Leading NGOs Impacting Corporate Social Responsibility Drive.pdf

VOL 08
ISSUE 04
HOW MODERN NGOS ARE
CONTRIBUTING TO HOLISTIC
SOCIAL GROWTH
Leading
Impacting
Corporate
Social
Responsibility
Drive
-2022
GEETANJALI
The Force of
Compassionate,
Caring and Committed
Social Warriors
CARE
EMBRACING DEVELOPMENTS
COMPREHENSIVE ASPECTS
OF THE OUTSTANDING
NGOS IN THE MODERN
INDUSTRY
ESSENTIAL FUNDAMENTALS
Ms Tina Phogat,
Founder
S

We cannot do
great things on
this Earth,
Only small things
with great love.
- Mother Teresa

A RE-DEFINED
POWERFUL
SOCIAL
REVOLUTION
Editor’s Note

Positive social impact is the ultimate profit—the
philanthropy seeks of!
One might feel that by generating employment, providing
people with their dream jobs and professional careers, and
paying a part of their profits in taxes, the industry, the
enterprises, businesses, and corporates are already
contributing immensely to social growth and fulfilling their
social responsibility.
However, by going to the grassroots levels, empowering the
underprivileged and shattering the clutches of poverty,
hunger, malnutrition, diseases, and other social malice, not-
for-profit or non-profit or Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs) are doing the genuine social reformists’ work for
free or even by incurring substantial losses.
These organizations are leading multifarious causes and
many times working hard, tenuously, ardently, devotedly,
and tediously with immense commitment, a never-ending
dedication, and tremendous zeal to heal the deeply inflected
social wounds of inequality, injustice, and ghastly
invisibility.
As a developing nation, we re-discovered the worth and
importance of these NGOs during the last two and a half
years of the recurring pandemic, which is deepening the
chasm of all the evils threatening the social fabric of health,
education, unity, harmony, peace, growth, and prosperity.
If we consider the two motives of emotional and financial
forces driving every individual, group, and professional
enterprise—then—while NGOs are stronger emotionally,
Corporates are mightier financially.
What if these two forces combine their might to form a
united power?
Then, a mighty social revolution is bound to happen. At
Insights Success, we, too, felt the need to showcase this
stream extreme in the limelight it so worthily deserves. Our
brand exclusive edition, ‘Leading NGOs Impacting
Corporate Social Responsibility Drive – 2022,’ is a small
attempt in this regard. Here, we have chosen those NGOs
already driving positive social transformation by
proliferating the CSR mission extensively.
As you will indeed get charmed by their praiseworthy
stories, you will find your enchantment amalgamated by
reading two apt articles crafted by our in-house editorial
team.
Flip through the pages, witness the revolution, and become
a part of this social transformational saga!
Abhishek Joshi
Deputy Editor
abhishek.joshi@insightssuccess.com

GEETANJALI
The Force of Compassionate, Caring
and Committed Social Warriors
CARE
C o v e r S t o r y
A r t i c l e s
HOW MODERN NGOS ARE
CONTRIBUTING TO HOLISTIC
SOCIAL GROWTH
EMBRACING DEVELOPMENTS
COMPREHENSIVE ASPECTS
OF THE OUTSTANDING
NGOS IN THE MODERN
INDUSTRY
ESSENTIAL FUNDAMENTALS

Apni Shala Foundation
On the Quest for SEL-Integrated
Holistic Wellbeing
C O N T E N T
Cancer Aid & Research Foundation
Enlightening Lives by Brightening the Horizons
Child Heart Foundation
Ensuring Our Children’s Hearts Stays Strongest
Swayam Shikshan Prayog
Centering Women Leadership in
Social Development
Udayan Care
Where Young Lives Shine
Udyogini
Empowering Steady Framework for
Financial Independence

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Management Brief
Organization
Child Heart Foundation is built for helping children with heart
disease. The focus is families who are ﬁnancially challenged
and can’t meet the ﬁnancial requirements for heart surgery or
intervention.
Apni Shala works with children from low-income
communities and helps build their emotional, interpersonal
and thinking skills in children.
Cancer Aid & Research Foundation it is a registered medical NGO
and was formed with the passionate endeavour of striving endlessly
towards the welfare of cancer patients who are underprivileged,
without distinction of religion or caste.
Geetanjali Care represents humanistic values to help underprivileged
people in the society. Child Education, Child Health, Hygiene and
Wellness, Women's Biological Health and Medical Care are its
primary areas of attention.
Child Heart Foundation
Apni Shala Foundtion
Cancer Aid &
Research Foundation
Geetanjali Care
Dr Vikas Kohli,
Founder and Trustee
Sangeeta Zombade,
Co-founder and Director
Mr Shamshi Mulla,
Chairman,
and
Mrs Savita Nathani, CEO
Ms Tina Phogat,
Founder
Swayam Shikshan Prayog repositions women’s collectives by
training them as farmers and entrepreneurs and thereby increasing
their economic and social resilience.
Swayam Shikshan
Prayog
Ms Prem Gopalan,
Founder
Leading
Impacting
Corporate
Social
Responsibility
Drive
-
2022
Udayan Care aims to bring sunshine into the lives of
underserved sections of society that require intervention.
Udayan Care
Dr Kiran Modi,
Founder and
Managing Trustee
Udyogini promotes women entrepreneurs in rural India by
providing solutions that cater to their aspirations.
Udyogini
Arvind K. Malik,
CEO
S

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school that everyone from the community feels
Aand calls ‘Our School, Apni Shala,’ was two years
in its organizational journey when Sangeeta
Zombade, Director, Khoj–Apni Shala’s SEL integrated
School initiative–first conceptualized an SEL integrated
school along with Amrita Nair and Rohit Kumar (Co-
founders of the project).
Sangeeta’s journey and dream for the school began with her
own experience years ago, when her family was moved
from slums to a government-provided Slum Rehabilitation
Housing Society, and the entire community had to be
reorganized. At the government-provided housing,
employment, health, and educational opportunities were
very limited. For example, the area has only one
government School serving over 8000 children in the
community!
The redeveloped housing was built next to the biggest
garbage dumping ground and an abattoir, landfills and is in
close proximity to industries like BPCL and HPCL, raising
several environmental concerns in Deonar. With the lowest
human development index, lowest literacy rate, and highest
infant mortality rate, Mankhurd had become a lost cause for
many, including its residents. But not Sangeeta.
While at Akanksha, she taught the children from the
community. She also led the community-driven initiative
called Prayatna–Strive in Hindi–where she got together the
youth in the community on the social challenges that they
felt were important to be addressed such as alcoholism,
drug abuse, lack of cleanliness, and education.
After some conversations with the community members
and social workers, Sangeeta got together with Amrita and
Rohit, to lead forward a progressive, experiential-
education-based school for the community in 2017. The key
questions they asked were: What if all children could attain
an education that empowers them to transform their lives
not in spite of their socio-economic or cultural differences
but because of it?
Khoj aims to offer innovative solutions like
Ÿ Providing a high-quality education for the holistic
development of children, with a well-researched design
for social-emotional, cognitive, and physical
development.
Ÿ Going beyond the usual imagination of a school, and
extending the design to include a larger community of
parents and youth into the development processes.
Ÿ Becoming a center of excellence for providing training,
research, and ecosystem support to other schools and
communities for SEL-integrated school design and
curriculum.
What started out of rented rooms within the community is
currently a school in its 5th year.
Khoj runs from Limbuni Baug Mumbai Public school, in
Chembur, through its partnership with the MCGM, serving
underserved children and families. Khoj has also been
providing professional development to early childhood
educators from other schools on SEL-integrated learning
and has published practice-based articles in
national/interactional publications such as ‘Teacher Plus
and ‘Think Make Learn.’
As a Co-founder and Director of Khoj, Sangeeta leads
school operations, teacher professional development, and
community engagement. Sangeeta is an exemplary leader
who has not only challenged the stereotypes of gender and
Leading NGOs Impac ng Corporate Social Responsibility Drive - 2022
Apni Shala
Foundation
On the Quest for SEL-Integrated Holistic Wellbeing
14 | August 2022 | www.insightssuccess.in

