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Category : Alumni

Storykit Program Inspires Academic Excellence in Pakistan Schools

May 8, 2024 | Alumni, Announcements, In Region, News, Pakistan

Storykit Program Inspires Academic Excellence in Pakistan Schools

Reading is paramount, explains Musharraf Ali Farooqi, a former Mittal Institute Fellow, saying, “Becoming a reader is the first step on the path to becoming a self-learner.” A novelist, scholar, and translator, Musharraf is also the founder of the STORYKIT Program, a unique program that inspires a love of reading among Pakistan’s children. STORYKIT boxes teach children the Urdu language, its classical literature, and its folklore through engaging, age-appropriate stories.

In 2023, Storykit launched the Pakistan Spelling Bee, holding competitions for both English and Urdu languages nationwide. Farooqi is leading a Malala Fund supported program to help adolescent female students in Pakistan public schools write about their educational journey. Storykit is also carrying out an internet safety, media literacy and climate resilience campaign for Google Foundation.

“The Happiness Curriculum”: Richa Gupta Aims to Reach 30-million Young People by 2030

Nov 16, 2022 | Alumni, Announcements, In Region, News, South Asia in the News, Students

“The Happiness Curriculum”: Richa Gupta Aims to Reach 30-million Young People by 2030

Richa Gupta, GSE’21 and co-founder of the Labhya Foundation, has no shortage of ambitious goals. By 2030, she hopes to reach 30-million underserved children with a new “happiness curriculum” in some of the most unserved corners of India. The effort to bring social-emotional learning grew out of her own experiences on the frontlines as a teacher in under-resourced schools for more than a decade.

She and her co-founders, who also brought their life experiences to the founding, now run the Labhya Foundation and received a Mittal Institute Seed for Change grant to catalyze their efforts. Gupta was recently named one of 17 New Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. We spoke with her about founding the organization, how the Seed for Change grant helped expand their efforts and what’s on the horizon.

Harvard Alumnus Piyush Tewari and his Quest to Save Lives on India’s Roads

Oct 19, 2022 | Alumni, Announcements, In Region, India, News

Harvard Alumnus Piyush Tewari and his Quest to Save Lives on India’s Roads

For our first Alumni Spotlight, we spoke with the Founder and CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation, Piyush Tewari. His story is one of sheer resilience. Piyush turned tragedy into a relentless quest to save lives on India’s roads, which are some of the most dangerous in the world. India holds the global top spot in road crash fatalities and its crash severity of over 31–denoting the deaths per hundred crashes–is the highest amongst the top 20 countries registering the maximum number of road crashes. He also is the driving force behind the groundbreaking Good Samaritan Law that provides bystanders the safety from legal and procedural hassles in the event that they step up to help road crash victims. Piyush graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School with a Masters in Public Administration in 2017.

Sahayak: Using Data to Connect Industries with Labor in India’s Rural Regions

Jul 22, 2021 | Alumni, Announcements, COVID-19, In Region, India, News

Sahayak: Using Data to Connect Industries with Labor in India’s Rural Regions

Each year, the Mittal Institute’s Seed for Change competition encourages Harvard students to develop a vibrant ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in India and Pakistan. Grant prizes are awarded to interdisciplinary student projects that positively impact societal, economic, and environmental issues in India and Pakistan. One Winter 2020 recipient was “Sahayak,” the brainchild of Ambika Malhortra ’20, Aeshna Prasad ’21, Harvard Graduate School of Design alumnae who both earned a Master of Architecture in Urban Design.

Building a One-Stop Shop for Smallholder Farmers in India

Feb 20, 2020 | Alumni, Announcements, In Region, India, News, Social Enterprise

Building a One-Stop Shop for Smallholder Farmers in India

In 2019, the Mittal Institute’s Seed for Change competition awarded the Gramhal team, composed of members Vikas Birhma and Pankaj Mahalle, first place. Over the past year, the funding from the competition has helped take their social enterprise initiative off the ground, and Gramhal has already had a significant impact on the lives of smallholder farmers in India. In the last few months of 2019, over 50 farmers sold their produce — worth USD 100,000 — through Gramhal, receiving a fair and higher price.

Electrifying Rural India with Solar Energy

Jul 10, 2019 | Alumni, Announcements, In Region, India, News, Students

Electrifying Rural India with Solar Energy

In 1979, an organization named Gram Vikas emerged in Odisha with the goal of supporting marginalized communities in India — from providing cleaner ways to access water and sanitation, to the construction of schools and renewable energy sources. Today, Gram Vikas is working on a project to revive a solar micro-grid in Maligaon that had broken down in 2013 after its power source became depleted. Without improvement of the micro-grid, electricity in the community is unstable, and blackouts can last months at a time. Eshaan Patheria, a Harvard College ’18 alumnus, joined the organization as an SBI Youth for India Fellow in 2018, and now oversees the micro-grid renewal project in Maligaon. In partnership with the local community, Patheria’s team is using modern technologies to improve quality of life throughout the district.

Second Annual Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program

Jun 1, 2018 | Alumni, Faculty, News

If you’re the first in your family to attend college and you’re based in South Asia, the Middle East or Africa, apply now for our Second Annual Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program. It’s a collaboration with an important alumni organization, the Harvard Business School Club of the Gulf Cooperation Council, to create a fantastic, fully-funded opportunity for talented students.

Remembering Asma Jahangir: “Pakistan’s Conscience”

Feb 15, 2018 | Alumni, Announcements, News

“I remember first seeing her when I was a freshman at Kinnaird College, an all-women institution in Lahore, Pakistan. I sat at the very back of a large hall packed with young women waiting to hear the great Asma Jahangir speak. We sat in awe of her bravery and most of us were also afraid for her life.”