Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 9
Nagaland’s Eleutheros Christian Society (ECS) has been awarded the HCL Grant in the thematic category for health in recognition for making meaningful and lasting positive impact in the lives of the marginalized.
ECS beat competition from 3600 other NGOs – including the likes of Hyderabad Eye Institute and Centre For Environment Education Society – to claim the HCL Grant in the thematic category of health.
Founder of the Eleutheros Christian Society (ECS), Rev. Chingmak Chang received the award from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the felicitation ceremony in Noida, Uttar Pradesh on Friday.
Started in 1993 by Rev. Chingmak and his wife Phutoli, ECS initially worked with drug addicts and HIV/AIDS patients before widening its horizon to include community healthcare and social welfare.
As such, ECS has also been supporting communities in the far flung villages in the state to get proper healthcare and through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, the society has developed 8 public health centres in three districts. ECS is also largely credited with significantly bringing down the HIV/AIDS prevalence in the Eastern Nagaland area.
When contacted by The Morung Express after the award ceremony, Rev. Chingmak expressed happiness with the recognition. "Lots of mixed feelings as the finalists were really good at their work and yet I am glad the jury found relevance in what we are doing," he said when asked for his reaction.
The HCL Grant is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment by HCL and is a step towards recognition of the Fifth Estate – the NGOs. It is meant to support such NGOs that reach out to marginalized, poverty-struck, isolated and underdeveloped rural communities, and achieve sustainable socio-economic development.
The unique aspect of the HCL Grant is that the organizations are recognized not only based on the “idea”, but also for their power to transform ideas into implementable projects and thereby, transform Indian villages in a sustainable way.
The Grant will award a maximum of up to Rs. 5 crores for a five year project in each Thematic Category – the other two categories being education and environment.
Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind (Sightsavers) beat competition from North East Network and Foundation For Education & Development to claim the award in the Education category.
In the thematic category of environment, Keystone Foundation was awarded the Grant edging Development Research Communication and Services Centre and SECMOL (Student's Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh) – HIAL.
