I The background:

Before starting the story and background of U&I, it has to be said that everything in
this NGO was built around Education and Caring. At U&I, it is believed that Education is the
best way to rehabilitate children and make them live better. Education completed by caring.
It is their DNA and this is where it all started.

So, the story began in 2010 in Bangalore with small efforts from the part of the two
founders, Satish Manchikanti and Ajit Sivaram along with a group of friends. Satish and Ajit
run a successful HR company and had to do more for others. They started giving Computer
and English lessons for children from a nearby slum next to the office of Satish’s HR company.
Also, in the same time, they started visiting children at the Institute for Mentally
Handicapped Children on a regular basis: every Sunday. This institute is the State home
welcoming around 90 boys who have been abandoned by their families. A part of them are
severely challenged children needing everyday medical assistance as well as day-to-day
carers. There, several activities are proposed to them: they learn thanks volunteers basics
knowledge as months, colors, alphabets etc. Other volunteers engage to play with them and
bring them physical and fun activities. This is what founders were giving to children. For
instance, they organized the boys’ birthdays during a big event called “Big Birthday Bash”. This
was already gathering 100 volunteers. Most of the volunteers are college students giving time
to the organization. Even at the beginning, the two founders were able to motivate and gather
people. This event was the first of U&I premises.

Then, arrives January 2011. On 31st, U&I registers to be acknowledged as a charity

and starts making education and teaching its only fight for the moment. They focused first on
doing very well at teaching of Computer to have a stable organization. In order to start
relatively big and have sustainable situation, they partnered with other NGOs to set Learning
Centers. At the beginning, there were four of them in Bangalore. In the meantime, at the
Institute for Children Mentally Handicapped, founders realized that caring was principally a
need for human contact and presence. Nevertheless, this was not enough and they hired five
nurses to take care of hygiene in the Home of handicapped children. This was the milestone
where it appeared clear that being present and caring for those children who were suffering
would pass not only by Education but also by a lot of other complementary things.

Hence, the background of U&I has been built over a group of friend caring for
abandoned children with special needs and for slum’s children needing Education. Thus,
rapidly, the NGO oriented its actions towards 2 main values: teaching and caring. As they
realized, teaching without caring is worthless and caring without teaching is not enough.

II The journey

From there, the journey continued and saw the organization growing quickly. First
milestone was in 2012 with the first summer camps organized by U&I for all of its Learning
Centers. This can be called as a milestone because it was the first time the organization came
out Bangalore. It partnered with a Center in Chennai to open the summer camp there. The
teaching part of U&I was expanding. These camps are aimed to help kids learn English, arts,
crafts, music and various other skills in a fun, creative atmosphere. Those already started in
2011 with nine different camps. Also, new initiatives were taken with medical camps installed
by U&I regularly within the home for handicapped boys. This medical assistance combined
with the daily care from the nurses reduced the number of diseases among the boys and
especially skin disease.

2013 is the year of diversification. U&I is becoming a stable NGO with means to help
the needy and the poor. On the teaching part, U&I continually expands with six Learning
Centers and 200 children enrolled. On the other hand, U&I has a huge impact by working with
the Yashodharma Dasappa Center providing self-help and vocational activities for women.
This center is a government-run shelter for women rescued from abuse and trafficking. The
goal is to propose them to gain in skills in order to rehabilitate in society. For instance,
programs can include jewelry making, basket weaving or painting. It is not only the Institute
for mentally handicapped boys that is taken care of but also a whole new and great adventure:
helping women getting their place in society and enabling to work. Nevertheless. The IMHC is
not abandoned as physiotherapists are hired for the house. This is the first year where U&I
covers other activities than its main ones. Its actions are going further to reach more and more
people.

In 2014, U&I learning number of children is growing passing to 302 children in the
Learning Centers. The number of Learning centers rises to nine. They all finish the Academic
Year. Always in the same will of getting sustainable and excellent results, U&I partners with
the first teaching company of America to provide teaching nor to its enrolled children but to
the volunteers. The Flippen Group now trains U&I volunteers on how to teach the children.
U&I is getting more professional to serve the children the best it can. The work for women
continues: more than partnering with Yashodharma Dasappa Center, our NGO starts
counseling women. Counseling here means valuation and help for the behavioral and
psychological issues coming from the traumatism she has lived. It aims making them being
more confident as well as increasing their self-esteem. Men are not left aside as U&I starts
working with Social Services Complex for Men. In the same manner as before, 90 men in the
house are provided vocational training activities to find their path to hold a significant place
in society. Every week, some assessments are made: volunteers meet men in the house to
ensure of their progress. The core of U&I ideology can be find in those meetings as they are
also about passing time with men of the house: having a walk, playing games, conduct
celebrations or else.

As the founders said, the impact is so huge that they needed to go across India.
Bangalore stayed the main city to receive volunteers but Learning Centers and summer camps
opened in six cities in total at that point. Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Mysore, Mumbai
and Manipal are the cities where U&I is present in 2015. Besides, 2015 is the year of tighter
relationships with the government: a Public Private Partnership is signed. Under this
agreement, U&I continued with more means its actions towards the boy from the Institute for
Mentally Handicapped Children. Additionally to nurses, medical camps and physiotherapist
are hired special needs teachers and speech therapists who are in charge of identifying the
potential in each child and enhance it during the classes.

2016 a seventh city is added to the scope of our NGO presented here. Here are the 800
children enrolled and the 1000 volunteers milestone reached. Learning Centers also rose to
the number of 20. 2016 stay in the same type of actions but going further with more special
needs teachers hired and new institute training the teachers: NIMHANS.

In 2017, the number of Learning Centers comes to 35. At Learning Centers, classes taught are
more and more diversified: English, Mathematics, Social Sciences and others. Educational trips
are organized, library programs are implemented, extra-curricular activities are various… 2017
and 2018 diversifies more what the organization is implementing and we will study it further
in the report.

III About the founders:

Before launching U&I, Satish and Ajit had launched a successful HR company called
Changeplus. Changeplus is a training initiative of Synthesys which is a richly experienced,
socially driven management consulting firm. Growth for the firm was really tremendous.
Changeplus trains managers to have a better and positive impact in their organization. Thus,
it provides services to a large panel of clients from Bangalore. As clients, they have General
Electrics, Toyota, intel, Taj, Volvo and others.

Satish Manchikanti has more than fifteen years of experienced in corporate training.
Visionary and creative, he is a certified coach and has talked in various Tedx.
Satish is married and has one boy.

Ajit Sivaram was born in the 70s. He studied Science at St Stephens and Don Bosco and from
its youthhood started to work for others. First, when still studying, he was a youth worker at
All peoples Church & World Outreach. As such, he spent more than 15 years in social
movements, companies and organizations. He is married and has two little girls.
They launched U&I together having the same interests for social entrepreneurship and the
same vision of empowerment.