Founded: 1996
Headquarters: Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu
Geographical Focus: Tamil Nadu
Lives Impacted: 20,000+
Organization Overview:
Vaan Muhil is a rights-based organization that was set up to empower marginalized communities in Tamil Nadu. It works with Dalit communities on youth leadership programs, livelihood support for women, and advocacy for women & children, and labor rights for informal workers.
Founded: 1993
Geographical Focus: Gujarat
Organization Overview:
Drishti is a non-profit, which uses arts and communication tools to cultivate grassroots development in India. Their programs are all approached through the prism of equality and with a commitment to community participation and outreach.
Founded: 1997
Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal
Geographical Focus: West Bengal
Lives Impacted: 120,000
Organization Overview:
DMSC aims to bring dignity to the lives of female sex workers (FSWs) and counter the social stigma associated with their profession. They work in 50 red light districts through their interventions focused on anti-trafficking and education access for children of sex workers. They also work with other vulnerable communities to facilitate access to social security benefits.
Founded: 1993
Headquarters: Pune, Maharashtra
Geographical Focus: Maharashtra
Lives Impacted: 98,000+
Organization Overview:
Econet was started as a program under Jan Vikas until 1993 when the organization was registered as an independent entity. They work with Gond, Kolam, Thakar, Mahadev Koli, Korku, and Pawra tribes and NT-DNT Phase Pardhi tribe communities on tribal development and participatory research on issues of environment sustainability. Econet also promotes the use of bioenergy in villages and leadership development in these communities.
Founded: 2002
Geographical Focus: Rajasthan
Organization Overview:
Ekal Nari Shakti Sansthan focuses on creating an identity for single women and empowers them to advocate for their rights by forming membership groups of single women. ENSS mobilizes single women into block, district and state level committees, all of which are democratically elected by single women in the area. They capacitate these groups to liaise with relevant authorities and support them with planning projects to solve problems at a local level. They also build a clear growth path for women leaders who go on to represent the group at the state level.
Founded: 1990
Headquarters: Madurai, Tamil Nadu
Geographical Focus: Tamil Nadu
Lives Impacted: 17,000+
Organization Overview:
Established as a resource centre in 1990, EKTA focuses on building awareness, capacity and promoting consultative, participatory, and inclusive practices to achieve a gender just society. It works with children and adolescents, youth, women, and men in rural and urban areas from Dalit, minority, tribal, and Backward Caste (BC) communities that are vulnerable to patriarchal norms. They focus on behaviour change in communities through training and facilitating participatory action.
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: Shillong, Meghalaya
Geographical Focus: Meghalaya
Lives Impacted: 13,400+
Organization Overview:
Faith Foundation is an indigenous child rights organization working to create safe growth environment for children and adolescents from Khasi tribes (Scheduled Tribes) in Shillong (Meghalaya). It aims to empower them by focusing on teaching them gender-equitable values and prevention strategies in diverse educational institutions to reduce the risk to abuse and exploitation (sexual, physical as well as emotional).
Founded: 1986
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Geographical Focus: Maharashtra
Lives Impacted: 30,000+
Organization Overview:
Akshara Centre enables access to education for girls from deprived communities by building safe public spaces and college campuses for women and girls. They work with girls from families headed by single women, migrant and minority families, students in government colleges from marginalized communities and children from SC-ST communities. They do this through youth mobilisation, scholarship opportunities and advocacy efforts with local institutions.
Founded: 1987
Headquarters: South 24 Parganas
Geographical Focus: West Bengal
Lives Impacted: 50,000
Organization Overview:
GGBK was started as a post cyclone relief organization in the Sundarbans and has evolved over the years to create opportunities for socially vulnerable groups – especially women and children from Dalit families and tribes such as Munda, Santhal and Oraon, to end discrimination against them and enable them to live a life of dignity. GGBK emphasizes on developing leadership among women, youth and children to address violence, mental health and livelihoods issues by keeping the agency of the community at the core.
Founded: 2004
Geographical Focus: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi
Organization Overview:
The organization is led by Satyender, a Dalit leader who represents the target community the organization works with. The larger goal of the organization is to make the first-generation learners (youth) into role model figures for the communities. Gram Jagat has been able to partner with several Community Led Organizations (CLOs) across Bihar to work with socially excluded communities including Dalit, Adivasi and minority children and youth to facilitate their access to education including higher education, leadership on rights and entitlements, making local governance inclusive and enhancing employability and entrepreneurship among the most marginalized.
Founded: 1999
Geographical Focus: Chhattisgarh
Organization Overview:
Gram Mitra Samaj Sevi Sansthan has been working towards tribal development for the past two decades. GMSS raises awareness, builds capacity, and empowers marginalized tribal communities with ‘strength in cooperation’ as its motto, Gram Mitra Samaj Sevi Sansthan envisions an exploitation-free society, ensuring dignity and protected rights for tribal people. Focused on livelihoods, education, health, and women’s empowerment, the organization promotes sustainable agriculture, runs tribal schools, enhances healthcare, and empowers women through vocational training. Their collective action approach has significantly improved the economic and social standing of Chhattisgarh’s tribal communities.
Founded: 1999
Geographical Focus: Bihar
Organization Overview:
Gram Vikas Yuva Trust was set up by youth from Madhubani district. Gram Vikas Yuva Trust works with communities through a systems-strengthening approach to identify the community’s core needs and supports government schemes access to remote geographies. They engage directly with community members at the village level to discuss key issues and how to address these. They further contribute to building strong youth leaders from these vulnerable communities through skill-based training and capacity building initiatives. As a result, many youth leaders have joined the state administration and community representatives at the panchayat and ward levels.
Founded: 1996
Headquarters: Latur, Maharashtra
Geographical Focus: Maharashtra
Lives Impacted: 57,400+
Organization Overview:
Grameen Mahila Vikas Sansthan works with women and girls from underserved communities in the drought prone district of Latur. GMVS works on addressing issues of gender-based violence, child marriage and farmer suicides amongst others. They work to build capacities within the communities they serve and harness the transformative potential of collective action.