Project CHAKRA given prestigious award by professionals in international education

UK-based business, ProjectCHAKRA, has been awarded the Progressive Education Delivery Award at the prestigious PIEoneer Awards, which are the only global awards that celebrate innovation and achievement across the whole of the international education industry. The high profile event was attended by over 600 education professionals who flew in from over 20 countries, including, USA, Canada, Australia, Israel, Japan and New Zealand.
The Progressive Education Delivery award recognises education programmes that have innovated how they teach and who they reach, that are unique, successful in their approach to teaching, and focused on the student’s life journey in the 21st century. Anand Mistry, Co-founder of ProjectCHAKRA said, “We are very grateful for this recognition and we hope that it will lead to further engagement with Universities and Students who are driven, want to broaden their horizons and make a positive impact through their future careers.”
ProjectCHAKRA inspires action in young people for social impact through experiential education experiences that will broaden their aspirations and personal growth opportunities, as well as provide the structured pathways and mentorship to support their journey.
Co-founder Anand Mistry participated in Connect India’s service-based leadership programme in India. Inspired by this he started his own social enterprise at university and went back to India in summer 2018 to serve with Manav Sadhna, an NGO based at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad.
His Co-founder Dharmesh Mistry has been involved with Indian community organisations in the UK for many years including serving as President of National Hindu Students Forum UK. Dharmesh co-founded Connect India, which supported young British Indians through service-based leadership programmes in India.
Their flagship programme ‘A Social Entrepreneurship Experience’, run at institutions including Imperial College Business School uses simulation role-play and gamification to engage students in a dynamic way and is based on a real UNDP partner social enterprise in India that works on waste management and women’s empowerment and is addressing 14/17 UN SDGs. 9.3/10 is ProjectCHAKRA’s average rating from their post-workshop survey, with 67% giving 10/10.
Students play the role of real people and simulate India’s urban waste management system, which makes them feel real emotions, build empathy with the stakeholders involved and gives them a deep understanding of the on-ground realities. Then, through more game-based activities, students build their own social enterprise model to solve the problem and then innovate further on real challenges the social enterprise is facing.
Participation in this experience then opens up pathways to work with ProjectCHAKRA’s network of social impact organisations, particularly in India.
The PIE is the premier news and business analysis platform for Professionals in International Education. In addition to their online platform, they organise their annual awards and serve as a recruitment platform for roles in International Education.
The Deloitte Millennial Survey (2019) suggests 47% of Gen Z want to make a positive impact on the world through their careers. However, these pathway opportunities are scarce and the perception of social impact careers are ‘risky’ and ‘not serious’. Meanwhile, social impact organisations need skilled workers to progress their work and to make a greater impact. ProjectCHAKRA’s approach to bridging this gap is what makes them so progressive and innovative.
In a world dominated by digital, it’s the personal, intimate and hands-on nature of their education experiences, which make it so unique and impactful. A University of Bristol student said, “This was a really touching experience, realistic to take into the real world and has made me consider other avenues for my future career”.