Former media executive Sunita Machado recalls that she had always been extremely passionate about the social sector. She has volunteered since college in the spaces of poverty and nutrition, community building and women empowerment. Even while employed in the demanding business development side of media, she made time during weekends with several organisations.
It was in 2018 that she became the trustee of non-profit ‘Kindness Unlimited’ (KU). The stated mission of the NGO sans religious or political affiliation founded in 2005, is: “We want to become a body of transformative action and a catalyst of change that connects and unifies the nation through an intricate web of kindness by having people initiate a series of successive kind acts and virtuous kindness cycle.”
In simpler terms, as their website says, ‘In a world where you can be anything, be kind.’
Machado explains, “At a time where a lot of negative emotions are floating in society we feel kindness is the answer to all those social issues. In different segments like students, corporates, families, we want to bring back the value of kindness.”
The Many Facets of ‘Kindness’
How? KU creates volunteering opportunities through several activities, including tying up with other NGOs. It’s a virtuous cycle. Volunteers who choose to engage in kind acts through the year, for instance, get rewarded with a ticket for a show in which artistes are king enough to perform pro bono.
What constitutes a ‘kind act’? It may be planting trees, painting a school, working with stray animals, anything. Awareness is created mainly through partners and social media.
During Covid, as volunteering activities came to a standstill, KU addressed the needs of children who used to get mid-day meals in schools. What do they do when schools shut?
Machado states, “We started with breakfast nutrition for children but since there was the scare of Covid getting transmitted through food, we decided to do the nutrition program through bananas as it was very nutritious and a covered fruit and could be given easily to children. We tied up with an NGO to distribute bananas to about 1,000 kids everyday during Covid.” The network of partner organisations enabled this.
“Later we realised that there were tribal children in Raigad who were having a very tough time during Covid and we started a nutrition programme for them by sourcing local nutrition like nachani (foxtail millet) powder, protein powder made up of dal and rice. We started with 70 children but today we are helping around 500 tribal children under the name ‘Project Naashta’. That is something we did as Kindness Unlimited for tribals in Roha called Katkari tribals,” reveals Machado.
Discovery of Self
Machado had a degree in pharmacy before she completed her MBA from NMIMS Mumbai and forayed into the world of media with the TV18 group. In 12 years of working with its six news channels, the Management Trainee rose to Associate Vice President heading West for CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz when she quit the organisation. She then moved to India Today TV as Regional Head, in a short stint of seven months before she moved to her calling – the social sector.
It was when she took a break in December 2019 thinking of doing something different, that Covid struck. Social work became her full time focus.
She recalls, “While doing full time I realised that I have the appetite of doing it Monday to Friday instead of only on weekends. I then decided to look for jobs in the social sectors instead of corporates. Getting a job in the social sector was difficult during Covid as it was the most affected sector as people were donating less during that period. Other than the initial relief received there was shortage of funds.”
Her past work in the space and network therein helped. “When I put my CV they were very generous to share it with many NGOs. I spoke with a few of them and then came across Ra Foundation which does exceptionally brilliant work. Their work motivated me and I decided to work with them.”
Mumbai-based Ra Foundation is a small NGO that has worked with 50 kids so far. The foundation reaches out to children without parental support – those either orphaned or having a single parent who cannot afford to look after the child, especially in slum communities.
It has partnered with bigger foundations like Akanksha and Teach for India, to work with such children who are prone to abuse, drugs and other risks.
Machado is working full-time at Ra Foundation as Executive Director since 2021 besides being a Trustee at ‘Kindness Unlimited’.
Against the Odds
At the foundation with limited resources, networking has helped raise the much-needed funds, be it from individuals or corporates. This helps educate these children in residential boarding schools like St. Xavier’s, Sweet Memories and Silverdale. Apart from studying, these schools will allow them to pursue their hobbies. “Their education is taken care of till the end and we act as foster parents to these children,” notes Machado.
The aim is to reach 100 students by 2025 and give them the quality support that any middle class household would. The foundation works only in Mumbai as it does not have people outside to investigate each case – it is a big process.
“One thing is to put them in a boarding school. The bigger challenge for children who go through a traumatic experience is to work on their mindset, to constantly motivate them, help them feel positive, give them direction, help them build aspiration. There are many soft aspects so we need the child to be in Mumbai to work on these aspects,” she explains.
Machado was Executive Secretary in the Archdiocese of Mumbai’s Commission for Women from June 2018 till May 2022, when she stepped down to focus on the foundation’s work. She credits the church for sowing the seeds of social work in her mind – she was 19 when she entered the slum community for the first time. Her work today is to uplift the most vulnerable from some of those very slums.
On a personal level, Machado’s goal is to impact at least one lakh lives during her lifetime. After 20 years of volunteering, she has chosen a destination that is some time away.
The cause called out to her; she is willing to go the distance.
