Sportathon Foundation is dedicated to empowering children from underserved schools and marginalized communities by ensuring equal access to sports, physical activities, and life skills development. The organization strongly believes that sports are not just about play but are a pathway to building healthier, confident, and more capable individuals who can pursue their dreams. With a mission to create India’s largest grassroots sports revolution, Sportathon Foundation integrates structured sports programs with leadership opportunities and youth fellowships, nurturing the next generation of changemakers. By engaging children in physical education, social-emotional learning, and holistic growth, the foundation is addressing critical gaps in education and wellbeing. Their programs are designed to break barriers of inequality, offering both boys and girls an inclusive environment where they can learn, compete, and thrive. In addition to direct interventions with children, Sportathon creates leadership platforms for young people passionate about sports and social development, offering them the chance to mentor, inspire, and grow as professionals. By combining sports, life skills, and leadership, the foundation is building healthier communities and driving systemic change to transform lives at the grassroots level.

The Sports for Impact Fellowship is a unique six-month, part-time fellowship designed for young people who are passionate about sports and believe in its power to transform lives. This hands-on leadership journey offers selected fellows the opportunity to serve as “Youth Captains,” placed in government or low-income private schools. Their role involves conducting structured sports and physical education sessions while integrating life skills and social-emotional learning to foster holistic child development. Fellows will not only mentor and inspire children but also strengthen their own facilitation, leadership, and project management skills. Responsibilities include leading inclusive PE programs, ensuring equal participation of boys and girls, maintaining student engagement, documenting progress, and collaborating with schools and communities to promote a sports culture. Alongside program delivery, fellows will receive training, mentorship, and capacity-building support to enhance their professional development. The fellowship also provides opportunities to organize sports events, competitions, and community showcases, enabling fellows to drive real impact. With certificates, letters of recommendation, and networking opportunities as added benefits, the fellowship offers a strong foundation for those aspiring to grow in the fields of sports, education, and social development while actively contributing to India’s grassroots sports revolution.

The Contrapuntal is an independent non-profit publication committed to delivering rigorously researched, accessible, and factually accurate journalism from a ground-up perspective. Inspired by Edward Said’s concept of contrapuntal reading, the publication examines the intertwined histories of colonizers and colonized, offering a nuanced approach to complex global issues. With a focus on political economy, migration, ecology, and culture, The Contrapuntal prioritizes people-centric stories, emphasizing voices often silenced and unpacking the structures that perpetuate such silencing. The platform rejects “objective truth” storytelling and false balance, instead aiming to critique oversimplified narratives, particularly those affecting the Global South. By uniting researchers, journalists, activists, artists, and critical thinkers, The Contrapuntal strives to provide diverse perspectives on contemporary global issues.

The Bridging Narratives Grant is an intersectional initiative funded by the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) at Erasmus University Rotterdam. It aims to foster collaborative projects between independent journalists and social scientists, blending academic research and journalism to produce critical, people-centered narratives. The selected projects will address key global themes such as migration, political economy, ecology, and culture, highlighting their local implications through in-depth reporting. The goal is to create high-quality, participatory content that is disseminated through The Contrapuntal’s digital magazine. In addition to financial support, successful applicants will attend a workshop focused on journalism-research collaborations, culminating in an edited volume reflecting on the challenges and opportunities of merging the two fields.