social-economic class but also has inspired
many young people to take control of their lives
and aﬀect change and she does this with a lot of
love and laughter. Khoj has most recently been
recognized for its work in collaborating with
community stakeholders among the top 10
schools in the world as part of T4 Education’s
World’s Best School Prizes (Community
collaboration category).
In an interview with Insights Success, Sangeeta
spoke more about her transformational initiative.
The highlights of that enlightening interview are given
herein.
Please brief our audience about Apni Shala, its
USPs, and how you are currently positioned
as one of the best Social Solution Providers.
Apni Shala Foundation works with students,
educators, caregivers, and institutions towards a
vision of building social and emotional competencies
among individuals so they can constructively engage
with society and have a harmonious co-existence.
Through its School Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
programme, Apni Shala builds social and emotional
resilience in students and the systems around them by
developing the following competencies: Self-awareness,
Self-management, Responsible decision-making, Social
awareness, and Relationship skills.
What began as a pilot in 2013 with one municipal school
has grown into a long-term and whole-school programme
being delivered in 18 municipal schools, one low-cost
private school, and two NGOs, serving over 5000 students
each year.
In 2017, Apni Shala founded Khoj, as a community school
in a low-resource area of Mumbai. Khoj is envisioned as a
dynamic space for ongoing research and development of
SEL-integrated school practices.
Apni Shala has been working with students, educators, and
families from low-income homes, for the last nine years in
Mumbai’s L, M-east, and M-west wards, three of the least
developed wards. Apni Shala Foundation has served over
10,500 students, over 700 teachers, and over 500 parents
since 2013.
Sangeeta Zombade,
Co-founder, and Director
Khoj (Apni Shala’s SEL
Integrated School initiative)
Apni Shala Foundation
Khoj has most recently been
recognized for its work in
collaborating with community
stakeholders among the top 10
schools in the world as part of
T4 Education’s World’s Best
School Prizes.

Being an experienced leader, share your opinion on how
adopting modern digital technologies impacts the social
reform sector and how Apni Shala is adapting to the
change.
The onset of the pandemic in 2020, on the one hand,
required ASF to pivot its operations for both our flagship
initiatives- SEL programmes and Khoj (SEL Integrated
initiative) to relief work and also to start thinking of how
technology could be used towards adapting our
programmes.
At ASF we worked on upskilling the team by supporting
with training on the use of technology that would help us
reach students, educators, caregivers, and the communities
we work with. In the beginning, we faced challenges but the
team got accustomed to the same.
Based on phone call surveys, achievability of online mode
of delivery, technology requirements, appropriate audience,
and support of partner schools, we finally decided to resume
the SEL program for some grades for our partner schools.
An online version of the curriculum was launched for
grades 5th and 6th through synchronous and asynchronous
methods in July 2020. Similarly at Khoj, the team identified
the accessibility of internet-based devices for families and
children.
Parents and students were taught to use the Zoom settings
using phone/WhatsApp videos and tutorials. We also
developed a local resource center to ensure that access to
technology and internet connectivity was not a barrier to
student participation.
Another creative use of technology that the team embarked
on emerged from the digital divide that we were witnessing.
With a large number of students who were not able to
access learning due to no devices, the team collaborated
with Kshamtalaya Foundation to initiate a Radio Project.
A 30-minute radio programme on Saturday and Sunday
every week from the month of January 2021 on Radio
Madhuban was started to help in building resilience in an
everyday way, through the routine activities and
interactions that occur in children’s lives each day.
The radio project scripts were created for three modules:
empathy and perspective-taking, empathy and emotion
expression, and relationships.
Apart from this, while we began using technology to move
many of our capacity-building activities and training online
due to the pandemic, it allowed us to connect with
individuals from not just across the country but also across
the globe. This has allowed Apni Shala to create access to
SEL in places we otherwise would not have been able to
reach.
Considering the current industry scenario, what kind of
challenges do you face, and how do you drive Apni
Shala to overcome them?
As an organization that focuses on centering wellbeing, and
SEL for all, one of the risks we see in the sector is that
learning becomes focused only on the student neglecting
the role of the ecosystem that influences the student.
When we talk about SEL, it can easily be used as a model
to just manage behaviour rather than recognizing the
systemic inequities that continue to persist in students’ lives
that may actually be the root cause of the behaviour.
Organizations like us have to be alert to this and work with
educators, parents, and caregivers to become more
compassionate, just, and inclusive to finally impact the
wellbeing and safety of students. Apni Shala’s initiatives,
therefore, work closely with all stakeholders to generate
awareness and advocate for wellbeing holistically.
In the year 2020 after the pandemic began, one of the risks
that became visible in the sector was the uncertainty of
schools running physically or hybrid, or completely online.
That compelled organizations to think of different ways to
make learning accessible, especially acknowledging the
digital divide.
Apni Shala has been able to work with schools and
communities to adapt the content for online and offline

modes and also work towards mobilizing resources that
students and families can use to facilitate learning.
How are you expanding your social responsibility drive
along with the corporates?
Apni Shala believes in the power of community where the
students, supporters, caregivers, and facilitators come
together to experience Social and Emotional Learning and
co-learn through each other's experiences. We believe that
our partners (donors/corporates etc) are a part of this
community. Volunteers coming from our corporate partners
can engage in various ways with our work. This
engagement usually begins with understanding their areas
of knowledge skills expertise and interest in which they
would like to contribute to the cause. Some of the activities
that our corporate partners have actively engaged in the past
few years are:
Ÿ Research, Strategy, and Communications(photography,
videography, database creation, communication design).
Ÿ Community Engagement Strategy and
Practices(Assisting with teaching learning team,
mentoring- coaching guidance to Apni Shala team,
translation of the content of the material to local
languages).
Ÿ Fundraising (Running crowdfunding campaigns,
Generating CSR leads).
Apart from this, Apni Shala engages with corporates to
conduct SEL workshops with their team, building resources
for Apni Shala’s work, and exploring synergies of a long-
term engagement.
What would be your advice to budding social
entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the not-for-
profit space?
The most critical advice would be to listen to the needs of
the communities you work with. A lot of the process of
impacting change comes from effective, inclusive, and
meaningful collaborations where those we work with also
find their own agency and voice and become a part of the
process of organization building.
How do you envision scaling ASF’s operations and
offerings in the future?
Over the next few years, Apni Shala aims to work with
over 30 schools through its School SEL programme,
develop Khoj into a model school to inform whole-school
SEL integration, and continue ongoing capacity building to
facilitate SEL in schools through Apni Shala’s SEL
Fellowship Programme and professional development
opportunities for other schools and organizations.

