The early years of childhood shape the course of person life. At LGT Venture Philanthropy, we therefore seek to unlock the critical building blocks that ensure every child in India not only survives, but thrives.
SIRA (सीरा) - meaning "essence" or "thread" in Sanskrit - embodies the vital strand that weaves together the fabric of early childhood development, so crucial to a child's growth. By bringing together funders, implementers, and governments to scale tech-enabled, community-led early childhood development solutions in India, we are weaving a future in which every child can thrive.
SIRA was created to address opportunities in India's public childcare system by bringing together funders, implementers and governments into one collective, in partnership with LGT Venture Philanthropy. In line with the World Health Organisation's Nurturing Care Framework , SIRA partners with local organisations that combine nutrition, health, early learning, safety and security and responsive caregiving services, putting each child at the centre.
Every dollar invested in Early Childhood Development yields up to 13 times in social return. Our ambition is to catalyse USD 20 million towards better frontline delivery, at-home care, and enable frontline workers to deliver better childcare, directly impacting 50 million mothers and children in India.
Despite decades of investment, millions of India's youngest citizens are struggling. Today, 40 percent of India's children lack access to essential services. Less than one third of the time at government childcare centres is devoted to age-appropriate learning, and only 12 percent of toddlers receive a proper diet. By age five, 40 percent of children are stunted and a fifth are severely malnourished. Over 1.6 million children in India miss out on life-saving vaccines, accounting for one in ten unvaccinated children worldwide.
India's early childhood services sit across multiple public systems, leaving no single owner for a child's holistic needs. Childcare centres are overburdened, with frontline workers juggling competing priorities and limited resources. Funding flows are scattered across programmes, making long-term planning nearly impossible. Since data systems are siloed, decision-makers cannot track and scale what is working.
SIRA offers flexible, end-to-end engagements that goes beyond funding. We support organisations navigate critical inflection points, scale through public systems and absorb large-scale resources post-engagement. Through LGT Venture Philanthropy we have been partnering with organisations in India for more than ten years, reaching tens of millions of women and children through India’s most impactful organisations delivering health, nutrition and education services at the last mile.
SIRA's catalytic approach combines deep relationships with Indian and global funders, implementers and governments and a local team of experts in India. Our work is guided by rigorous impact measurement and a commitment to ensuring that every dollar directed delivers exponential social returns.
Together, SIRA's partners bring deep expertise, networks and a shared commitment to systems change.
SIRA is a unique platform uniting scale-ready interventions across funders, implementers, and government. Khushi Baby welcomes this integrated, systems-level approach to tackling key early childhood development challenges in India.
We are grateful to LGT Venture Philanthropy for the opportunity to join the SIRA collective and collaborate on strengthening Early Childhood Development. This partnership will help ARMMAN support every child's healthy future.
