Quest Alliance Annual Report 2019-20
Routes to Resilience
In Memoriam
Abhijeet Mehta
1981 - 2020
In October, the sudden passing of our esteemed colleague, Abhijeet Mehta, has left this organization, and the larger Quest Alliance family, bereft.
Abhijeet's genius, diligence, courage and leadership were overshadowed only by his exceptional compassion and long term commitment to our community. He leaves behind a thriving organization that only he could have built, and his spirit and values will forever be the heart of Quest Alliance.
Learning to be Resilient
The world has been at the edge for the last 9 months, as we unlearn and relearn new ways of being. One of the biggest realizations I have had is to accept that impermanence is part of our lives. We cannot take for granted the gifts that we have today. Instead, we need to be grateful that we have them in the present moment.
The passing away of Abhijeet, our Chief Operating Officer, in October 2020 has been a rude shock, reminding us of the fragility of life and that we should appreciate ourselves and others around us a lot more for the value we bring to this world. In his passing, he has left us with an elevated sense of awareness about the importance of living our values of compassion, courage, collaboration and continuous learning.
It has taken a lot of energy from the team to stay calm and demonstrate agility where we are questioning assumptions, challenging the status quo and facing frequent frustrations because of the constant recalibration we have had to do. Our people and communities have shown us the way and demonstrated that there are multiple routes to resilience. We have tried to change the pace, take time to heal and recalibrate our rhythm.
This has been possible because over the last few years we have balanced scaling our work with keeping our soul and spirit alive and at the centre of the organizational growth process. We have invested in building a culture of open dialogue, holding creative tension, and empathizing with diverse perspectives as a way to evolve and be ready for change. This year we have been able to collaborate with 14 different state governments, over 25 funders and 38 civil society organizations developing 21st-century skills of over 650,000 self-learners.
These times have reinforced our core belief in the relevance of self-learning as a critical mindset and skill to survive and thrive in the 21st century. We are confident that the foundation that has been laid in the past years will enable us to continue to make an impact at scale while putting our people first and ensuring that our values are lived and experienced by all our stakeholders. I would like to thank all our partners and employees for having the trust in us through these difficult times and co-creating solutions to cope with the crisis.
Aakash Sethi
CEO, Quest Alliance
2020: A Year at a Glance
Anytime, anywhere learning with the Quest App
Learner, Pune City Connect
government partnerships
Students at a Vocational Training Institute attend a MyQuest session on Employability Skills
Quest App users
IBM volunteer with Secondary school students at a Scratch training session in Adugodi, Bangalore
CSO partners
IBM Asia-Pacific Leadership team with students in the STEM For Girls program in Ajmer, Rajasthan
skilled educators
Learning to code in a fun, interactive manner through MIT’s Scratch platform
states
Dr. Rajesh Agarwal, Former Director, DGT
visionary leaders
Learning that never stops - even during lockdown!
learning institutions
learners
Transforming Learning Ecosystems
Quest’s learner-focused programs are designed to foster and build 21st-century skills among young people by bridging key gaps in the School-to-Work continuum.
Rooted in the practice of Self-Learning and powered by ed-tech, capacity-building, partner collaborations and advocacy, our aim is to create impact that changes lives.
Middle Schools
The Anandshala program is a systemic approach which involves key stakeholders within the education system coming together to create joyful learning spaces for students.
3,52,877 students in
1320 schools
Secondary Schools
The Secondary School program encourages girls and boys in secondary schools to dream of futures free from gender stereotypes, where they become creators of solutions to issues most relevant to them.
1,34,210 Students from 839 Schools through 8 State Partnerships.
Technical & Vocational Education & Training
The MyQuest program empowers youth in India with 21st-century skills to be future-ready for the ever-changing world of work.
1,94,186 youth reached every year.
Educators
The MasterCoach program equips educators and trainers with 21st-century facilitation skills that help build 21st-century classrooms
369 MasterCoaches across 51 Partner Organizations in
9 States and 1 Union Territory
Quest 2 Learn
A go-to place for innovation, collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Quest Experience Lab
Technology as an enabler to craft engaging and meaningful learning experiences.
Scaling with the
Government
14 state government partnerships and 1 central government partnership
Partnership with National Instructional Media Institute (NIMI) to create content for ITI student workbooks and a facilitator manual
Future Right Skills Network partnership with Directorate General of Training (DGT) of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)
Partnerships with Karnataka state DET, Kerala state ITD and Delhi DTTE for implementation
The Team at Quest
Quest has always held employee wellbeing in high regard. In 2019-2020, we focused on efficiently responding to the needs of the workforce, creating access to counselling support, building a safe and inclusive workplace for women, and the holistic development of individuals.
Another important highlight was the rollout of a structured and continuous Learning & Development plan for all employees, taking their goals and aspirations into consideration, with 90% active participation so far. We also introduced an integrated People Management system and a Finance Management system to better support the team.
172 Team Members
60% women in senior leadership roles
53:47 Male-female ratio
14 locations
Recognition
Quest was part of AVPN's inaugural 2020 Constellations Laureates
Aakash Sethi was a finalist for the 2019 Social Entrepreneur of the Year India Award by Schwab Foundation and Jubilant Bhartia Foundation
Aakash Sethi, CEO Quest Alliance, elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2019
Quest Alliance was honoured with a Certificate of Appreciation by Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister of Gujarat
Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)
All India Society for Electronics & Computer Technology (AISECT)
Alombro Mayu Yaku Chi Amey Aroga (AMYAA)
ANEW
Ashray Social Welfare Foundation
Auxilium Salesian Society
Careship
CDEW Society
Centre for Educational Developmental Research & Action (CEDRA)
Chetna Vikas
Cohesion Foundation
Digital Empowerment Foundation
Don Bosco Tech Society
Help Trust
Indo Global Social Service Society (IGSSS)
Janvikas
Jeevan Pragathi
Kottapuram Integrated Development Society (KIDS)
Mazzarello Magalir Nalavazhvu Maiyam Social Service Society (ASSIST)
Navjeevan Trust
NEEDS
NIIT Foundation
Oasis India
Patang
Pro Rural
Reaching Hand
Salesian Sisters Society (Chennai)
Sama Foundation
Sparsha Trust
St.Thomas Charitable and Educational Trust
St.Xavier's Non-Formal Education Society
Student Partnership Worldwide India
The American India Foundation Trust
Vasundhara Foundation
YouthNet
Yuva Chintana Foundation
Governance Report 2020
