KARACHI: The Engro Foundation has announced the two recipients of its flagship initiative, called “I Am The Change (IATC) Impact Awards 2021, which it instituted to recognise organisations’ efforts to support the fight against Covid-19 across Pakistan.
The IATC Impact Awards 2021 attracted more than 70 applications in two categories, of social enterprises and social development organisations.
After an extensive review of the applications by a jury and the IATC team at Engro Foundation, WonderTree (in social enterprise category) and Charity Right Pakistan (social development category) were selected as the recipients of the awards. Each of them will be given a cash prize of Rs 2 million in recognition of their efforts.
The Charity Right Pakistan believes in a fair and equal world by overcoming hunger in hard-to-reach areas. Amidst Covid-19, the organisation distributed rations packs to around 13,000 families and launched ‘Right Choice’ stores to offer discounts on staples, along with ‘Right Pay Card’ to enable the beneficiaries to receive necessities from the stores.
WonderTree, the second recipient, was recognised for using augmented reality to promote physiotherapy and educational exercises among children with special needs. The team has helped more than 16,000 children with disabilities by providing physiotherapy and interactive sessions.
WonderTree went on to adapt their programs to enable them to be used at home so that children with disabilities could continue their physiotherapy and educational regime, even during Covid lockdowns.
Runners up of the IATC Impact Awards 2021 include the Orange Tree Foundation, Karachi Down Syndrome Programme, Science Fuse, and Umang Pakistan.
Ghias Khan, the president and CEO of Engro Corporation and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Engro Foundation, said a wide variety of organisations shared their inspiring work, in the areas ranging from education to mental health, food distribution and caring for persons with disabilities.
“It is heartening to learn how each one of us embraced our individual responsibilities and stepped up our efforts to help Pakistan in its current recovery,” he added.
Favad Soomro, the head of Engro Foundation, said that all the award applicants, especially the recipients, went above and beyond their call of duty at this time of crisis. “We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude and respect to everyone who has helped Pakistan fight against Covid-19,” he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022