Essential Fundamentals
There have been many developments in
economic, industrial, scientific, and
technological sectors that have led to the growth
of the region. However, there have been certain
underlying challenges that did not receive the required
attention. These challenges include social, cultural,
natural, environmental, humanitarian, and other
concerns. Some empathetic people come together to
form organizations for bringing positive changes to
social issues. These organizations are known as Non-
Governmental Organizations (NGOs). NGOs normally
operate in four primary categories: Empowerment,
Service, Participatory, and Charity.
The NGOs in the Empowerment category focus on
helping poor people understand the social, political, and
economic factors affecting their lives.
Service-based NGOs provide food and healthcare,
including family planning and education. The
participatory ones run on the collective efforts of the
members who participate in the voluntarily organized
activities of tree plantation, labour, money, land, tools,
and material. The fourth category of the Charity
organization functions on the efforts of a few people in
organizing funds, food, clothing, books, toys, etc., to be
transferred to the have-nots or the needy people.
The role and the importance of the NGOs is phenomenal
as they begin the process of gradual change, steady
improvement, and begin vital awareness in the masses.
Some of the comprehensive aspects of effective and
noticeable NGOs are interesting to understand and
discuss.
• Strong Vision
NGOs are formed by like-minded people who are
touched by various social issues which they take up to
resolve through voluntary, collective, and involvement-
based activities. These organizations have a clear vision
of working on various social causes decided from time
to time.
Comprehensive
Aspectsof the
Outstanding
NGOsin the
Modern
Industry

Vision-based NGOs have been noticed to have performed
significantly in their contributions to addressing social
challenges. All members are charged and guided by the
central vision of the organization, which binds them
together as a unit and strengthens the group activities to be
done with enthusiasm.
• Selfless Service
People interested in doing something for society with a
selfless motive are prominent contributors. NGOs are
formed to facilitate easy and collaborative working where
the contributions are used to help the social objectives of
the organization. These organizations plan, organize and
distribute the funds/giveaways/support on a strictly non-
profit principle.
• Emphatic Attitude
Most influential NGOs have displayed an emphatic attitude
by observing and analyzing the social situations and
reviewing the conditions and plight of the affected people.
The volunteers visit the people and understand their
struggles. Desire to bring change by becoming the voice of
the needy people, conveying the problems, and appealing to
the public and government to adopt suitable measures to
improve the situation.
• Positive Approach
All the members are positive in their thoughts, words, and
actions. NGOs aim to connect the possibilities of changes
rather than just expressing concern and criticizing
continuously.
They first spread the news about social issues on different
social media platforms, posters, handbills, and sometimes
press advertisements. In a planned approach, they conduct
various activities keeping the government in the loop and
abiding by all the legal procedures.
• Inspiring Team spirit
An excellent display of contagious energy runs and drives
the organizational working. The enthusiasm in the members
is reflected through their dressing, smiles, communication,
and energetic movements.
Everybody is connected to the cause and the spirit of the
organization. The senior members of these open-formatted
organizations plan and monitor the activities. They remind
all members about the schedules and follow the standard
operating procedures (SOP) for smarter working.
• Amazing Learning Centers
From a different perspective, NGOs are amazing sources of
collaborative learning and personal development.
Enthusiastic individuals from various backgrounds come
together with a common goal of bringing about positive
change in society. It nurtures an open atmosphere where
everyone gets to voice their concerns, ideas, views, and
contributions too.
Young school children, college students, professionals,
homemakers to senior citizens all are seen as contributing
members of the activities. NGOs help to build interpersonal
skills, an attitude of gratitude and hone responsibility
towards our people and the nature around us. The social
networking and bonding that happens over various social
activities build-up
• Discreet Nation-builders
A candle burns itself to give light to others. So are the
NGOs comprised of several selfless, noble people who take
out time, money, and efforts from their personal lives to
support the social cause, spread awareness, and nurture
humane feelings in the people.
They are flagbearers of social movements which take time
to get noticed, felt, understood to be supported, and taken
up on a larger scale. NGOs certainly play an instrumental in
influencing developments in various social causes they
address, thereby discreetly contributing to the building of
the nation.
- Kedar Borgaonkar

ealthcare must be accessible to everyone. No one
Hshould suffer because of not getting precise
treatment at the right time. Especially newborn
babies and children, who are our future. As a progressive
and developing society, it is our fundamental duty to make
sure that an accessible healthcare ecosystem is created.
However, in India due to multifarious reasons, children
from the weaker and underprivileged sections of society
never get that much-needed access to healthcare.
This is a major cause of concern. Because there are many
diseases including some critical birth defects which prove
fatal in the early years of a child’s development. If they are
not treated timely and precisely with every possible solution
we can offer, then our future generation will be jeopardized
or vulnerable to further contingencies. It is high time and
need of the hour we must take action.
In this regard, Dr Vikas Kohli, the Founder and Trustee
of the Child Heart Foundation (CHF), is on a mission to
make people aware of Congenital Heart Diseases (CHD),
which is one of the most common birth defects and also
provide treatment to the children from the poor section of
society.
On a Healthy Mission
According to Dr Kohli’s expert knowledge, one child is
born in hundred live births with heart disease. Dr Kohli
informs, “In India, every year 170,000 to 200,000 children
are born with heart disease, unfortunately, only 16,000 to
20,000 get treated. Rest do not survive or are added to the
pool of waitlisted children.” This is indeed heartbreaking.
Dr Kohli further states that the primary challenges with
managing CHD cases in India are,
Ÿ a lack of paediatric cardiology treatment infrastructure,
Ÿ very few number of paediatric cardiologists and
paediatric cardiac surgeons, when many more are
needed for our population,
Ÿ lack of public awareness, and
Ÿ very high treatment costs.
Treating the Heart’s Cause
However, Dr Kohli promises to offer solutions for each
of these problems. He shares, “All our programs at CHF
are designed to meet these challenges and thus provide end-
to-end support. We offer free echocardiography screening,
and treatment, sponsor live-saving cardiac medicines and
train paediatricians and neonatologists in
echocardiography.”
CHF is the only organisation offering free foetal
echocardiography service to pregnant women for
diagnosis of any foetal cardiac abnormality. CHF is one
among the very few organisations working with children
with heart diseases in India.
Guiding Star of Children’s Hearts
CHF was registered in 2013 as a Trust under the Indian
Trust Act 1882 in Delhi. It was founded by Dr Kohli, a
leading paediatric cardiologist and six parents who had
gone through emotional and financial turmoil with their
own children and wanted to help children from
underprivileged families who were going through similar
conditions.
Child Heart
Foundation
Ensuring Our Children’s Hearts Stays Strongest

