NGOs in Gujarat

Hi Friends on IL. This seems to be a bustling community and I'm so happy to be here.

Does anybody know of any good NGOs working in Gujarat? One of my friends would like to take up volunteering opportunities with an NGO. She's was working for many years before her kids were born. Now they have begun to go to school and she has some free time to spare. The work could be from home or she is also willing to travel a bit.

Please do let me know of some good NGOs in Gujarat. Thanks

There are several NGOs in Gujarat, considering Gujaratis are by tradition a very charitable community in general. One of the most prominent amongst those is SEWA, based in Ahmedabad.

SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association) is an organisation of poor, self-employed women workers. Registered as a trade union in 1972, SEWA’s main goals are to organise women workers for full employment. Full employment means employment whereby workers obtain work security, income security, food security and social security (at least health care, child care and shelter).
SEWA encourages and helps women to be autonomous and self-reliant, individually and collectively, both economically and in terms of their decision-making ability.

The mission of Shikshan Ane Samaj Kalyan Kendra (SSKK) is to provide an alternative choice of livelihood systems which will result in healthy living conditions of women and children, reliant with justice, equity and pride. Gram Seva Trust was started by doctors with a dedication to work for poor rural people. Their main aim is to provide health care to people and help the village people to develop a conducive atmosphere to live in.

Mission : Alternative choices of livelihood for sustainable and healthy mass.

Background : The Saurashtra region of Gujarat is drought prone. This has resulted in migration of the people for livelihood alternatives. Men move to find jobs leaving the women and children behind.

In 1980, SSSK, based in Amreli was formed to help communities generate income Mr. D. V. Vagadia, the Hon. President, is the also founder of the Amreli Unit of Youth Hostels Association of India.

Utthan, a registered non-profit organization, has been working in four water stressed and resource poor districts in Gujarat for the past twenty years. Founded in 1981 by four professional women inspired by Professor Ravi Mathai's famous "Jawaja" experiments in Rajasthan, interventions were directed at initiating sustainable processes of empowerment among the vulnerable communities to struggle for their basic rights.

Utthan's journey in development began in Dhandhuka taluka, Ahmedabad district in the geographic region of Bhal, one of the most resources poor regions of the state and infamously known as napaania or waterless. Here, Utthan facilitated the emergence of a community-based group known as Mahiti that initiated a women's movement around accessing their right to regular safe drinking water, a movement that challenged patriarchy and feudal exploitation, caste discrimination at the local levels.

The struggle for their basic right to drinking water brought women into public space and enabled them to highlight their problems at the state level too. The movement also pressurized the Gujarat Water Supply & Sewerage Board (GWSSB), a state government agency and the World Bank, to approve a project that sought to promote decentralized rain water harvesting structures such as plastic lined ponds, roof water collection tanks etc. in the villages of Bhal.

This involved a shift in the perspective of these institutions, from supporting the large centralized water supply system which left the communities totally disempowered and failing to provide safe, adequate drinking water to supporting initiatives for decentralized water supply system. Although Mahiti has become an independent organization and a local force since 1994, the activities of the two organizations are still closely linked.

Utthan
36, Chitrakut Twins
Nehru Park, Vastrapur
Ahmedabad 380 015

Can anyone please give me some information about an NGO 'Yuva Unstoppable' working in Ahmedabad? What are they mainly involved in and are they working in other parts of Gujarat. I'm interested in joining an NGO working for children. Does Yuva unstoppable work in that field. Please share some information.

Hi Tanvi and hetalpanchal.
Read ur posts on the Several NGO s working here in Ahmedabad.I am based at Ahmedabad and my roots are from Utelia a small village called Utelia.I belong to an influencial family of that area and i have a wish to work for the betterment of the women in my area.specially in areas of Health care for Women folks specially and Primary and secondry Education.I have been always toying with the idea of starting an NGO but i do not have the basic knowledge about how to go about with all the formalities of starting one..can you if possible throw some light towards my dark path.

Hi Seema, Firstly, my heartiest congratulations to you for your noble thought. I'd like to know, have you in any small way done or started helping women in your area....it may even start from the maid in your house - by educating her, teaching her some skills and even making sure her children studies. You may then even go to the area she lives and hold classes for the women and children in that area, with the help of like-minded people who believes that education is essential for the upliftment of the society.

If you have done this, and enjoy the experience...then you may consider the next step of having an NGO and help people on a larger scale.

Let us know your views.

Thanks,

Hi Seuli,

Since I v been married which is almost 16 years now I have been very closely associated with the people of my village specially in regard to water problems which is immense in the area of Bhal -Dholka Dhandhuka .The NGO Mentioned by one of the Indus inmates is working there since 25 years as mentioned but i wonder what has been done in this perticular area cause there is immense water problem in dhandhuka and near by villages.Dhandhuka is still better known as it is on the gujarat map but what about the villages of that area.??? ANY WAYS MY POINT HERE IS THAT i WANT TO NOW OPEN AN ngo SO THAT THE AWARENESS CAN BE BROUGHT ABOUT MORE PROMINENTLY .LEGALY AND EASILY .WORKING JUST AS AN INDIVIDUAL BECOMES VERY DIFFICULT AND CAN BE WORKED ON VERY SMALL LEVEL.

Congrats Seema for your noble thoughts! Its true, having an NGO helps in giving a platform to the cause; however, what is needed is to raise awareness amongst all around you about the problems and issues that surround us in our day to day life.

Water is definitely a problem in areas adjacent to Dhandhuka. I hope you can initiate a new beginning to bring a change in Dhanduka.

All the best . I invite forum members to please write here with ideas and suggestions, so as to help Seema in her cause.

Thank you,
Bhavna

Sorry to move a little away from gujarat....since seema has mentioned of water problems, i think in rajasthan they have done a very good job on rain water harvesting and also trying to plant new trees etc.

Instead on relying on the govt. it seems the people themselves took the initiative of the above project and they have been successful too.