When We Thrive, Our World Thrives

Dream a Dream’s new book When We Thrive, Our World Thrives sheds light on how we can empower young people from vulnerable backgrounds to thrive.


Dream A Dream 2 Dream a Dream
is an Indian non-profit organisation working to transform the experience of education for the over 260 million school-children in India. Its aim is to change the purpose of education towards one that seeks to empower every child to thrive, irrespective of their background.

Since 1999, Dream a Dream has mainstreamed life-skills education as a critical approach to helping children overcome adversity and thrive in today’s ever changing world. It seeks to transform the Indian education ecosystem through its programmes, curriculum and pedagogical innovations and the development of holistic assessment frameworks, while also shifting the narratives around the purpose of education. Dream a Dream’s work is spread across 6 Indian states reaching over 1 million children through strategic partnerships with state governments and other non-profit and funding organisations in India. 

Dream a Dream’s engagement with Emerging World dates back to 2019, as part of the Salesforce Immersive Learning Conference. Through workshops and conversations with Senior Leaders at Salesforce along with the help of Emerging World facilitators, the organization was able to develop a new retail strategy and fundraising campaign. The engagement also enabled them to share the importance of life-skills development among young people in India to a wider audience.

Dream a Dream’s work is spread across 6 Indian states reaching over 1 million children.


When We Thrive Book CoverDream a Dream is excited to share that their new book, When We Thrive, Our World thrives: Stories of Young People Growing Up with Adversity, authored by Connie K. Chung with Vishal Talreja and Dream a Dream Staff and Programme Participants, is now available worldwide.

From Dream a Dream:
“The book
is an invitation to reexamine the way young people coming from vulnerable backgrounds are perceived. The twenty powerful personal stories of young people sheds light on what matters to them as they live through challenging life circumstances with the support of Dream a Dream’s staff and programmes. Integrated with findings from research literature, the book illustrates that young people are not defined by their adversities. It is an attempt to demonstrate the kind of support young people facing adversity need to thrive in a fast changing world.

Here is an excerpt from the book that illustrates the journey of our young people:
‘Research about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) shows that those with higher ACEs scores are more likely to suffer from negative health, social, and economic consequences later in life. Based on the circumstances of his childhood, Prasanna, a graduate of Dream a Dream programme, scores a nine out of 10 for his ACE profile. This means that he faced a number of difficult circumstances while growing up. 

Yet, today, Prasanna is married to his childhood sweetheart, Sukanya, and is the father of a baby girl. Having earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics, he works full-time as a communications staff member at Dream a Dream. He is currently pursuing a second BA degree in law by taking classes part-time. He is financially supporting his brother and his mother. Prasanna has great hopes that his daughter will have a different childhood than his, firmly believing that, “what happened to me in my childhood should not happen to my child.” 

Prasanna’s background of adversity, while part of his history, did not lead to the consequences that research predicted and does not define his present. How is his story possible?’

Prasanna’s childhood story represents the stories of millions of children in India and around the world who face similar adverse circumstances. Yet Prasanna was able to thrive. His story is an example of the impact a nurturing environment and a caring adult — something we strive to provide through Dream a Dream’s programmes — can have on young people coming from backgrounds of adversity.”

Immerse yourself in Prasanna’s story and the stories of 19 other young people in your own copy of the book. When We Thrive, Our World Thrives: Stories of Young People Growing Up With Adversity is now available in all online bookstores.


Order here: Notion Press | Amazon India | Amazon US | Flipkart | Amazon UK


Our partners are organisations with stories of courage, dedication and innovation. They are a focal part of our immersive experiences. The work they do inspires the participants in our programs in life-defining ways and challenges them to think differently about things that deeply affect people to truly drive change. Our work also supports our partners to shift the way they work to have a greater impact.

The Partner Perspectives blog provides a place for our partners to share their stories, talk about the work that they do and the impact this is having in their communities and the world beyond.

 

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