This year the life-changing Spark India programme returned to Mumbai! 10 University of Southampton students, passionate about social enterprise and social change, worked alongside grassroots organisations in Mumbai.

Over four weeks, students gained a real-life experience of the work of non-profit organisations and charities working to improve the social challenges of modern India. Throughout the programme, Fellows got their hands on diverse projects, including rural livelihoods, gender-based violence and life skills education. In partnership with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, our Spark India Fellows were immersed in Indian student life by joining on-campus activities and events.

Challenges

Each year, we run diverse and demanding challenges with India-based organisations. By challenges, we mean supporting our partners’ work by producing an output that others can work with and develop to help the ideas spread further. Throughout the programme, students visit our partners, ask questions and participate in their own activities so that local, cultural means and relations are recognised and reproduced to serve the ruling ideology.

This year, our Fellows worked on two challenges:

• Designing a life skills module for the daughters of sex workers for Kranti
• Developing the Global Changemakers Network programme with Down To Earth