New Delhi, January 29, 2024: o9 Solutions, an enterprise AI software platform provider for transforming planning and decision-making, has selected Make a Difference (MAD), a nonprofit organization in India, as the recipient of its first o9 Digital Tomorrow Grant. This grant will support MAD's project, “Empowering India's Children: Tech-Enabled Progression Mentoring”.
The ‘o9 Digital Tomorrow Grant’ provides $250,000 to support initiatives that help advance digital literacy and promote technology inclusion for underserved communities. The grant’s intended purpose is to:
- Help communities improve digital literacy;
- Enhance and broaden access to technology devices;
- Empower marginalized groups’ use of technology;
- Promote responsible digital citizenship;
- Foster innovation, and;
- Strengthen community engagement.
MAD's project was selected due to its focus on leveraging technology to provide mentorship opportunities for children in underserved communities through the Progression Mentoring program. The collaboration between o9 Solutions and MAD exemplifies a shared commitment to fostering technological inclusion and creating lasting positive impacts on communities. Both organizations aim to contribute to a more inclusive and connected future by supporting similar projects.
"Almost half of the world's 1.1 billion underprivileged people are children under the age of 18, according to UNDP's 2023 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Report. MPI defines six years of schooling, but we know that's only about halfway to the Empowerment Line, which is what MAD aspires to so that the cycle of intergenerational poverty can be broken within one generation instead of the seven generations it currently takes in countries like India," said Jithin Thadani, Co-Founder and CEO, Make A Difference.
"Tech-based tools that will enable us to deliver all our educational and support interventions and monitor their outcomes for our beneficiaries from 10 years all the way up to 28 years of age are crucial for poverty to be solved at scale. Tech enablement is also key to our mission of ending poverty in our lifetime by empowering the sector. So, receiving this grant from o9 is doubly meaningful -- apart from the funding, we've found a global knowledge partner that is unwavering in its support in helping us build the ecosystem-enabling tools we've set out to build," he added.
"Choosing a recipient was a challenging task due to the outstanding applications we received. Make a Difference (MAD) stood out for the organization’s dedication and novel approach, and we believe that its endeavor will contribute significantly to advancing digital literacy in underserved communities," said Igor Rikalo, President and COO, o9 Solutions. "MAD’s Tech-Enabled Progression Mentorship program is a testament to its commitment to empowering the next generation, and we are confident that this collaboration will drive positive change in the lives of vulnerable children in India."
