Page 2 - Report-2020

Kalike (Karnataka) and Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell (Gujarat), Centre for
2020 microFinance (Rajasthan), Integrated Rural Upliftment Program Gadchiroli
(Maharashtra), we supported our field teams and volunteers to conduct communi-
ty library sessions, taking books to children when they could no longer come to

the school libraries. We took the Hindi Library Educator’s Course (LEC) online.
Despite the challenges of the medium, we managed to instil a love for libraries
and books in our participants and this was seen through their field projects.

We completed five years of giving out the Big Little Book Award (BLBA), that
recognises significant contribution to Indian authors and illustrators in the
children’s literature sector. e award ceremony, outreach events and a 5-year
celebration exhibition has been put out for all to enjoy on the Parag website and

through our social media. rough our publishing partners we added a rich
The Dear Friends of Parag, collection of children’s books in multiple Indian languages. Last but not the least,

YEAR we gave out Parag Honour List (PHL) 2020 Book Boxes to 90 deserving libraries,

to enrich their library collection and help increase the outreach of PHL books.
that 2020 has been particularly tough for all, more so for non-profit organisations and
civil society working on the ground. Just when we were picking up the pieces and
was hobbling back to a sense of normalcy we have been hit with a more aggressive
second wave of the Covid pandemic. With more people, especially the young,
falling sick again and schools shutting for the second time, uncertainty looms

large. As part of the Parag Initiative of Tata Trusts, we are committed to reaching
children and teachers with stories of hope. As we battle the second wave, we have
reflected and documented how we did this past year, what motivated us to

continue working despite challenges and celebrate the small victories. is will
inspire us to continue and give us hope that things will improve, and no matter
what the challenge on the ground, we will remain true to our vision of enabling While doing all this we kept each other motivated, connected with field teams
joy of reading for all children. regularly, exchanged stories and troubles and managed to do some quality work.
We hope these stories inspire you and through this you become part of Parag’s

We have put together stories of small achievements that were made possible journey.
through team work and saw us through last year. In Rajasthan, along with our
team from the Centre for microFinance (CmF), Jaipur, we set up 34 model libraries Happy Reading

across each of the districts for the state government. In the aspirational district of Parag Team
Gadchiroli, we battled many odds to set up 50 school libraries and ready a vibrant
space for children to return to. Across our Associate Organisations: Eastern UP
Direct Implementation Team (Uttar Pradesh), Himmotthan Society (Uttarakhand),