Anjlee Prakash is a 2019 finalist of the WE Empower United Nation Sustainable Development Goal challenge and an innovative entrepreneur who founded the Learning Links Foundation (LLF). Through the LLF, Anjlee has had a positive impact on over 15 million students and 2 million teachers across 48000 schools in India over the past 17 years. In the article below, WE Empower Intern Jordan Leiter highlights Anjlee, the LLF and shows how they promote gender equality and other sustainable development goals.
Anjlee Prakash is the Founder and Chairperson of the Learning Links Foundation (LLF), a non-profit organization in India that believes that every citizen should have the opportunity to learn and rise to their potential. Specializing in education solutions, skill building, entrepreneurship, development, and technology and innovation, the LLF offers well researched, integrated solutions that are customized to meet beneficiary needs. The organization also supports gender equality, and boasts of a strong female presence, particularly in its leadership. Out of 14 leadership positions, 8 are held by women, and 60% of the trustees are women as well.
The LLF also offers a set of diverse solutions as they focus on sustainable development (SDG 4), increasing access to quality education while furthering gender equality (SDG 5) and encouraging girls to remain in school to finish their formal education. Close to 50% of the beneficiaries in their education programs are girls. LLF also runs well received special programs on STEM for girls. Notably, their focus on bridging the gender gap has led to the implementation of the Indian multilingual financial literacy program which has helped over 3 million women across the country improve their personal and professional finances. Anjlee’s efforts to narrow the gender disparity in education were recently recognized when she won the 5th Red Bangle Award by the Women’s Education Project.
In addition to that, the LLF also strongly believes in harnessing the power of strategic partnerships to increase scale and impact (SDG 17). Currently, they have partnered with over 19 state governments, think tanks like the NITI Aayog and over 50 corporate and philanthropic foundations to implement their projects. In the span of 17 years, these projects have made a positive impact in the lives of millions of Indian students and school teachers. Anjlee was named by NITI Aayog as a ‘Mentor of Change’ and states she is “passionate about furthering the cause of women.” She travels extensively, participating in and presenting at various national and international seminars and conferences, and is well known for her contributions in the fields of education and education technology.
When asked about her nonprofits focus on the UN SDGs, Anjlee replied saying: “India's progress on Agenda 2030 is critical to the world, simply because India constitutes a major share of the global population. I am proud that Learning Links Foundation is focusing on SDG 4 & 5, two of the most critical sustainable development goals to achieve all others.”