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Goonj (NGO)

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Goonj is a non-governmental organisation based in Delhi, India which supports disaster relief, humanitarian aid and community development in 21 states across India. It recycles discarded clothes and household goods into useful products for the poor, such as sanitary napkins.

Established in 1999 by Anshu Gupta, it has converted 1,000 tonnes of used clothes, household goods and other urban discards into usable resources for the poor. [1][2] It collects and delivers 1,000 tons of material every year through a network of 500 volunteers and 250 partners. Besides it run infrastructure and local development projects in villages and slum areas.[3][4]

In 2012, Anshu Gupta founder-director, was named India’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 by Schwab Foundation, a sister organization of World Economic Forum.[4][5]

On 29 July, 2015, the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award was announced for the founder of Goonj, Ansh Gupta.[6]

History

It was founded in 1999 by Anshu Gupta, who left his a corporate job to start the organisation in Sarita Vihar, New Delhi. [7]

It started the 'Not Just a Piece of Cloth' (NJPC) campaign, after the 2004 tsunami, when its Chennai centre was flooded with old, donated clothes which were usable. These clothes were disinfected, washed, and recycled into pads which were then placed in cotton bags to make sanitary napkins called "My Pads". By 2014, 2.5 million pads were distributed at nominal cost of ₹2 (2.4¢ US), [7] to the poor who cannot afford commercial sanitary pads. The campaign subsequently won the World Bank's Global Development Marketplace Award (2009) and Changemaker's Innovation Award (2009), and was LAUNCH Innovation Challenge in 2012, in "Beyond Waste" theme, which is sponsored by NASA, Nike and US Agency for International Development.[1][8]

In 2009, it started the Joy of Giving Week, later renamed Daan Utsav (Donation Festival), an annual week-long donation drive, starting Gandhi Jayanti October 2-8. During the week, people contribute under-underutilized goods and clothes from their homes, offices and schools in urban area to be distributed to rural and poor areas. [2] By 2014, the programed involved over 100,000 students in more than 1,000 schools across India, plus its Design for Change (DfC) contest ran in over 30 countries. The contest requires students to conceptualize and execute "social change solutions" and subsequently share their learnings.[9]

Flood relief

Goonj has worked flood relief, "Flood Overcome Programme on 2013 Uttarakhand floods and presently working on 2014 Kashmir floods, through the project known as "Rahat Floods", collecting relief supplies from people across India. [10][11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Krishna, Geetanjali (September 13, 2014). "An empowering piece of cloth". Business Standard. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  2. ^ a b "NGO asks Delhiites to donate clothes, books to needy". Indian Express. September 30, 2011. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  3. ^ "Anil Gupta Picks India's Seven Most Powerful Entrepreneurs". Forbes. 11 Apr 2010. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  4. ^ a b "Anshu Gupta Honoured as India's Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2012". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  5. ^ "Goonj gets WEF award for social entrepreneurship". Indian Express. 8 Nov 2012. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  6. ^ http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sanjiv-chaturvedi-anshu-gupta-win-ramon-magsaysay-award/article7476975.ece
  7. ^ a b Hansika Subramanian, Dheera Gurnani (April 30, 2014). "NGO makes sanitary pads from waste cloth for rural women in India". Daily News & Analysis. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  8. ^ "Anshu Gupta". LAUNCH. 2012. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  9. ^ "Celebrating the joy of giving". Livemint. 3 Oct 2014. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  10. ^ "Gurgaon chips in for Kashmir flood relief". The Times of India. Sep 11, 2014. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  11. ^ Eram Agha (10 Sep 2014). "Donation drive for J&K victims in Aligarh". The Times of India. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
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