MONA FOUNDATION
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Mission Statement
We support grassroots organizations around the world that educate children, empower women and girls, and emphasize ethics and service to the community. These include initiatives in economically disadvantaged areas that focus on quality of learning and teaching, fine arts, and character development to train capable, ethical, and altruistic leaders who contribute to the betterment of their families, communities, and ultimately their nation.
About This Cause
Mona Foundation has been working in global development since 1999. To address the root causes of poverty, we bring together a global community of changemakers -- individuals, nonprofits, foundations and businesses -- and partner with proven grassroots organizations around the world that provide education to all children, empower women and girls, and emphasize ethics and service to catalyze systems change and enable sustained individual and community transformation. In 2022 our 26 partner organizations enabled the education and empowerment of 1,662,548 students (both in-person and online) in 15 countries including US, Haiti, Panama, Guatemala, Columbia, Brazil, India, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Gambia, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone. Mona Foundation currently sits on the Brookings Institution Center for Universal Education Leadership Council and is an approved UN Non-governmental Organization (NGO). Notable recognitions include 2021 Catalyst2030 Award finalist as an “Accelerator of Systems Change,” Microsoft Alumni Foundation Integral Fellow, Gratitude Network Fellow, Jefferson Award of American Institute for Public Service, and the Drucker Institute for non-profit innovation. What Differentiates Mona – Our Value Proposition: Our approach is unique, effective, efficient, and transformative. Rooted in the values of oneness, universal participation, and service, Mona invests long term in proven locally led grassroots organizations that provide transformative education to millions of vulnerable children across the globe so that each can realize their full potential and uplift themselves, their families and their communities for the better. 1. We invest in the education of the whole child to help develop the full range of their capabilities, academically, artistically, technically, socially and morally. a. We believe the purpose of education is to help develop ethical global citizens and peace makers empowered with knowledge, qualities and skills needed to transform themselves, their families, their communities and ultimately their nation for the better. b. For education to be transformative, the education itself must be transformed to integrate lessons of equality, ethics, and service alongside academics and the arts 2. We select and partner with proven grassroots organizations and support their capacity building to lead their own development. a. We are deeply committed to the reality of the oneness of humanity and therefore believe that individuals and communities, regardless of the degree of their material prosperity, have the capacity, the right, and the responsibility to fully participate in social and economic development of their communities. b. We act on the understanding that local people are in the best position to identify, analyze, and address the needs of their communities in light of local realities, aspirations, and initiatives. c. We partner with proven grassroots organizations to build local capacity to assess and address their own critical needs and sustain positive change at the level of the individual, the organization and the community. 3. We provide long-term support to enable and sustain positive change YOY. a. Social and economic development is a process and not an event that can be achieved within a short timeline. For this reason, long term and deep partnerships with grassroots organizations are critical to achieving transformative change. b. Long-term support allows partners to build up their programs and to grow and scale organically. c. Our average number of years of funding a partner is seven years. 4. We build trust and collaborate as equal partners to implement innovative programs. a. Our approach with partners is rooted in the values of reciprocity, interconnectedness, respect, and trust. b. The power dynamics in this relationship are neither top-down nor shared, rather, the dynamics of a shared vision released, encouraged, and channeled through partnership. 5. We promote ethics to enable positive and sustainable change. a. We focus on service as a way of life, fostering coherence between the material and the spiritual, to realize the full potential of a source as source of social good, and to realize scale and reach. 6. We focus on service as an essential component of education to help develop global citizens empowered with knowledge, qualities and skills needed to transform themselves, their families, their communities and their nations for the better. 7. We are committed to lifelong learning. We maintain a humble posture of learning, and engage with our donors and partners in an ongoing process of consultation, action, and reflection to improve our impact year over year. 8. Our impact is transformative. Our 24 years of field experience has proven that this approach catalyzes systems change to enable sustained change and scale at the local level. Our Local grassroots partner organizations are addressing root causes of social and economic disparities, for example, the right and access to education for all, and gender equality. Over time, they have built capacity are collaborating with civil society and their governments to scale their proven programs through existing institutions and catalyze system change. Examples include: a. Badi School in Panama – Mona partner since 2003. Founded in 1993 as a kindergarten in the carport of a trailer home it has since grown into one of the finest K-12 schools in Panama, serving over 400 students. Badi integrates rigorous Academics, Arts, and Technology programs with an inclusive Virtues program to develop the full capabilities of each student. Its students are among Panama's best and brightest with most graduates receiving full scholarships to the finest universities. Teenage pregnancy, a major issue in the country, is nonexistent at Badi. In 2022, Badi's experience influenced the Ministry of Education to evolve Panama's standard course on Religion to a more inclusive Moral Education. Through their ongoing collaboration, Badi's Virtues curriculum is now offered throughout Panama, reaching 950,000 K-12 students in 3,400 schools. b. Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) Lucknow, India – Mona partner since 2008. SHEF has just begun implementing a 3 year Memorandum of Understanding with the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government to train over 2,000 teachers in 746 public residential schools for disadvantaged girls to educate and empower more than 100,000 girls. SHEF is also negotiating with the UP Ministry of Education to implement the Arohini Girls Empowerment program as “Gender Curriculum” in all 250,000 government schools in UP, changing the lives of millions of others.