Mahira Jain founded ‘FunWagon’ which is an academic enrichment enterprise that caters to children between the ages of 6 to 16. Their mission is to conduct fun, interactive excursions promoting experiential learning and to promote the importance of non-STEM subjects through tours both in-person and virtually. FunWagon, has organised various excursions for students from across India and globally, including tours to the National Museum, Lodhi art district, India Gate, and Gandhi Smriti. They have partnered with various NGOs and schools and have worked with over 1500+ students.
They make their excursions interactive by organising fun activities including quizzes based on the monuments, bingo, taboo and other games.
Additionally, they have created a 30-page original curriculum based on the heritage of India including fact sheets, relevant activities, and quizzes for public use and distribution.
The FunWagon curriculum has now been adopted by over 11 NGOs across India, some of them include AAROHAN, My Perch, Udayan Care and Lotus Petal Foundation. During the national lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic in the summer of 2020, FunWagon moved its activities online and conducted Zoom webinars where they took participants on virtual tours of the Lodhi Art District, the Mahabalipuram Temples, and the Amer Fort.
Further, Mahira also created a Virtual Walkthroughs series on her YouTube channel by means of which she exposed her audiences to the history, culture, and architecture of the city of Delhi. This series included tours of the Lodhi Art District, the Lodhi Gardens, Humayun’s Tomb, Jama Masjid, and Chandni Chowk.
Mahira has also won various awards for her community service including the 2021 Pramerica Awards, and the Social Innovation Challenge by IIT (BHU) Varanasi. FunWagon has also been widely featured in the media including eShe’s ‘REINVENTION’ magazine, The Statesman e-newspaper, the official YEA India newsletter, the TimesNext Super 30, TimesWomen, the FilmyLoop website.
Mahira most recently founded CulturALL which is an initiative that aims to increase access to cultural education for children from all backgrounds. Her goal is to create a widespread network of cultural educators and a portal to showcase the full range of cultural education options in Delhi NCR. She wants to increase exposure, education, and opportunity to students from diverse backgrounds and hope to do so through a series of panels, enriching activities, and educational resources.
On 21st December 2019, CulturALL organised its first Cultural Conference at PHD hall, New Delhi. The conference had 5 panel members (including theatre practitioners, motivational speakers, dancers and the Director of CHETNA, an NGO) and an audience of over 80 people including educators, NGO teachers and school teachers. Mahira copered and moderated the panel.
Tessy Ojo, CEO of The Diana Award, said, “We congratulate all our new Diana Award recipients from the UK and around the globe who are changemakers for their generation. We know by receiving this honour they will inspire more young people to get involved in their communities and begin their own journey as active citizens. For over twenty years The Diana Award has valued and invested in young people encouraging them to continue to make positive change in their communities and lives of others.”
WHAT IS THE NOMINATION PROCESS?
Award recipients have been put forward by adults who know the young people in a professional capacity and recognise their efforts as a positive contribution to society. Through a rigorous nomination process, these nominators had to demonstrate the nominee’s impact in five key areas: Vision, Social Impact, Inspiring Others, Youth Leadership, and Service Journey.
There are 12 Diana Award Judging Panels representing each UK region or nation and a further three panels representing countries outside of the UK. Each panel consists of three judges; one young person, an education or youth work professional, and a business or government representative. The panels have an important main purpose: to determine which nominations from each UK region/nation/country will receive The Diana Award.
Nominations are judged using the Criteria Guide and Scoring Guide which have been created to measure quality of youth social action.
About The Diana Award: The Diana Award develops and inspires positive change in the lives of young people through three key programmes which include; a mentoring programme for young people at risk, a youth-led anti-bullying ambassadors campaign and a prestigious award which publicly recognises young people – The Diana Award.