NEW DELHI, 24 October, 2019: The Million Lives Club (MLC) has announced Vidya Bharati as an official member of its Vanguard cohort, which consists of innovators and social entrepreneurs from around the world who are making a significant impact in addressing global development challenges and scaling it for improving lives of those living on less than $5 a day.

'IICSR Foundation' is a champion for Vidya Bharati's cause of having scaled its operation to reach million lives. IICSR Foundation is an institution supporting impact investments in India with the best in class business models that have proven to make CSR expenditures effective and efficient to help achieve UN's 2030 sustainable development goals.

Vidya Bharati is a Scale Leader recommended to the Million Lives Club by ReachScale, led by David Wilcox, that identifies and supports the most scalable solutions for social challenges. 

The Million Lives Club is a global initiative supported by some of the largest development and grant institutions in the world, including USAID, DFID, Gates Foundation and others. Inspired by leading international donors of the International Development Innovation Alliance (IDIA), the Million Lives Club (MLC) celebrates innovators and social entrepreneurs who are reaching new horizons of impact and improving the lives of those living on less than $5 a day, including those who have already scaled to serve at least 1,000,000 clients.

IICSR Chairman Mr. Satish Jha nominated Vidya Bharati for recognition as an institution that has impacted more than 1 million lives with innovative ways that can be scaled up. Vidya Bharati comprises a K-12 schools network of about 14,000 schools with about 150,000 teachers educating about 3.5 million students across rural India. Vidya Bharati has reached and impacted the lives of 63.5 million individuals over the span of 42 years, under $500/ student. 

MLC had thousands of nominations and it chose 31 out of them as Vanguard, including Vidya Bharati. Chairman of IICSR Foundation Satish Jha said, "We are honored to see Vidya Bharati, a cause we champion, being selected and we very much look forward to continue working towards a common cause of scaling solutions and making a positive difference for millions of children. About 200 million children in India are deprived of quality school education. Hopefully MLC's efforts will contribute towards bridging this gap."