CHF has all the Government certifications and is registered
with BSE Samman, Gold certified by GuideStar India.
Dr Kohli states, “We offer free services in Delhi, Jalandhar
(Punjab) and Siliguri (West Bengal). Our organisational
mission is that no child should die due to a lack of access
to treatment due to the financial constraints of parents.”
The Golden Heart
Furthermore, Fellow American Academy of Paediatrics,
Fellow American College of Cardiology, Diplomate
American Board of Paediatrics, American Board of
Paediatric Cardiology, Dr Vikas Kohli graduated with five
gold medals from the University College of Medical
Sciences, New Delhi in 1986.
He subsequently finished his Paediatric training from
PGIMER (Chandigarh). He completed his Paediatric
Residency (USA) at the Montefiore Medical Center, New
York and trained in Paediatric Cardiology at the University
Our organisational mission
is that no child should die
due to a lack of access to
treatment due to the
nancial constraints of
parents.
Founder and Trustee
Dr Vikas Kohli
Leading NGOs Impacting Corporate Social Responsibility Drive - 2022

of Miami. He subsequently practised Paediatric Cardiology
in Florida before returning to India.
A Social Reformist’s Dream
He has performed several unique interventional procedures
including Flow Restrictor Implantation in Pulmonary Artery
for the first time in India; performed a balloon pulmonary
valvuloplasty on a 1.7 Kg child; and balloon valvuloplasty
on a child less than one day old. He always had this dream
of starting free services for children with heart diseases
from underprivileged families.
Dr Kohli conveys, “Our patients for both paediatric and
foetal screening are referred from all government hospitals
in Delhi.
This got fulfilled in 2013 when Child Heart Foundation was
founded in Delhi along with six parents whose child was
treated by Dr Kohli. His mission is to save each and every
child with heart disease.
Dr Kohli adds, “Through various programs, we have
screened more than 15,000 children for any cardiac
abnormality, got 160 children treated for the diagnosed
heart disease, provided foetal echocardiography service to
more than 7,000 pregnant women, trained more than 160
paediatricians in echocardiography and are providing free
medicines to 22 children with Pulmonary hypertension.”
Social Tech Revolution
Being an experienced leader, Dr Kohli opines how adopting
modern digital technologies impacts the social reform
sector and how CHF is adapting to the change. He believes
that technology has reformed and revolutionized the social
sector, this includes access to medical diagnostic tools,
organizational management, fundraising and donor
engagement.
Dr Kohli says, “We have upgraded to better healthcare
diagnostic tools. We are using CRM and cloud-based
technology for data management, fundraising and donor
engagement.”
CHF Expanding CSR
However, considering the current industry scenario,
Fundraising and CSR networking are one of the major
challenges faced by CHF and Dr Kohli is overcoming them
on a daily basis to drive CHF to the doorstep of every needy
child.
That is why Dr Kohli is expanding the CHFs social
responsibility drive along with the corporates. He says, “We
are trying to involve corporate employees in CSR projects
under the employee engagement program.” This involves
direct involvement in project implementation processes and
fundraising, community awareness programs etc.
An Advice of Compassionate Commitment
Dr Kohli’s advice to budding social entrepreneurs who
aspire to venture into the not-for-profit space is straight
from the heart. He believes that to survive in the social
sector, a person should have commitment, patience and a lot
of compassion and empathy. One should be total faith and
connect for the cause and self-belief and trust in yourself
and the people who are going to be the beneficiaries.
Ensuring the Heartiest and the Healthiest Future
Further envisioning scaling CHFs operations and offerings
in 2022 and beyond, Dr Kohli mentions,
Ÿ “Children are our future. We want to start few more
OPD centers in Delhi for children from
underprivileged families who can’t afford a private
consultation and diagnosis. This will be followed by
expansion to start an inpatient department and an ICU,
Ÿ Replicate our echocardiography training program to
other States in India,
Ÿ Start free OPD screening and diagnosis centers in two
more cities.”

Swayam
Shikshan Prayog
Centering
Women
Leadership
in Social
Development
Resilient women lead to resilient communities,
which are the foundational backbone of a resilient
society. Only a resilient society can make a
resilient nation which will keep progressing and developing
to its optimum potential.
The only way to make women resilient enough is through
education and learning. It could only be achieved when
women themselves believe in learning and acquiring
knowledge. However, they need to be made aware of it,
access to and all the opportunities available to them so they
can build their resilience, problem-solving abilities, and
leadership skills.
What is necessary in this regard is forging social
relationships and creating a self-empowering ecosystem of
learning and education. Just like one created by Swayam
Shikshan Prayog (SSP), the name of which itself stands
for Experimenting Self-Education for Empowerment.
SSP was founded by the great visionary Ms Prema
Gopalan with a dream of centering women’s leadership in
community development. She completed her Master’s
Degree in Social Work from the prestigious TATA Institute
of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Her search for economic
alternatives for women belonging to poor communities led
her to pioneer work with savings and credit for grassroots
women in rural Maharashtra.
“Envisioned by the beloved Ms Gopalan, our approach at
SSP is bringing vulnerable and marginalised women to the
centre of leadership in addressing disasters and climatic
risks across India. Although, Ms Gopalan is no more in
physical form with us, her blessings, love, compassion, and
enduring spirit will live forever in our hearts.” Says Mr
Upmanyu Patil, Director - Programs at Swayam Shikshan
Prayog.
Upmanyu has had expertise in disaster management and
resilient development for the last two decades. He is a
highly committed and innovative socio-technical
development professional with an engineering and
management background.
His work has been committed to designing, developing, and
strengthening large-scale interventions that involve
community institutions and PRIs in water and
environmental sanitation energy and rural development
across climate-threatened communities.
Fostering A Women Entrepreneurial Leadership
Network
Grassroots women as innovators and changemakers are
demonstrating community resilience strategies through
climate resilient farming, sustainable livelihoods, and
entrepreneurship development.
SSP widely advocates for changing public policy in favour
of recognizing grassroots women’s collectives in their new
roles as community resource persons/community level
facilitators, and leaders and shares these learnings widely
with peer networks and institutions globally.
To connect the growing network of women entrepreneurs to
the mainstream institutions, SSP in its role as an ecosystem
builder, promoted:
Ÿ A federated network of women’s collectives;
Ÿ Women-led Agricultural Value Chain
Ÿ Six women-led Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs)
Together, these enterprise entities provide access to
enterprise ﬁnance, business support and links to global and
domestic market players that women need to succeed in
remote and opaque markets.
Women-led Agricultural Value Chain
Six women-led Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)
are created with over 4,672 shareholders, who are taking
lead in the agriculture and value chain sector.

Envisioned by the beloved Ms Gopalan, our approach at SSP
is bringing vulnerable and marginalised women to the centre of
leadership in addressing disasters and clima c risks across India.

