Lyca Group founder and chairman Allirajah Subaskaran launched the Gnanam Foundation in 2010, teaming up with is wife and mother to drive positive change in the world. In addition to his work with the Gnanam Foundation, Allirajah Subashkaran also serves on the Advisory Council for Sri Lanka for the British Asian Trust, a charity launched by King Charles III. This article will look at the impact of the Gnanam Foundation, outlining some of the organisation's current and past projects.
The Gnanam Foundation funds projects in some of the world's poorest areas, ensuring that help is provided to those who need it most. The organisation was created to improve people's lives on an individual, family and community basis, with projects implemented following the ‘teach a man to fish' principle – providing long-term solutions and stability rather than just temporary fixes. The Gnanam Foundation aims to help communities to gain independence by proving safe shelter and medical care and helping local people to develop their skills.
Education as an olive branch by which communities can modernise, potentially helping people to break the cycle of poverty. The Gnanam Foundation operates with the ethos that numeracy, literacy and skills-based learning helps future generations, building bridges and saving lives in communities that could otherwise remain trapped due to the cyclic nature of poverty.
Recognising that access to clean water and medication is severely restricted in some locations, the Gnanam Foundation supports healthcare initiatives created to help prevent atrocities that destroy families and steal childhoods. As dire as the need for healthcare and clean water currently is globally, it is also sadly the case that a growing number of people worldwide are missing out on vital medication that not only saves lives but poses the potential to transform whole communities.
In addition to supporting medical and educational initiatives throughout the developing world, the Gnanam Foundation also strives to help establish local frameworks that provide a safe community for local people, helping to embed the prospect of a brighter future for all and building pride into local communities. Recognising that shelter is more than just a roof over a family's head, the Gnanam Foundation helps people to build happy homes that provide not just physical respite from environmental elements but emotional wellbeing too.
Ongoing projects currently being implemented by the Gnanam Foundation include the Lyca Village Development at Rasipuram village, which has culminated in the creation of 66 homes to date – with the aim of creating 150 new homes overall. Currently in phase 1 of development, phase 2 will see the construction of the remaining 84 houses on newly allocated land.
In many countries in the developing world, local people experience major problems in accessing clean water supplies, placing them at considerable risk of contracting waterborne diseases. The Gnanam Foundation recently joined forces with Muslim Aid, funding construction of a well in Sudan that will help hundreds of neighbouring families.
In Sri Lanka, the Gnanam Foundation launched a project designed to improve the lives of impoverished Sri Lankans, helping disadvantaged individuals to find a route out of poverty by providing them with sustainable skills for a better future.
In Nigeria, the Gnanam Foundation partnered with the Damilola Taylor Trust, funding construction of a library. Situated near a primary school, the library will benefit thousands of children, providing them with access to resources that will help to broaden their knowledge and life skills.
In January 1961, the American President John F. Kennedy famously made his inauguration speech, pointing out that man holds in his hands the power to abolish human poverty. Although the world is a very different place today, the same sentiment lives on, voiced by political and civil rights leaders championing the cause of providing a permanent solution to global poverty. The Gnanam Foundation was launched with the aim of taking measurable steps towards realising this responsibility, striving for a permanent end to poverty, starting today.
Subaskaran Allirajah, his wife Prema Subaskaran and his mother Gnanambikai Allirajah launched the Gnanam Foundation to provide help and support for marginalised communities around the world. The foundation's aim is to improve lives by providing communities with the means to build independence and opportunity by providing medical care, safety and shelter, while helping local people to develop their skills. In turn, this helps people living in underserved communities to increase their household income, with a resulting improvement in their quality of life.
In addition to focusing on healthcare, education, livelihoods and living conditions, the Gnanam Foundation responds to critical emergences as they unfold. The organisation currently operates in Tanzania, Sudan, Romania, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The Gnanam Foundation has far-reaching plans to grow its international presence in the coming years, providing support where it is needed most.
The Gnanam Foundation has been recognised with a variety of awards over the years, including a Global Woman of the Year Award and Greatest Humanitarian Organization of the World Award.
