Who We Are

We Are a Group of Informed Optimists, Dedicated to Transforming Our Country’s Young

CMCA is a non-profit organization that aims to empower India’s youth towards being civic-minded, socially conscious citizens who participate in solving problems and uphold democratic values in all spheres of life. Such individuals are called active citizens, and we encourage school students and college-age youth to become concerned, thinking, and active citizens through our research-backed Citizenship and Life Skills Education programmes.

Our programmes are tailored for young people at school, college, or rural libraries, and are created by our team of specialists based on pedagogy and our strategic objectives, lessons from our own monitoring of our programmes, and our continuous research of children’s attitudes towards civic issues. The curriculum for our citizenship education programmes is our strength, incorporating experiential learning, group work, debates, stories, and more to help students build knowledge themselves rather than spoon-feeding the ideas at which we hope they will arrive. Simultaneously, we work towards integrating Citizenship and Life Skills Education into regular educational policies and practices through our policy research and advocacy efforts.

Our Mission

To transform the young into concerned, thinking, active citizens for an inclusive and sustainable India.

Our Vision

Empowered young people living by the values of democracy, in harmony with nature, engaged in collective action for equitable development.

Watch Our Trustee Speak at TEDxPrabhadevi

Watch Vinodini Lulla, CMCA Co-founder and Trustee, speak at TEDxPrabhadevi about the power of citizenship education and democratic values to create a caring community, and how CMCA empowers young people to become changemakers.

Our Values

  • Integrity
  • Respect
  • Commitment
  • Excellence
  • Accountability

Our Principles

  • Child and Youth Centric
  • Partnerships
  • Volunteerism
  • Constitutional Adherence
  • Frugality

Our History

CMCA was launched in 2000 as the Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness with a cycle rally where over 3000 school-going children cycled from Bengaluru’s Parade Grounds to Kanteerava Stadium, campaigning for a clean, green and safe Bangalore. The energy and enthusiasm of the children quickly saw the movement evolve into summer camps and then into ‘CMCA Clubs’. The ‘CMCA Club’ gained popularity and its impressive growth propelled the two parent organisations to launch CMCA as an autonomous body.

2000

CMCA was founded as a joint programme of Public Affairs Centre (www.pacindia.org) and Swabhimana, two Bengaluru-based non-profits

2001

Little Flower School, Frank Anthony Public School, St Joseph’s Indian High School, and BM School become the first schools to register for the CMCA Club programme in Bengaluru

2004

CMCA Mumbai was started with 3 schools; our Government School Programme introduced in Bengaluru

2005

CMCA Hubballi-Dharwad chapter launched. The first Traffic Police Day celebrated

2007

The first Pourakarmika (Municipal Workers) Day celebrated

2008

CMCA Hosur and Mysuru chapters launched

2009

The success of CMCA Clubs leads to the launching of CMCA as an autonomous body; the first prototype of the Yuva Nagarik Meter study undertaken as a survey of 200 children

2010

The college programme launched with Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru; CMCA Nagpur started; CMCA wins the Namma Bengaluru Award

2011

The rural Karnataka programme launched

2013

Accredited by Credibility Alliance under Desirable Norms, endorsing CMCA as fulfilling high standards of accountability and transparency; CMCA Thiruvananthapuram launched as a partnership

2014

CMCA adopts the integrated Citizenship and Life Skills programme

2015

The first Yuva Nagarik Meter (YNM) study, a pioneering study of democratic citizenship attributes among youth in urban India; YNM followed by Dialogues, an effort to engage with academics, educators, government agencies, and civil society to deliberate on civic education in India and propose solutions

2017

The volunteer-driven CMCA program wins the “ iVolunteer Awards” 2017 for leadership in volunteer engagement

2018

Renewed accreditation by Credibility Alliance under Desirable Norms, endorsing CMCA as fulfilling high standards of accountability and transparency

2019

Accredited by GuideStar India with the “Transparency Key” for transparency and accountability

2020

COVID response programmes launched with a focus on resilience and well-being

Tell the World You Spark Change with CMCA!

You believe in true democracy and support Active Citizenship, and we think everyone should know it. Display the CMCA Member web badge on your organisation's site if you are a member school or a member college. If you are our partner or donor, then display the CMCA Partner web badge on your site. Let's create an online community of Active Citizens to go with our offline one!

If you would like to receive our web badge, please write to headoffice@cmcaindia.org

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Accreditation by Credibility Alliance

CMCA has been accredited by Credibility Alliance under the category “Desirability Norms” – for good governance, accountability, transparency and continuous improvements. Credibility Alliance is a consortium of voluntary organisations committed to enhancing accountability and transparency in the voluntary sector through good governance.