GOLD
Toybank: Resilience and continued learning for 51,000+ at-risk Indian children during COVID-19

Since 2004, The Opentree Foundation’s project Toybank—Development through Play has been promoting at-risk children’s mental and socio-emotional well-being and learning through its Play2Learn Program. The organisation partners with NGOs, shelter homes, community centers, government schools, etc to set up well-curated Toybank Play2Learn Centers. Here, Play2Learn Sessions are conducted with board games and play activities designed to bring resilience and learning to children. As Toybank’s in-person sessions came to a temporary halt due to COVID-19, the team pivoted into action and modified its program into the digital Toybank Play2Learn Kit and other initiatives to make them life-ready and face any adversity.
SILVER
Kokroma: From Baby Clothes to Face Masks and Cradle Care for babies during lockdown

On March 24, 2020 Nepal went into lockdown. Kokroma, a start-up baby clothing company was faced with financial collapse. Founder Rewati Gurung immediately turned production to mask making and turned a disaster into a remarkable success. Rewati gave her seamstresses 2 weeks paid leave, and provided them with 20kg of rice, cooking oil, Dhal, to last for several weeks. She then designed patterns for 3-layer masks. Devising an innovative system for speeding up production she was able to cut, print, and assemble 1000 washable 100% cotton WHO guideline masks per day with her team members working from home.
Joint BRONZE
Scenesaver: Making little theatre big

Scenesaver, the free to use, website, launched during lockdown, to do something positive to help the theatre world, to make theatre accessible to all, to support and incentivise creatives, and to provide theatregoers with their fix of theatre during the pandemic. A hub showing performances from small theatres worldwide, users pay a virtual ticket price that is given to the performers. A shoestring start up run by three women, one of whom is disabled, there are now 400+ performances and thousands of users across the world.
Joint BRONZE
Hubbub: Food Connect – Taking Good Food Further

Food Connect is a zero emissions redistribution service run by Hubbub and piloted in Milton Keynes. We are using a small fleet of e-cargo bikes and an e-van to share surplus food from local businesses with the community.
Community groups such as members of Hubbub’s Community Fridge Network rely on volunteers to collect surplus from retailers and other businesses, and we know that collection times and the volumes of food can be a real challenge. Food Connect was set up to support that ‘final mile’ in food redistribution.