The value chain network promotes the production of Dairy,
Pulses, Goatery and Vegetables with other products that are
required by small families in rural India.
An Exhilarating Journey
The journey of SSP through the decentralised leadership of
Prema Gopalan was not an easy task as unorganised poor
and marginal women communities do not acquire
knowledge and powerful voices to raise their concerns in
their families and local communities. To address this, SSP
has mobilised women in groups to collectivise their
thinking and action.
During the 1993 earthquake in Latur, these women have
come together in making decisions to rebuild houses and
address livelihoods through government partnership.
Upmanyu says, “The experience of Latur earthquake
rehabilitation strengthened our confidence and approach to
the grassroots-centred development initiatives.”
A Unique One-Acre Farming Model
Further to add this, SSP worked with different disasters in
Gujarat (2001 earthquake), Tamilnadu Tsuami (2004), Bihar
and Assam Floods (2008/2009) and Kerala floods (2018) to
mobilise and strengthen women’s leadership and
community resilience.
“Our Women-led Climate Resilient Farming (WCRF)
model (also called a one-acre farming model) gained
recognition from national and global communities. In 2017,
SSP received the UNDP Equator price for this sustainable
farming model,” reveals Upmanyu.
Women’s Initiative to Learn and Lead (WILL)
By unleashing rural women entrepreneurs in ailing
economies, SSP has opened up non-traditional livelihood
incomes, tripled household earnings and built new social
capital in excluded areas. It has also galvanized investors,
business trainers, climate scientists and government players
to partner with rural women and co-create market-linked
impact.
SSP’s recent flagship initiative, ‘Women’s Initiative to
Learn and Lead (WILL),’ focuses on women’s agency
and leadership, enabling them to participate in governance,
address critical issues at home and in the community, and
empower other women.
Community’s Tech-Knowledge Empowerment
Being an experienced leader, Upmanyu opines on how
adopting modern digital technologies impacts the social
reform sector and how SSP is adapting to the change. He
expresses that SSP’s objective is to learn and implement
new innovations through women’s leadership and especially
women in communities are quick in learning new
knowledge and technologies that suit their requirements.

Upmanyu recollects, “During the COVID-19 pandemic
situation when mobility was restricted, our women learned
digital skills in communicating and coordinating COVID-
19 response activities.”
Women learned how to participate in and conduct online
Zoom meetings, passing useful messages and awareness
videos to communities, learning new farming techniques
through online videos, conducting agriculture and
livelihood training through digital meeting platforms etc.
Digital Women Leaders
Linkage with business support of SSP and Sakhi Unique
Rural Enterprise (SURE) ensures that benefits from
Gaavkhoj online application reach the stakeholders and
also gives them digital support by providing Mobile
Platform Apps to improve standard markets for women
stakeholders’ businesses.
Now, these women are called Digital Sakhis and they are
empowering communities with new technologies and
knowledge.
SSP’s Risk Mitigation Measures
Speaking about many obstacles, hurdles and issues,
Upmanyu shares, “Climatic changes and natural disasters
are major challenges but our Community Resilience Fund
(CRF) is a risk mitigation measure to address these risks.”
Women Farmers collective at cluster level and One Acre
farming model itself is a de-risking model towards climate
change.
Bureaucratic hurdles in getting govt schemes and
programmes are overcome by regular dialogues and
lobbying with local government and other stakeholders.
CSR Conjoint Sustainable Development Goals
Expanding SSP’s social responsibility drive along with the
corporates, Upmanyu shares, “We see corporates are one of
the major stakeholders in development initiatives in India.
Newly emerged CSR initiatives and their approach to
partnering with NGOs to address Sustainable Development
Goals are going to be strengthened in the coming years.
We work with CSR very closely for the last eight years and
brought visible changes in the villages of Maharashtra.
Public/private partnership is the need of the hour and our
work with CSR has demonstrated that technology,
resources, and innovative knowledge can bring big changes
in the community.”
An Adept Advice for Social Knowledge Leaders
Upmanyu’s advice to budding social entrepreneurs who
aspire to venture into the not-for-profit space is an
inspirational force for Social Knowledge Leaders. He
believes that social entrepreneurs are inspiring leaders for
many and they added value to new products and markets.
He adds, “When we mix business/entrepreneurship with a
social approach there is always a risk in bringing success
in business.” So it will be always good that business should
be treated as a profitable venture and Not-for-profit players
can support and enhance the knowledge of entrepreneurs.
Future Expansion of Social Learning
About envisioning scaling SSPs’ operations and offerings in
2022 and beyond, Upmanyu informs that SSP’s main
approach is learning adaptive practices and scaling to new
geographies.
In Post COVID era, SSP has planned to take positive
lessons from the pandemic and find a sustainable solution to
bring back the communities in livelihoods, health, food
security and agriculture.
“Working with government and CSR gives us the
opportunity to share and scale our approach to new
communities across India. Our business and farming
models are appreciated by the national government and
CSR will be the key factor for many communities to reap
success in their life,” concludes Mr Upmanyu Patil.
For more information click the below-mentioned weblink
and links to SSPs’social media platforms:
Ÿ https://swayamshikshanprayog.org/
Ÿ YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4KSKqYZKU
b9cQiNy6AFbjQ
Ÿ Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/swayamshikshanprayog.o
rg
Ÿ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swayam-
shikshan-prayog-ssp-51b9b440/
Ÿ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sspindia
Ÿ Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/swayamshikshanprayog/

UDAYANCare
Where Young Lives Shine
Dr Kiran Modi is the Founder, Managing Trustee of
Udayan Care. She founded Udayan Care, in Delhi,
India, in 1994, with the vision of ‘Making Young
Lives Shine,’ which runs group homes for orphaned
and at-risk children, amongst many of its projects.
With a doctorate in American Literature from IIT,
Delhi, Dr Modi is a person of varied experiences in
diverse fields, such as child protection, media, health,
and children’s theatre.
Besides running programmes for Alternative Care of
‘Out of Home Care’ children, education and
Livelihood programmes for disadvantaged girls and
youth, she is keenly interested in raising standards of
care in Alternative Care, and has been organising
trainings and research, and publishing papers on Child
& Youth Care and facilitating Care leavers Network in
India, as a path breaking work to collectivize youth
with lived experience of care
She is the Founder and Editor of an International Bi-
Annual Journal on Alternative Care: ‘Institutionalised
Children: Explorations and Beyond’ (ICEB). Besides
her management responsibilities, she is a “Mentor
Mother” to many children and youth, giving them
personalised care and attention.
Recipient of many prestigious awards, Dr Modi
continues to strive toward ensuring the rights of
underprivileged children and youth with the same
passion and zeal as when she started out more than
two and a half decades ago.
Rays Infinitum of An
Eternally Shining Star
Dr Kiran Modi,
Founder and Managing Trustee
Family is the basis of a strong, healthy, and
prosperous society. Without family, there is no
community. And without community, there is no
society.
Thus the family is that social support system which
nurtures, nourishes, fosters, and flourishes our present and
future generations. “A family is an anchor for the
development of strong and balanced children and youth,”
believes Dr Kiran Modi, the Founder and Managing
Trustee of Udayan Care.
Dr Modi says that India is a young country with over half of
its population below the age of 25 years. If nurtured well,
this demographic dividend is the biggest advantage for
India. However, a significant number of youth and children
in this country do not have equitable access to nutrition,
education, and safety.
The future of a society and a nation is dependent on the
quality of its youth. Children and youth need the
foundational support and emotional anchor within a family
to grow into strong and balanced adults. It is therefore of
critical importance to strengthen families and enable and
empower them. India has over 23 million orphaned and
abandoned children, who are denied their basic right to
growing up in a nurturing family environment.
“Udayan” is a Sanskrit word meaning “Eternal
Sunshine,” reveals Dr Modi.
Just as the sunlight nourishes life on earth, “Our programs
are designed to nurture and strengthen individuals and their
families,” she says. Registered in 1994 as a Public
Charitable Trust, Udayan Care works to empower
vulnerable children, women, and youth, in 34 cities
across 15 states of India.
Starting with just one small group home (Ghar) for
‘children without parental care’ in Delhi in 1996,

