Innovation Fund Project Proposal
Innovation Fund Project Proposal SIF375
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON COMPLETING THE PROJECT PROPOSAL
· The project proposal form must be completed using Arial font size 12.
· The project proposal must be saved in Word format (.doc).
· The total length of the proposal should not exceed 10 pages (excluding annexes). Section 3 of the proposal must not exceed a total of three A4 pages, with a maximum of one page for question 3.6.
· Please do not alter the formatting of the form. Concept notes that exceed the page limits or that have amended formatting will not be considered.
Concept notes which do not conform to the above criteria will not be considered.
SUBMITTING YOUR CONCEPT NOTE
Please send your completed proposal by email to by 30th June 2012. All proposals must be sent by email. We do not accept hard copies.
Proposals received after the deadline will not be considered.
1. Background information1.1. Organisation Name / Score Foundation
1.2. Organisation Address / 17/107 l.g.f, Vikram Vihar, Lajpat Nagar IV, New Delhi, India 110024
1.3. Type of Organisation Which of the following best describes your organisation?
(Select a maximum of two categories) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO)
Blind Peoples’ Organisation (BPO)
Disabled Peoples’ Organisation (DPO)
Organisation working with Disabled People
Academic Institution
Ethnic Minority Group or Organisation
Other... [please specify]
1.4. Main contact person / Name: Mr George Abraham CEO
Email:
Phone: +91 11 26472581
Website: www.eyeway.org
1.5. Country(ies)/ area(s) & districts of planned project / India
1.6. Project name / Using Mass Communication to scale-up project ‘Eyeway’ and reach out to every blind person in India with information that will change their lives
1.7. Authors of Proposal / Mr George Abraham, Mr Drew Ritchie & Ms Katie Turner
2. Core Innovation Project Information /
2.1. Implementation Challenge the project addresses
(Please tick the relevant box) / Eye Health Challenges
Challenge No. 1
Challenge No. 2
Challenge No. 3
Challenge No. 4
Inclusive Education Challenges
Challenge No. 1
Challenge No. 2
Challenge No. 3
Challenge No. 4
Social Inclusion Challenges
Challenge No. 1
Challenge No. 2
Challenge No. 3
Challenge No. 4
2.3.Background information and project rationale / Score Foundation is a knowledge and resource centre for the blind and visually impaired. Our activities are driven by the belief that the visually impaired in India face two major barriers; ignorance and attitudes. Individual ignorance about life’s possibilities and a negative attitude of society towards disability. As a consequence countless people are forced to live a life marginalised from mainstream society unable to demonstrate their abilities and maximise their potential.
By gathering and disseminating knowledge on all aspects of life with blindness we strive to reach out to every blind person in India with information that will change their lives, motivating them to aspire and achieve and re-shaping society’s attitudes by sharing these achievements and highlighting and combating prejudice and discrimination.
‘Eyeway’ is Score Foundation’s portal which gathers and disseminates this information. A radio show, three multi-lingual helpdesks, an SMS alert service and a website reaches out and connects people with knowledge and information which they otherwise could not access but which is fundamental to their ability to live the kind of life which they have reason to value.
This project will now seek to dramatically expand the reach and impact of Eyeway. By producing and airing a nationally broadcast television series we will educate and inspire millions of people about life with blindness; at the same time positioning the Eyeway philosophy firmly into the consciousness of policy makers and society and facilitating wide-scale attitudinal change.
Moreover, the television series will act as an accelerating force in the expansion of Eyeway’s current activities. Having recently worked with local partners to expand the helpdesk function to Orissa and West Bengal, the ambition is to now utilise the awareness generated by the series to reach out to organisations across every state in India with the same proposal.
The effect will be a seismic shift in the volume of people who are aware of Eyeway, who use its services and who are educated about the aspirational model of life with blindness. Furthermore, the building blocks will be put in place for the achievement of a truly pan-India knowledge access structure allowing all visually impaired people easy access to information in the language of their choice through something as simple as a local telephone call.
