Project Nanhi Kali is associated with hundreds of schools in India and each of these schools is full of talented young girls. Our objective was to ensure that these girls stay in school and others like them enrol, but pleas for donations rarely work among India's affluent decision-makers anymore. So we thought, why not allow the young girls' talent itself to become a source of funding. India's classrooms are full of young budding singers. We chose the best singers from across Project Nanhi Kali's partner schools and asked them to sing the country's leading brand jingles from Amazon, Honda, Cadbury, Raymond Apparel, Maggi Noodles, etc. Radio City - the country's best radio channels - agreed to air them on Women's Day. Eager to support our cause, brands agreed to use these new renditions, thus successfully helping us establish a platform for underprivileged girls to attract funding for their education.

We started with auditions in Project Nanhi Kali's schools across India and identified the most talented young singers among the girls. We then partnered with Radio City - India's leading radio channel - to recreate India's most popular brand jingles in the voices of these young girls. The brands included Cadbury's, Amazon, Honda, Raymond Apparel, Maggi Noodles, Shopclues.com, Fevikwik, etc. These spots ended with the call to action to donate and were first aired all day on Radio City on International Women's Day 2016. The brands then came forward - not only did they donate to educate girls with Project Nanhi Kali, but they also chose to run these spots through the year thus creating a snowball effect of awareness and donations towards the cause. The Nanhi Kali Voice Academy became a long-term platform for young girls to use their own talent to attract funding for their education.

Every single corporate brand we approach agreed to donate and aired the Nanhi Kali renditions of the radio spots for months after the launch. New brands reached out to us, wanting to be part of the programme. Corporate donations increase by 172% within 2 months of launch of the Voice Academy. Donations overall also increased by 79% in the same period. We got free media coverage worth millions of rupees. And most importantly, Project Nanhi Kali got a long-term solution wherein the young girls themselves have a platform to attract funding for their own education.