Vaan Muhil

vaanmuhil.org

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.

NGO List

  • Leh Nutrition Project (LNP)

    www.lnp.org.in

    Founded: 1988 

    Geographical Focus: Ladakh  

    Organization Overview:

    The organization was started as a relief campaign by Save the Children (STC) during the 1978 flash floods in the Indus Valley. After LNP was formally registered in 1988, STC fully handed over the organization to the local community, and LNP continued working on different issues in the area. Currently, the organization is led by Chotak Gyatso, who belongs to one of the tribal groups in Leh, where LNP ran a nutrition program in the 80s. Since its inception, its focus on building the capacity of the members of the community with the objective of building sustainable solutions has been high, and it undertakes this approach across all projects and interventions. 

  • Lok Astha Sewa Sansthan(LASS)

    www.lokastha.org

    Founded: 2006

    Headquarters: Gariyaband, Chhattisgarh

    Geographical Focus: Chhattisgarh

    Lives Impacted: 3,800+

    Organization Overview:

    LASS was founded by four proximate leaders who were motivated to solve the issues confronting Chhattisgarh’s Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) and other communities. Its mission is to empower indigenous people by raising knowledge about gender justice, their constitutional and fundamental rights.

  • Lok Chetana Samiti

    http://www.lcsvns.org/

    Founded: 1994

    Headquarters: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

    Geographical Focus: Uttar Pradesh

    Lives Impacted: 500,000+

    Organization Overview:

    Lok Chetana Samiti was started in 1994 with the mission to build a movement of people who can effectively contribute to changing society in favour of the poor and marginalized. It works with the Youth and Women from Dalit (Maha Dalits and Nat community), Musahar communities, minorities and children with disability. 

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  • Maarga

    www.maarga.org.in

    Founded: 2000

    Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka

    Geographical Focus: Karnataka

    Lives Impacted: 85,000+

    Organization Overview:

    Maarga works with an ideology that the deteriorating situation and living conditions in urban slums is a matter of justice above anything else. Working majorly with Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and minority communities, they cover all development challenges that the community wants to focus on. Keeping community at the forefront, Maarga has been able to setup mature interventions around local governance, education, health, livelihoods and affiliated sectors.

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  • Mahila Abhivrudhi Mattu Samrakshana Samsthe (MASS)

    massbelgaum.org

    Founded: 1997

    Headquarters: Belgaum, Karnataka

    Geographical Focus: Karnataka

    Lives Impacted: 6,000+

    Organization Overview:

    Mahila Abhivruddhi Mattu Samrakshna Samsthe (MASS), a membership association of ex-Devadasi* women, was set up with a mission to end the Devadasi practice in the Belgaum district of Karnataka. MASS works with ex-Devadasis from the Dalit community, their children, and other Dalit women and children at risk to secure citizen rights and access to education, livelihoods, and healthcare.

    *Devadasi- a social practice, where a young girl is devoted and married to a deity, before she reaches puberty, to act as a caretaker. Recently, this practice has been used to push girls into prostitution.

  • Mahila Jan Adhikar Samiti (MJAS)

    www.mahilajanadhikarsamiti.org

    Founded: 2000

    Headquarters: Ajmer, Rajasthan

    Geographical Focus: Rajasthan

    Lives Impacted: 100,000

    Organization Overview:

    Mahila Jan Adikar Samiti (MJAS) works towards uniting and empowering women in Ajmer, Rajasthan through collective action for social transformation to address the vicious cycle of poverty, patriarchy and ignorance that results in exclusion of women from social, political and economic spheres, by providing a space for everyone to come together and fight for gender equality and justice at a village and community level.

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  • Mahila Shakti Kendra (MASK)

    https://maskindia.org/

    Founded: 2006

    Headquarters: Sonitpur, Assam

    Geographical Focus: Assam

    Lives Impacted:  ​15,000+

    Organization Overview:

    MASK, a federation of 100+ SHGs was founded for socio-economic empowerment of women from Scheduled Tribes (Boro, Garo, Mishing, Nyishi, Rabha, Tea tribes) and Other Backward Caste (Nepali) of Assam. MASK envisions to transform the tribal communities through interventions across inclusive livelihood opportunities, natural resource management and climate mitigation, education and SHG strengthening.   

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  • Mahila Shram Sewa Nyas (MSSN)

    www.mssnmp.org

    Founded: 1991

    Headquarters: Indore, Madhya Pradesh

    Geographical Focus: Madhya Pradesh

    Lives Impacted: 223,500+  

    Organization Overview:

    MSSN works with women from marginalized communities in the unorganized sector such as beedi workers, construction workers, domestic workers and others in villages and urban slums of Madhya Pradesh. It aims to provide stronger social security and improved quality of life to the community through leadership development, policy advocacy, livelihood trainings, building financial resilience and by facilitating access to rights and entitlements.

  • Mahiti Trust

    http://mahiti-gujarat.org/index.php

    Founded: 1994

    Headquarters: Ahmedabad, Gujarat 

    Geographical Focus: Gujarat 

    Lives Impacted: 7,15,000+ 

    Organization Overview:

    People’s Resource Development Association (PRDA) was founded as a youth group to support with re-settlement of people impacted by flood that was triggered by the construction of the Ithai dam in Manipur in 1990. Since then, the organization has evolved to work on livelihood promotion, protection of women & child rights, access to rights & entitlements and natural resource management for the Scheduled Tribes (Naga, Meitei, Chiru, Kuki) that reside in the Bishnupur district of Manipur.

  • Manav Vikas Foundation 

    www.mvbgss.org

    Founded: 1998 

    Geographical Focus: Maharashtra 

    Organization Overview:

    Manav Vikas Foundation works with different stakeholders such as mental health patients, people with disability, and people living around these groups to build awareness and provide handholding support for the application of government policies. They start by engaging the community and including them in different conversations to understand the issues on the ground. For example, HIV patients are included in the decision to change medicine recommendations for HIV-related intervention. They also liaise with doctors, nurses, and block/district administration about the issues of the target community. The organization has volunteers to support them in fields and reach out to the target community, which the organization cannot reach directly. 

  • Margadarshi Society

    https://margadarshi.1ngo.in/

    Founded: 2002

    Headquarters: Kalaburagi, Karnataka

    Geographical Focus: Karnataka

    Lives Impacted: 8,000+

    Organization Overview:

    Margadarshi Society was set up to protect and promote children’s rights in the Kalaburagi district of Karnataka, which is considered to be among the most backward regions in the state. 25% of the district’s population belongs to Scheduled Castes. The organization works with runaway Dalit children from the ages of 9-14 years via rescue and rehabilitation, and in the allied themes of education, malnutrition and disability.

  • Martha Farrell Foundation

    marthafarrellfoundation.org

    Founded: 2016

    Headquarters: Delhi

    Geographical Focus: Delhi, Haryana

    Lives Impacted: 65,000+

    Organization Overview:

    MFF aims to create a gender-just society. It works with women (primarily domestic workers), children, and adolescents in Haryana and Delhi-NCR, to collectivize, capacitate, and educate them to take action against injustice. They also work on enabling safe and dignified workplaces as per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013 through a multi-stakeholder approach.