Co-production of the series with Sightsavers will also be explicitly stated, thus providing excellent brand exposure.
2.4 Project Duration (please note this can be for a maximum of 18 months) / 15 months
2.5. Organisations targeted for replication, and strategy to achieve scale / This project will set the pathway for a significant expansion of the scale and impact of Eyeway. The television show will provide the thrust for this expansion by 1) ‘Nationalising’ the Eyeway brand; and by 2) selling the Eyeway model to organisations throughout India.
Through raising awareness of Eyeway amongst potential partners and inspiring within them a desire and the confidence to form partnerships through establishing a helpdesk, a wide network of organisations will be formed which will provide the capacity for Eyeway to connect with the visually impaired across the 29 states and 7 union territories of India specific to their language and their culture.
The television show will therefore act as a vehicle for bringing in partners who believe in the power of knowledge to change lives and are willing to provide part investment in delivering this knowledge to the people of their regions.
2.6. Other organisations working on related issues in the project area / Eyeway is aware of a wide network of organisations working with the blind in India and acts as a hub which informs its clients about the support available from these organisations in their local area. By expanding the number and reach of partners, this project will facilitate the expansion of this knowledge network.
Furthermore, as more organisations invest in the Eyeway model through establishing helpdesks, opportunities will emerge for this expanded Eyeway network to work together through joint campaigning activities and the sharing of knowledge and best practice. Through the establishment of a helpdesk management system integrated within the existing online Score Foundation intranet, this will also allow Score Foundation to harness information gathered from all over urban and rural India therefore better directing its content generation and other activities
2.7. What is the total cost of the project? (In GBP sterling) / £75,287 (Score Foundation cover £287 shortfall)
2.8. Total funding to be requested from Sightsavers for this project
(In GBP sterling - Maximum: £75,000) / £75,000
Innovation Fund Project Proposal
2.9 Summary of proposed Goal, Purpose, Expected Outcomes, Outputs and activities /It is important to give the reviewers a clear idea of what the project’s Goal and Purpose (what it aims to achieve) might be, and the desired outcomes (which will later be translated into specific objectives), outputs, and some illustrative examples of activities that will be implemented in the first year. It is not necessary to develop a full logical framework at this stage. What is important is for you to demonstrate and articulate a clear overview of your “theory of change” i.e. ‘HOW’ the project will effect the change it seeks to achieve and respond to the problems identified.
Goal(What is the overall, higher-level objective to which the project/programme will contribute?) / The full inclusion and valued contribution of the visually impaired in every aspect of societal life
Purpose (Overall Objective)
(What is the positive developmental change that the project will produce if successful?) / Expected outcomes (5 max)
(What are the expected short and medium term effects of the interventions outputs?) / Expected outputs
(What are the deliverables achieved as a result of implementing project activities?) / Main activities
(Examples of top line activities) /
The visually impaired, their families and wider society will be educated and inspired about the possibilities of life with blindness leading to individual achievement and success and collective understanding and inclusion / Societal barriers to inclusion are diminished / The general public will better understand the challenges faced by disabled people / Case studies and debate (television show)
Adaptations are made to living and working environments / Examples of technologies and accessibility solutions (television show)
Prejudice and discrimination will be overcome / Examples of achievement and success (television show)
Every blind person in India has access to information that will change their lives / Helpdesks established in all states and languages of India / identify and approach partners who are inspired to start helpdesks
Dramatic increase in the number of people calling the helpdesk, listening to the radio show, subscribing to the SMS alert and using the website / Program of client acquisition and referral across Eyeway’s channels through television generated awareness
Quality and relevance of the information shared by Eyeway increased / Helpdesk Management system established which is able to capture, evaluate and report on client needs and priorities
Issues of blindness and disability will become bigger priorities for media and Government / Eyeway will be considered as a key player working at the national level / National broadcast of the television show propelling Eyeway into the national consciousness
Leverage with media and Government will increase / External engagement strategy (Government, Media) implemented to take advantage of exposure
More people will be empowered to challenge unfairness and discrimination / Television show highlights discrimination and how to overcome it
Capacity of civil society across India to react to issues of visual impairment and disability increased / Eyeway network breeds shared forum for collective action and campaigning / Pan-India helpdesks allow all organisations to identify shared priorities
Connections between organisations facilitate better collaborative working and sharing of best practice / Eyeway network shares knowledge and learnings through intranet and yearly conference
Television series and Eyeway model proved as cost effective and high impact intervention / Evidence demonstrating impact of television series and Eyeway expansion activities / Audience Surveys