In the last 28 years, Udayan Care has directly impacted the
lives of close to 38,000 children, women, and youth.
Udayan Care has supported various disadvantaged groups
by establishing small childcare homes, enabling girls’
higher education, providing vocational training and
livelihood programs, and advocating for better standards in
institutional care and alternative care space.
Dr Modi states, “In the last 28 years, we have directly
impacted the lives of close to 38,000 children, women, and
youth through our different programs.” This was made
possible only through the support of like-minded people,
donors, partners, volunteers, and staff, who believed in
Udayan’s work and mission.
Each milestone of the 28-year journey has been possible
only because someone, somewhere made a choice to
support the rights of children, youth and women Udayan
serves. Because of the steadfast belief of thousands of
people across the globe, “We have been able to bring
sunshine, hope, and joy in the lives of our beneficiaries as
well as lakhs of indirect beneficiaries from our training
programs and advocacy efforts,” says Dr Modi adding,
“We run five innovative programs under the umbrella of
Udayan Care:”
#Udayan Ghar- Caring Through Family Homes
Udayan Care’s Ghar Program focuses on reintegration,
family strengthening, and provides care and protection to
vulnerable children. Based on the belief that a loving home
and family is the right of every child, Udayan Ghars are
long-term, group residential homes that nurture children
who are orphaned, abandoned or at risk, in a family-like
environment.
This ‘Group Care’ model ensures children are loved and
cared for by a group of Mentor Parents (long-term
volunteers), with the help of a team of caregivers, social
workers, and mental health professionals. Udayan Ghars are
located in middle-class neighbourhoods to help children
integrate with mainstream society.
Children receive a quality education in some of the best
schools. Once they reach the age of 18 years, they are
supported through our Aftercare Program and continue
with higher education or vocational training towards
economic independence. Since its inception in 1996,
Udayan Ghar has nurtured 1640 children.
Dr Modi shares, “Constant efforts are made to reintegrate
children back into their families, and support families in
being able to look after them, or get them into adoption etc.
Those whose families are not functional or not found, they
grow up with us, like a family.”
#Udayan Shalini Fellowship-Empowering Girls
Through Higher Education
Gender discrimination prevents millions of girls from
weaker sections of society to get an equal opportunity to
continue their education. Udayan Shalini Fellowship
Program is unique academic excellence and personality
development program for deserving and talented girls from
underprivileged backgrounds.

An educated and empowered girl not only strengthens her
parental home but also establishes a strong family unit of
her own.
Making a conscious choice to support the higher education
of disadvantaged girls, Udayan Care began the Udayan
Shalini Fellowship (USF) in 2002 in Delhi with 72 girls. It
is aimed at empowering girls from disadvantaged
communities to become dignified, independent women
(Shalinis’), leaders and responsible citizens of tomorrow by
providing financial and mentoring support for secondary
and graduate studies.
It offers personality development training and exposure to
viable career choices. Another primary aim of the program
is to inculcate a sense of social awareness and responsibility
in the girls as they are encouraged to give back to society.
Dr Modi informs, “Today, many of our Shalinis are
pursuing fields like Engineering, Medical Studies,
Chartered Accountancy, Vocational Training, Nursing, and
Computer Science, among others.”
There are over 5500 girls in the program currently. Since its
inception, USF has supported 11,000 girls from low-
economic backgrounds.
#Udayan Care IT Program- Empowering Youth
Through Digital Literacy
Based on Udayan Care’s mission to enable every adult the
dignity of self-reliance, Udayan Care’s Information
Technology and Skill Centres were initiated in 2004 to
enable underserved youth and adults to improve their
livelihood options.
Technical, vocational, and professional skills are lacking
among disadvantaged communities to become
economically self-reliant. The Udayan Care IT Education
and Vocational Training Programs support families by
skilling their young offspring and women with employable
skills and getting them on to financial self-sufficiency
through careers or entrepreneurship.
“Our centres offer certificate and diploma courses in basic
as well as advanced computer applications, such as
Microsoft, Tally and Graphic and Print design etc. Courses
are certified by Microsoft, Tally, Adobe and NIELIT (a
Government body),” says Dr Modi.
Spoken English, life skills and employability training are
also part of the curriculum. As of 1st August 2022, the
UCIT program has skilled over 21,658 youth. The current
placement rate for UCIT students is 70% for entry-level
jobs.
“Our Skill Centre at Greater NOIDA has trained more than
1500 underserved women in Stitching and Tailoring,
Beauty Therapy, Paper Craft, Enamel Work, Block Printing,
Graphic Design, China painting, etc., and provide
livelihood opportunities for disadvantaged women by
selling items created by them, under the label ‘Sukriti,’
says Dr Modi.
The Skill Centre in Pauri, Uttarakhand, runs classes on
Yoga, Digital Literacy, Hindi Typing, Sewing, and
Hospitality. The Centre also works closely with the local
community and assists them with enrolment in various
welfare schemes of the government.
#Skill Development Centres- Building Livelihoods
Through Vocational Skills
“Our Skill Development Centres at Greater Noida and
Pauri Garhwal provide livelihood opportunities for
disadvantaged women,” adds Dr Modi. It is done by
training them in different skills ranging from stitching,
beauty therapy, enamelled products, pottery and papercraft
to computer-aided pattern making and graphic designing.
The items created by them are sold under the label ‘Sukriti’.
#Advocacy, Research and Training (ART)- Advocating
Rights of Children and Youth
Dr Modi says, “Our advocacy efforts explore different
aspects of policy and practice around alternative care for
children and youth through research, publications,
consultations, training, seminars, and workshops. From
recommendations for policy and legislative reform to

