Bengaluru, India- 08 October  2025 : Mantra4Change’s flagship school transformation initiative, Samartha
has been honoured with a 2025 Don Norman Design Award (DNDA) in the Organisation category. The award recognises
Samartha’s pioneering use of humanity-centered design (HCD+) to improve public
education and celebrates Mantra4Change’s belief that schools transform through
empowering people – school leaders, teachers, parents and students, rather than
by mandates.

The Mantra4Change team
will receive the honour at the DNDA Summit, to be held in Singapore from
November 19–21, 2025.

Samartha guides
stakeholders in collaboratively identifying school challenges, uncovering root
causes and co-designing solutions. This collaborative, HCD-driven approach
“places leadership in the hands of stakeholders” to create ownership-driven
ecosystems that enrich learning for every child.

The Don Norman
Design Award is an international nonprofit accolade inspired by design
pioneer Don Norman. It honours projects and programs that address community
challenges with empathy, sustainability and innovation. DNDA aligns its
criteria with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, requiring that the
initiatives it honors have a measurable, positive impact on people’s lives. In
particular, the Organisation Award recognises groups that are making a
difference for the communities they serve. Selected by a global panel of
judges, organizations must demonstrate how design can drive societal progress, address
major issues outlined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and foster
equity and sustainability. DNDA’s five HCD+ principles, namely – solving root
causes, considering entire ecosystems, long-term systems thinking, iterative
refinement, and designing with (and by) the community, are reflected throughout
the Samartha program’s design.

Under Samartha, district
and block mentors support school leaders in building sustainable school
improvement plans. Students are given
opportunities to lead club activities, anchor activity-based morning
assemblies, and design teaching-learning materials to apply their learning and
share with peers, fostering a culture of peer-to-peer support. Teachers conduct
focused remedial sessions to ensure every child receives the support they need,
while engaging in parent-teacher meetings creates meaningful spaces for parents
to become equal partners in their children’s education. The activities have helped encourage the development of
social-emotional skills, while parents serve as active partners, and officials
collaborate to embed successful practices system-wide. Learning Circles
and Pragati Hejje showcases bring stakeholders together to share
best practices and celebrate progress. 

By aligning with DNDA’s
HCD+ ethos, Samartha embodies the principle of solving core issues (not just
symptoms) in the entire school ecosystem. Its co-creative model—iteratively
prototyping solutions with the community—matches DNDA’s emphasis on
community-driven design. This participatory, systemic approach has helped
transform government schools into vibrant ecosystems of ownership and
collaboration.

Receiving the DNDA is a
major validation of Mantra4Change’s impact. The award places Samartha alongside
global leaders in humanity-centered social innovation and highlights the
importance of empathetic design in public education. As a recognised Education
award laureate, Mantra4Change’s work is seen as a model for building
sustainable, equitable learning environments. The honour is expected to boost
visibility for community-led education reform and encourage similar HCD-driven
programs worldwide.

“Being selected for the
Don Norman Design Award 2025 is an affirmation of our belief that systemic
change in education must be rooted in human dignity, empathy, and
collaboration. At Mantra4Change, we strive to co-create solutions with
communities that make learning joyful and equitable for every child. This
recognition strengthens our resolve to design for humanity and scale
transformative impact across India,” said Mohammed Rafi MT,
Director of Programs, Mantra4Change.

The 2025 DNDA laureates
were announced in September, with formal awards to be presented at the DNDA25
Summit in Singapore this November. The ceremony will bring together educators,
designers and innovators from around the world to celebrate human-first
solutions. Mantra4Change and Samartha will join previous DNDA honorees in
advancing the movement to improve lives through sustainable, inclusive design.

About Mantra4Change

Mantra4Change is a non-profit
organisation transforming public schools in India through educational
leadership. Our approach involves driving continuous school improvements by
empowering education leaders, transforming schools to create an enriching
learning experience, and Inspiring civil society organisations across India to
collectively work towards transformation in education.

We aim to drive
sustainable, continuous school improvements across 150,000 schools by
2025. 

About the Don Norman Design Award

Don
Norman Design Award (DNDA) is a non-profit whose mission is to champion
Humanity-Centered Design (HCD+) globally, emphasising the rights and well-being
of humanity, encompassing diverse cultures, the environment, and all living
beings. DNDA recognises early-career practitioners of projects and educational
organisations worldwide who take a humanity-centered and sustainable approach
to addressing challenges at the community level. DNDA was inspired by the work
of Don Norman, design pioneer, educator, and champion of Humanity-Centered
Design.