Monitoring of channel traffic
Innovation Fund Project Proposal
3. Detailed Innovation Project Information /3.1. Why is this project needed at this time in this location?
India holds one of the largest absolute and relative populations of blind and visually impaired people in the world. Given the scale of the challenge, the reach of the Government and the NGO sector in addressing the issues faced is vastly insufficient. The Eyeway Helpdesk is regularly contacted by individuals who are ignorant of even their basic rights and who often subscribe themselves to society’s characterisation of them as worthless and inferior. This project is necessary to break the barrier of ignorance both within visually impaired people themselves and throughout wider society. The sharing of information will provide those who need it with impetus and direction to take action to improve their lives. Through utilising technology, engaging in education, and finding employment, the process of integration of the visually impaired into mainstream society will be greatly enhanced. A virtuous circle will then emerge whereby greater integration and achievement leads to an improved environment and less discrimination which naturally leads to fuller inclusion.
3.2. What specific change is this initiative intended to achieve?
Television show: In itself the television show will bring wide-scale benefit. Sharing knowledge and providing inspiration will not only impact the blind and visually impaired, it will generate within the wider public as well as family and friends a deeper understanding of disability and the power to make changes in their life or work which ensure that disabled people are valued and included. The television show provides this opportunity by reaching out to an audience otherwise inaccessible through the existing Eyeway channels.
Eyeway: The acceleration of the expansion of Eyeway generated through the television show will have even greater impact. The Eyeway help desk currently receives 60-70 calls per week and a total of 6000 since its inception. Of these 93% have been researched, answered and closed while many have been taken forward as issues for the engagement of our advocacy cell. The current radio show reaches across 30 cities in India, the SMS alert goes out to approximately 3000 and the website receives approximately 10,000 hits per month. Through these channels Eyeway counsels and shares information to clients (including organisations and parents) about technologies, education and employment options, support services, Government schemes and concessions, rights and entitlements, sports, personality development and much more.
A massive surge in awareness generated by the television show combined with the expansion of the Eyeway helpdesk model throughout India will therefore have a dramatic impact on the number of people who are aware of Eyeway and who benefit from its services. Every one of these many people will then have a platform not only where they can be fed expert information relevant to them but where they can re-engage with that platform on their terms at the cost of a local telephone call. Score Foundation has countless inspirational examples of the impact that Eyeway has had on people’s lives. Taking this service to the masses would have a truly revolutionary effect. It is estimated that this project will directly result in the acquisition of 200,000 new clients across Eyeway’s different channels.
This project assumes that, if provided with the resources and opportunity, every blind and visually impaired people has the potential to grow and achieve.
3.3. What is the methodology and approach to be used by the project to achieve the changes described?
This project will to scale-up the impact of Eyeway in the short, medium and long term through the following activities:
Short-term: The production and airing of a television show anchored by a visually impaired person and focusing on five components: Case studies; Solutions; Helpdesk; Children and future; and Debate; will reach the widest possible audience informing them about Eyeway’s activities and influencing them with its messaging and high quality knowledge outputs emerging from the research and design process.
Medium-term: In the medium term this exposure will be harnessed through 1) a continued strategy of acquisition and referral within and across Eyeway’s channels leading to a more sustained and focussed engagement with the visually impaired and their networks; and 2) through an external engagement strategy which uses the interest and momentum generated by the show for more focused and targeted engagement of the media, the general public and policy makers on issues of disability.