training practitioners on standards of care, we also develop
material on various aspects of Alternative Care.
We have instituted Biennial Conferences on Alternative
Care (BICON) to bring together representatives working
on youth development, child protection, and child care.
Our academic, bi-annual, double-peer-reviewed, journal,
“Institutionalised Children: Explorations and Beyond,”
launched in March 2014, now in partnership with SAGE
Publishing, addresses the gaps in research, knowledge, and
counselling practices, prevalent in working with children in
Alternative Care, in the eight South Asian countries. Nine
volumes of this journal that include 17 issues have been
published so far.
Udayan Care has conducted training on various aspects of
juvenile justice and alternative care with key stakeholders,
children, and youth, to build their knowledge, attitude,
capacities and skills in aftercare, case management, and
family-based care in 12 states of India.
So far, 132 sessions have been conducted with over 5400
participants. “We have also been selected by central and
state governments as members of several special
committees on developing guidelines on aspects of child
protection,” mentions Dr Modi.
Udayan Care is also focused on Family Strengthening for
children restored during COVID-19 in Delhi. In October
2021, it launched an innovative project to support 34
families with linkages to schemes and entitlements. Dr
Modi says, “Our ‘Circle of Care’framework enables and
empowers the families thereby ensuring that children
restored to their families do not get unnecessarily separated
again.”
Giving opportunities to young persons to express
themselves and become change-makers. Udayan Care also
started a first of its fellowship program for Care leavers in
India and the program is known as Learning in Fellowship
Together or LIFT. This along with our technical support to
state governments in Bihar and MP are a logical fallout of
the seminal aftercare research we did in 2019 with over 500
Care leavers and 100 key informants.
An Inspirational Journey from Domestic Help to Special
Olympics
Neha (name changed) grew up as a child with special needs
in a hostile environment as her father struggled with alcohol
abuse. Vulnerable due to financial constraints, the family
was forced to send her to work as a domestic worker. She
was exploited by her employers and unable to bear the
trauma, ran away from them.
She was rescued from the streets and transferred to
Jagshanti Udayan Ghar for Girls, Greater Noida. Neha was
enrolled in a Special Education School, where she has
bloomed gracefully. Sports has always been the one
engagement where she found her peace and purpose. Her
untiring zeal for Volleyball has led her to be shortlisted for
the Special Olympics Bharat Volleyball team.
Overcoming Poverty and Disability to Shine
Chetna was diagnosed with profound deafness since birth.
As a child, she could not comprehend why she is different
from others and longed to be like others. Growing up in a
poor household, she was determined to not be dictated by
her fate and to make herself independent and strong. She
joined the Udayan Care IT Centre in West Delhi and
pursued a Diploma in IT where she was trained in both
technical and soft skills. Today, Chetna has joined one of
the top firms as an Accounts Intern. She has achieved her
dream of becoming an independent career woman.
From Battling Poverty to a COVID-19 Warrior
Sweta, the daughter of a stationary books supplier, belongs
to a family of three. She found it difficult to continue her
education on her family’s meagre income. But with the
support from Udayan Shalini Fellowship Program’s
scholarship and personal mentorship, she chased her dreams
fiercely.
Sweta completed her training in nursing and in 2019 was
hired as a Staff Nurse at R.G. Kar Medical College and
Hospital. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked
tirelessly and diligently as a frontline health worker. Her
selfless service towards humanity has been honoured by
prestigious organizations like the Trained Nurses
Association of India and the Rotary Club of Sun City,
Kolkata.
These are just some of the inspirational stories where
Udayan Care supported a young mind to bloom into a
successful life. “We are on a mission to make young lives
shine!” says Dr Modi.

Modern
are
NGOs
Contributing
Holistic
Social Growth?
to
How

Embracing Developments
he best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in
Tthe service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
As rightly quoted by the great global leader and
philosopher Mahatma Gandhi, it is most necessary for us
to understand the social scene around us and step
forward in contributing our best efforts to improve the
situation however and whatever is possible.
We often come across several social situations in our
everyday lives that need to be addressed with proper
planning, efforts, and collective contributions of positive
people. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) play
an important role in identifying social issues, spreading
awareness about them, and initiating basic steps towards
resolving the issues at a fundamental level.
Abolishing Child Labour
Children from low-income families get dragged into
working in laborious work in mines, construction sites,
brick kilns, restaurants, bakeries, dairies, and garages.
Such cases often go unnoticed but happen in the dark
underneath. NGOs play an essential role in spreading
awareness about these unethical and harmful practices,
communicating with employers and families, and
helping resolve their basic problems. These children are
encouraged to enrol in schools where all the basic
facilities are provided. NGOs help families become self-
reliant by working on some income-earning skills based
on the prevailing market requirements.
Encouraging Education in Underprivileged Sections
The concern about illiteracy is addressed by the NGOs
through their awareness drives, counselling the rural
people, labour segments and poor, underprivileged
sections of the society. NGOs collaborate with numerous
organizations and public support to begin schools in
remote areas where students tend to drop out due to the
challenges of travelling long distances. Efforts are being
made to help them relocate to the urban standard regions
where schooling, hostel, and canteen facilities can be
provided. Many entrepreneurs have volunteered to teach
students in schools where teachers are unavailable.
Women Empowerment
Numerous NGOs are instrumental in highlighting,
addressing, and improving the social status of women in
society. Whether rural or urban, NGOs have identified
single/divorced/abandoned women struggling on various
fronts. Various issues of domestic violence, social
stigma and public ill-treatment are addressed by offering
proper counselling, guidance, and moral, physical, and
monetary support for their rehabilitation. Women are
taught several vocational and professional skills for
becoming independent in starting their businesses or
taking up jobs.
Tackling Unemployment
Unemployment is one of the widespread challenges in
our country, which NGOs are addressing by conducting
”

counselling and training sessions—educating the
unemployed people about getting the right jobs by helping
them in their CV preparation and basic English
communication with essential professional computer
operating skills. SWOT analysis conducted during the
sessions helps in identifying their interests and nature and
preparing them for the relevant job profiles.
Tree Plantation
Rising urbanization coupled with multiplying numbers of
vehicles has put pressure on the environment. Addressing to
the same, numerous NGOs organize frequent tree plantation
drives to increase the essential green cover in the region.
They organize the complete activities by procuring different
types of plant saplings, identifying the open areas, and
inviting many people to volunteer for this activity.
Initiatives of organizing and providing saplings to people in
various common areas are conducted to enable people to
contribute to the tree plantation drives.
Water Conservation
Rising population, uncertain monsoon movements and
expanding infrastructure have led to a yearly water
consumption rise. Modern NGOs help address the issues of
uneven water supply, water scarcity, water leakages and
water conservation. They keep a close tab on water usage in
residential, commercial and industrial areas and spread
awareness about optimizing water consumption.
Resolving Traffic Issues
Day by day, the number of vehicles on roads is increasing,
putting pressure on the current traffic system. NGOs
organize regular drives to support the traffic authorities in
spreading awareness of the use of helmets, wearing
seatbelts, and observing and respecting traffic signals. The
volunteers wearing neon-coloured jackets and caps assist
the unmanned traffic signals, unmanned railway crossings
and busy squares of the city.
Supporting Senior Citizen
The fast-moving life of this modern world has made it
challenging for senior citizens to cope with the pace.
Many social organizations with NGOs have made a
network of their volunteers in keeping track of the senior
citizen in every area, who reach up to them for interacting,
communicating, listening, helping, supporting, counselling,
and attending to their needs. The senior citizen has many
unspoken issues on health, movements, talking and
recreation, which the NGOs positively address. The purpose
here is to help them lead a comfortable and nurtured life.
Elevating Lives Through Selfless Strides
The role of NGOs today is vast and deep-rooted. Many of
them operate directly and discreetly, focusing on making a
change in the lives of the needy. Led by the strong desire to
help people and inspiring many others to join their noble
efforts, NGOs today have developed valuable and
promising hope for the challenged and underprivileged
sections, thereby contributing to uplifting the lives of many.
- Kedar Borgaonkar

Empowering Steady Framework for
Financial Independence
UDYOGINI
Udyogini provides
cutting-edge solutions –
skill-based jobs,
market-based livelihoods,
and local enterprises
suitable to women’s
contexts, aspirations,
and capabilities.
Arvind K. Malik
CEO
Udyogini

