National Foundation for India was set up in 1992 by a group of eminent Indians under the leadership of Bharat Ratna late C. Subramanian, late Dr Kamla Chowdhry and Dr. M. S. Swaminathan. NFI was conceived as an autonomous, professionally managed fund raising and grant-making organisation. The Ford Foundation provided pioneering support to set up NFI as an independent Indian Foundation to promote civil society action and public deliberation for social change.
Mission: NFI’s mission is to help create a just and equitable society, by enabling marginalised communities to improve the quality of their own lives, by improving public understanding of social issues and promoting social justice.
Core functions: NFI makes grants to support voluntary organizations working in poverty endemic and difficult parts of the country. We work to build capacities of individuals, communities and civil society to improve the quality of their lives and enhance their ability to negotiate from a position of strength.
Thematic areas: NFI has seven thematic areas. Each thematic area is intrinsically linked to NFI’s mission. It has a well-established context and concrete objectives. It also has a practical strategy that builds on past experience, and responds to new opportunities for the future.
Community health - is an approach that sees the community as an important ingredient of effective public health practice. It seeks to influence attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and health promoting behaviour, particularly amongst the underprivileged. This approach takes into account cultural norms and belief systems; local networks, support systems and institutions; and socio-economic as well as environmental factors. The objectives of community health programme are:
Elementary education – The National Foundation for India runs these programs to make a difference in the lives of those children who live in areas that are poorly served by state schools and who face social and political marginalization. Our efforts at facilitating good education target victims of social injustice, in particular non-ingdegenous and indigenous tribes and religious minorities.
Local governance – NFI’s work in the area of governance has highlighted the need and facilitated strategic interventions for participatory and inclusive local governance to ensure effective democracy in India. This thematic area believes that bringing systems and institutions closer to people will not only make it more responsive but also result in policies and outputs, which will be, based on the needs of ordinary citizens especially the poor and the marginalized.
Peace and justice – Peace, for NFI, is to negotiate for and create spaces where particularly deprived and alienated communities, whether indigenous or non-indigenous, could find themselves enjoying better social infrastructure and governance hence, a send of justice preceding peace. For this, NFI would want to facilitiate opportunities for these communities to form strong, informal networks or, formal democratic associations with the same communities who had ‘othered’ them.
Citizens and society – The programme seeks to support both citizens and society in the civic spheres to help recognize as agents of social change. NFI believes that strategic and sustainable collaborations between the state, corporate and voluntary sectors has potential to bring about substantive social transformation. The focus of the programme is on youth, community leaders/workers, corporate houses and other stakeholders.
Development journalism – NFI is committed to disseminating information on grassroots initiatives and achievements by using the media effectively. We feel that information, when disseminated through the relevant media, can accelerate the process of polictical, social and economic development. Towards this end, the Foundation’s Development Journalism programme seeks to use the media in creative ways to promote the concerns of the marginalized.
