Rights Education And Development Centre (READ)

http://readsouthindia.in/

Founded: 2001

Headquarters: Erode, Tamil Nadu

Geographical Focus: Tamil Nadu

Lives Impacted: 16,300+

Organization Overview:

Registered in 2001, READ works in the districts of Erode & Tirupur focussing on communities marginalized on the basis of caste – Dalits and tribals. Amongst Dalits, they focus on a community that has historically been engaged in manual scavenging – the Arunthathiyars. They also work with Urali and Irula tribal communities. Interventions include rescue and rehabilitation of children engaged in bonded labor and manual scavenging.

NGO List

  • Jan Sahas Empowerment Society 

    https://jssesindore.org/

    Founded: 2003   

    Geographical Focus: Odisha 

    Organization Overview:

    Jan Sahas Social Empowerment Society works in the Malwa and Nimar regions in Central India to increase access to mental health support for marginalized communities. They work with highly excluded communities, including survivors or those who are at risk of mental health, gender-based violence, unsafe migration, forced labour conditions, sexual exploitation, and trafficking. The organization recognized that the communities they work with, deal with trauma in their day-to-day lives and are largely deprived of adequate mental health care that they require to be back on their feet. To bridge this gap, the organization has developed an in-house counseling unit to foster resilience among our communities and ensure their access to mental health care at a grass-roots level. 

  • Jan Sahyog Kendra (JSK)

    http://www.jskjharkhand.org/

    Founded: 2004

    Headquarters: Hazaribagh, Jharkhand

    Geographical Focus: Jharkhand

    Lives Impacted: 232,858

    Organization Overview:

    JSK was founded and is run by tribal leaders in Kotra block which is a hilly region at the border of Rajasthan and Gujarat and has a tribal population of 95%, primarily Bhils and Garasiyas. It works to empower migrant laborers, youth and women by investing in education, livelihoods, forest rights and health.

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  • Jan Vikas Sansthan (JVS)

    www.jvsindia.org

    Founded: 1998

    Headquarters: Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh

    Geographical Focus: Uttar Pradesh

    Lives Impacted: 90,000

    Organization Overview:

    In 1998, a group of 10-12 individuals from the Dalit community came together to collectively address the issues of discrimination and atrocities faced by the Dalits. They started working as a youth group to build awareness on caste-based discrimination through mobilization of women and youth in these communities. Since then, the organization has evolved to work with the Musahar, Dalit, and Nat community across multiple themes.

  • Jharkhand Mahila Uthan 

    http://jharkhandmahilautthan.org/

    Founded: 2002 

    Geographical Focus: Jharkhand 

    Organization Overview:

    Neelam Besra, who belongs to the Santhal tribe, is the founder and leader of the organization. While growing up, she witnessed caste and gender-based exploitation of members of her family, and this prompted her to set up the organization. Jharkhand Mahila Uthan works with different stakeholders in Panchayat, such as community leaders, Panchayat leaders, women, and youths, to build community leadership. They initiate their work by collaborating with Self-help groups and also form their own women and youth collectives to cultivate leadership qualities. They also capacitate Panchayat leaders and ward members, especially women leaders, to advocate for village development policies.  

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  • Kalp Samaj Sevi Sanstha (KSSS)

    www.kalpindia.org

    Founded: 1997

    Headquarters: Balodabazar Bhatapara, Chhatisgarh

    Geographical Focus: Chhatisgarh

    Lives Impacted: 1,000,000+

    Organization Overview:

    Kalp Samaj Sevi Sanstha works with Adivasi communities (Gond, Kamar and Bhunjia), forest dwellers, Persons with Disability (PWDs) and other tribes in Chhattisgarh. By building community leadership, it aims to sustainably empower them socio-economically through interventions across livelihoods, education, health and environment. 

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  • Kandhamal Zila Sabuja Vaidya Sangathan (KZSVS)

    https://www.kzsvs.org/

    Founded: 2004

    Headquarters: Daringbadi, Odisha

    Geographical Focus: Odisha

    Lives Impacted:  ​125,000

    Organization Overview:

    KZSVS aims to empower the historically, socially and geographically marginalized Gond, Galde and Kutia Kondh tribal communities from hilly, inaccessible regions of Odisha. It endeavors to enable dignified lives for these communities through interventions across livelihoods, education, biodiversity conservation, disaster preparedness, use of plant-based medicines and tribal development.

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  • Karna Subarna Welfare Society (KSWS)

    ksws.in

    Founded: 2005

    Headquarters: Murshidabad, West Bengal

    Geographical Focus: West Bengal

    Lives Impacted: 250,000+

    Organization Overview:

    Karna Subarna works with gender sexual minorities or the LGBTQIA+ community with a focus on building resilience within the communities and generating sustainable livelihood opportunities. This includes formal mobilization of interventions within the LGBTQIA+ community, capacity building support, skill based training and reclaiming public (physical and online) spaces through dialogue and public events. 

  • Karnataka Hemophilia Society (KHS)

    http://carehemophilia.org/

    Founded: 2004

    Headquarters: Davnagree, Karnataka

    Geographical Focus: Karnataka

    Lives Impacted: 1,000+

    Organization Overview:

    The organization aims to support people with Hemophilia and other blood disorders. It envisions building a society where hemophilia is not a burden for people and the children are free of pain by providing medical and psycho-social support to the patients and their families.  Along with working with all the hemophilic patients, they mainly focus on patients from the below poverty-line families.    

  • Kenduadihi Bikash Society (KBS)

    bikashngo.org

    Founded: 1996

    Headquarters: Bankura, West Bengal

    Geographical Focus: West Bengal

    Lives Impacted: 20,000

    Organization Overview:

    Kenduadihi Bikash Society was set up to address the issue of childhood disability in the Bankura district of West Bengal. The district has poor indicators in Health, Education, and Income (below the state’s average*). The organization works with children with disabilities from Scheduled Tribe (Santhal, Sabar, Kheria) and Scheduled Caste (Bauri, Lohar, Mal) communities across the themes of special education, child protection, health and nutrition and livelihoods.

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  • Kislay

    kislayngo.in

    Founded: 1992

    Headquarters: Delhi

    Geographical Focus: Delhi

    Lives Impacted: 8,225,000+

    Organization Overview:

    Kislay works with a participatory approach to empower urban poor in slums of Delhi. A large part of the target population is composed of migrant workers engaging in domestic work or construction work. 85% of the slum dwellers Kislay works with belong to the Dalit community. The organization has an overarching focus on women and children across all their interventions.

  • Kolkata Rista (KR)

    http://www.kolkatarista.org/

    Founded: 2004

    Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal

    Geographical Focus: West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand

    Lives Impacted: 50,000+

    Organization Overview:

    Kolkata Rista works with the transgender, lesbian, gay, Hijra and Kothi communities with the aim of empowering these communities and working towards social inclusion and reducing stigma by raising awareness around their basic rights, health rights and capacitating the transgender community to advocate for the same.

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  • Kotra Adivasi Sansthan

    kaskotra.org

    Founded: 1998

    Headquarters: Kotra, Rajasthan

    Geographical Focus: Rajasthan

    Lives Impacted: 232,900+

    Organization Overview:

    KAS was founded and is run by tribal leaders in Kotra block which is a hilly region at the border of Rajasthan and Gujarat and has a tribal population of 95%, primarily Bhils and Garasiyas. It works to empower migrant labourers, youth, and women by investing in education, livelihoods, forest rights, and health.