Women’s Empowerment has been the primary
focus for both government and most Non-profit
organizations. Voluntary action promoted by
the prominent NPOs and NGOs engaged in development
play a significant role in rural development, which is
dependent upon the active participation of the stakeholders
to get the distinct programs implemented for the betterment
of Women’s lives.
Moreover, women empowerment can be achieved by
adopting a gender-sensitive developmental approach, access
to education, functional literacy, political and ecosystem
support, an effective pro-women legislation and focused
employment generation programs for women.
NPOs, NGOs and self-help groups (SHGs) play a very vital
role towards women empowerment by providing basic
education, vocational and entrepreneurship training for self-
employment, legal aid, protection for women, gender and
self-awareness programs.
Udyogini stands out as a leading NPO and a pioneer in
developing an entrepreneurship framework by integrating a
gender lens and classifying barriers women face at each
stage of becoming an entrepreneur.
Udyogini works with the most vulnerable, marginalized
women to empower them economically. Under the coherent
leadership of Arvind K. Malik, CEO, Udyogini caters to
the needs of poor women, building their capacity and
strengthens local resources and ecology for creating
sustainable livelihoods.
Empowerment is a journey, and economic independence is
one milestone. It is a powerful tool for acquiring confidence
and self-belief. Udyogini offers pathways for financial
independence through entrepreneurship, skill-based jobs,
and self-employment.
The organization recognizes the barriers women face as
they decide to move up the ladder socially, economically
and politically; hence, it strives to strengthen the overall
space of women in the family and in social spheres for
women to have an enabling environment to realize their full
potential.
A Coherent Leadership
Arvind has a degree in Forestry Science from Pantnagar
Agriculture University and advanced training in human
rights. He has over 30 years of experience working with
some leading national and international NGOs in the
development sector.
He spent two and half years as Regional Rural
Development Manager, Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan,
between 2011 to 2013. Arvind was recognized as Ford
Fellow in 2015, a global fellowship organized by Ford
Motor Company and 92 Street Y, USA.
An Odyssey of Proficiency
Udyogini has a remarkable history of inception. It was
conceptualised in 1992 by a group of eminent people to
implement an innovative project of the World Bank called
“Women Enterprise Management Training and Outreach
Program” to create a movement for women’s economic
empowerment in India. In that era, the organization was
recognized as a service provider and a resource agency to
NGOs and Government Bodies, under the leadership of
(Chair and founding member) Ms Ela Bhatt, the Founder of
Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA).
From 2000 onwards, Udyogini has evolved as an expert in
Entrepreneurship, particularly building livelihoods by
promoting micro enterprises in selected products value
chains and creating rural jobs along the entire value chain in
rural areas, ensuring that women and youth have a decent
income and voice to change their own circumstances.
Some of the earliest projects include promoting handicraft
cluster in Pugal Bikaner, Rajasthan, incense sticks
production and chunari making in Saharanpur, UP and
forest and farm-based products in Mandla, MP.
Currently, Udyogini is operating in five states – including
Chhattisgarh. Madhya Pradesh. Uttarakhand, Jharkhand,
and Rajasthan – engaging with over 50,000 women and
youth in 22 different products such as honey, lac, chilli,
tamarind, herbal tea, ghee, and many more.
Empowering Furtherance
Udyogini provides cutting-edge solutions – skill-based jobs,
market-based livelihoods, and local enterprises suitable to
women’s contexts, aspirations, and capabilities. The team
challenge the notion that entrepreneurship is a male-
dominated space and connects aspiring women (and youth)
with the markets, removes barriers, builds skills, capacity
and enables assurance of resources.

As women’s income increases, they exercise greater agency
and challenge the status quo at home and outside.
Integrating Values with Brilliance
Mr Malik expresses, “Women’s entrepreneurship doesn’t
exist in a vacuum. Their surroundings may have a direct
and indirect impact on their aspirations, let alone on their
enterprises. We recognize that it is important to overcome
some of the worries for women and strengthen their
environments so they can invest strongly in their dreams.”
To make this happen, Udyogini actively works on –
Ÿ Creating a more gender-equal discourse by integrating
Gender Justice Training and Entrepreneurship
(involving men of the families/communities). Women
viewed as drivers and leaders
Ÿ Focus on capacity building for women (Starts with
incremental steps towards from livelihood security for
poverty alleviation and moves to empowerment through
promotion of Micro Enterprise)
Ÿ Strengthening value chain of local produce through
end-to-end solution (input supply, production,
Aggregation, Value addition, Marketing)
Ÿ Basket Approach for sustainable livelihood
Ÿ Protecting and managing natural resources/ecology to
bolster communities’ bond with their natural
environments.
Ÿ Addressing immediate needs through convergence with
government and other organization such as water,
hygiene, health, and sanitation so women are able to
focus on more productive activities.
Ÿ Improving ﬁnancial and functional literacy and linkages
with social protection schemes of the Government.
Skill Building is integral to creating livelihoods. Udyogini
recognizes that skills-based jobs/ employment are a dream
for many, especially young men, and women. The estimates
also paint a similar picture – as many as 49% of the total
unemployed in India are young job seekers. (Niti Ayog,
2017).
An Ultimate Bequest
The organization works with partners and technical
institutions that provide standard operating procedures, skill
training and job placements.

Ultimately, Udyogini mobilizes youth, screens their
interests, addresses their apprehensions, and prepares them
for higher education, vocational and soft skill development,
and job placements. So far, the organization has skilled and
placed 20,000 youth.
Similarly, it also recognizes that self-employment is an
important strategy for building livelihoods. The skill-based
jobs (blue, white, and pink collar) may not be adequate in a
country like India, given its large population and poor job
absorption capacity.
Adopting a futuristic approach, Udyogini assists young men
and women in setting up a rural enterprise through skill
training, linkages for financial and business support, and
handholding. Adding to this, Mr Malik says, “So far, we
have supported 50,000 women for self-employment, and
currently, we are training another 20,000 young women for
self-employment under the Tejaswini Programme.”
Basking in the
Reflected Glory
Ÿ Udyogini received the ‘Aga Khan Foundation
India Innovation Fund’ (A Competitive
Award) in the year 2006 for its project on
building a handicraft enterprise in Pugal block,
Bikaner district, Rajasthan.
Ÿ Udyogini was one of five Indian organizations
to be selected by Yale University’s Global
Social Entrepreneurship Program for a
partnership.
Ÿ Udyogini has won the ‘Amodini Award’ for
women empowerment at Godfrey Philips
Bravery Award Ceremony.
Ÿ Udyogini was recognized by National Rural
Livelihood Mission (NRLM), Ministry of
Rural Department, Govt of India as one of the
pioneers in NPOs to effectively deliver
extension services for scientific cultivation of
LAC (designed and developed by Indian
Institute of Natural Resins and Gums -IINRG,
Ranchi) to 10000 tribal producers in three
districts of Jharkhand.
This achievement was further acknowledged by
FORD FOUNDATION to scale up the extension
model through other non-profits in states like
M.P, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.
Ÿ Udyogini has recently been recognized as the
‘Chairperson’s Distinction for 2019-20’ in the
Entrepreneurship and Outreach category for
uplifting rural and tribal women by helping
them become self-sufficient” by the 6th eNGO
Challenge.
Ÿ Udyogini was awarded the ‘World of Differ-
ence 100 Award’ for Making a difference in
Women’s economic empowerment by The
International Alliance for Women, Washington
DC, USA.

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