Games and sports play a very important role in a child’s physical and psychological development. Through these activities, a spirit of competition and sportsmanship is cultivated which pushes children to challenge themselves and surpass their limitations.

To prepare children from the economically disadvantaged strata of society and with an aim to weave them into the mainstream, Concern India Foundation initiated an Inter NGO Sports Meet, organized by Secure Giving, in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai.

We believe a strong sports culture contributes greatly to the all-round development of a child. We extend support to many grass-root programmes in the area of education and realized the need for a sporting event that would bring the various beneficiaries of these NGO’s together within a playful competition environment.

The Inter NGO Sports Meet is a sports day that includes various races, throws, jumps and other athletic events for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Besides offering an enjoyable day out experience, the sports day also provides an opportunity for the children from various NGOs to intermingle with each other and share their learnings.

An additional function of this event is to expose the children to the career options available to them in sports. In Mumbai and Delhi the meet is conducted by The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and in Bangalore by the Karnataka Athletics Association.

Every year Concern India Foundation hosts the annual ‘Ongoing Mela’ as part of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. This 9 day festival is the largest non financial support that we provide to grass root NGO’s. The aim of the mela is to make the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival platform available to NGO’s so they can exhibit and sell products made as part of their rehabilitation programmes and gain exposure. Most of the products sold are made by the beneficiaries themselves, some of whom are mentally and physically challenged people, children and the aged.

The Ongoing Mela provides this opportunity to as many as 70 grass root NGO’s from across the country. For some it contributes greatly to their livelihood and for many it serves a platform to becoming self reliant and leading a life of dignity. It goes a long way in making these NGO’s independent, instilling confidence in their abilities and most importantly it gives them hope for a better tomorrow.

While they concentrate on sales it is also a great opportunity for them to network and learn from other NGOs as well as see how commercial vendors work. They can learn valuable lessons on craft and management of resources from one another, implementing new modules for better performance.