eNGO inside photoThe 5th edition of the eNGO Challenge Awards took place amid varied colours, knowledge exchange and cultural essence that was all witnessed under one crown — Prayag 2017. Winners of the Challenge were declared and acknowledged at a unique space that recreated a village scene where rural women from Bihar could be seen participating in a street play, midgets could be found walking on stilts, and children could be observed enjoying making puppets in a corner. Winning initiatives had shown exemplary efforts in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Afghanistan. The complete list of winners can be seen here.

A cluster of cultures, efforts and dreams; many grassroots NGOs and non-profit organisations had gathered at Prayag to share their collective dream of a better future. The 5th eNGO Challenge Awards brought to light a number of NGOs that are doing trailblazing work in areas of governance, livelihood, education, enablement, environment, culture, heritage, entrepreneurship and digital empowerment. Out of 62 finalists shortlisted from over 300 nominations, 21 non-profits were acknowledged as winners in different categories while four others were felicitated with Special Mentions.

The NGOs, who were felicitated as Winners and Special Mentions, addressed various issues ranging from lives of weavers who have lost their livelihood by growing demand of artificially made clothes; importance of planting trees; human trafficking; lack of education in remote areas of Afghanistan; and empowerment of specially abled individuals; among others. It’s incredible to note that every NGO that won the award isn’t a huge behemoth, but a blade of grass that appeases your soul as you walk down a dark boulevard — they are making the world better by their little efforts.

The eNGO Challenge has always emphasised on bringing such grassroots organisations at the forefront by acknowledging them for their influential work on ground; and the 5th eNGO Challenge was successful in giving a bigger platform to the Finalists and Winners of 2016 to showcase their efforts.