. The SSEVS team conducted 21 community meetings with 541 people in the Muzaffarpur district and 15 meetings with 294 people in the Vaishali district to discuss the formation of Child Protection Committees. These meetings resulted in the formation of 4 Block-level Child Protection Committees (BCPCs), 40 Panchayat-level Child Protection Committees (PCPCs), and 80 Ward-level Child Protection Committees (WCPCs). It was also observed that it was especially critical to strengthen and build the capacities of CPCs in 48 wards.
We also created, activated and strengthened Community-based Organisations (CBOs), School Management Committees (SMCs) and Bal Panchayats.
The objective was to reduce the prevalence of child labour in Madhya Pradesh through the identification and rescue of victims. This resulted in improved vigilance around issues of child protection and the prevention of child labour. 45 Community-based Organisations (CBOs) comprising 276 members were formed across the 50 villages where the programme was implemented. The CBOs were capacitated to hold regular meetings at the village level to identify issues pertaining to children and ensure that the community provided adequate support for the rehabilitation of rescued children or those identified as vulnerable.
The team also organised monthly meetings with the CBOs, with a focus on the process of applying for and accessing social security schemes, safe migration, livelihood programs and issues about the village.
Strengthening Bal Panchayats to address children’s issues
Bal Panchayats are essentially children’s collectives that act as a platform for them to raise a collective voice about issues affecting them. Jan Sahas held regular meetings with these collectives, which also included capacity-building sessions on children’s rights, laws and legal provisions around the protection of children, and how they could leverage the same. Newspaper bulletins were also placed in schools to pique the interest of children and increase their participation.
Around 476 children were engaged through the Bal Panchayat meetings, with 168 children attending the meetings regularly. They also actively participated in awareness drives in the community.
To read the complete report, please click here
Serving Meals to Children with Akshaya Patra Foundation
2022
Akshaya Patra Foundation leads the world's largest (not-for-profit) mid-day meal programme serving wholesome food to needy children in Indian schools.
As schools continue to stay closed due to the pandemic in 2021, Mukul Madhav Foundation and Akshaya Patra Foundation together supported children in need with meals to provide immediate relief.
This year, we are participating in the ‘Beat The Hunger’ campaign, where the support provided by MMF will be matched by Childhood Trust. Every £10 you donate, will offer at least 5 hot meals to children in Greater London. So, our donation of £2500 will double up to £5000. With this sum, we will be able to serve a little over 2,500 nourishing hot meals to children in London.
Transforming Lives with Caudwell Children
2022
Mukul Madhav Foundation stepped in to help Caudwell Children support children with disabilities. The foundation has provided support and access to essential equipment, support and therapy needed, like Autism assessment and care, mobility, and multi-sensory equipment. Access to a vital support system will help create equal opportunities and dignity for children with disabilities.
As creators of cost-effective, innovative, person-led services that change societal issues for disabled children, young adults and their families, we want to build a world where disabled children and their families have choice, opportunity, dignity and understanding.
This year, the John Caudwell Trust supported 65 thousand children and their families across 700+ medical disabilities by providing ￡85 million worth of services. We strive to ‘see the child, not the disability’, influencing the acceleration of humanity through collaboration with others on inclusion, diversity and equity.
To read the complete report, please click here
Barnardo’s
2023
For over 150 years, Barnardo’s has been supporting vulnerable and poorer children, young adults and their families by helping to provide vital front-line services to address health, well-being and safety needs.
Amongst their numerous initiatives, MMF UK supports their annual Christmas Appeal. In 2023, MMF UK funds went to help poorer families and children with vouchers for food, heating, and other essentials during the cost-of-living crisis.
2022
During Christmas 2020, MMF supported 500 children in collaboration with the children's charity, Barnardo's. The campaign, Kidmas, rekindled the childhood magic of Christmas and raised funds for vulnerable children. These funds helped provide the support, kindness and care needed for a happier Christmas and a brighter future.
This year, for Christmas 2022, MMF has supported the charity to enable a Christmas celebration for the children.
Support to Flood Relief Efforts in Pakistan
2021
In collaboration with the British Asian Trust, we donated funds to support relief efforts during the floods in Pakistan.