Samarthya

Over the past 15 years Samarthya has developed and strengthened access to socio-economic, educational, and human rights of socially excluded communities in 38 villages and 7 slums in Maharashtra state of India. Samarthya, a youth-founded women-led organization, works with women, youth and children from the Indigeneous community called Denotified Nomadic Tribes (DNTs). The 150-million DNTs have been historically marginalized since British times. Disparagingly called “criminal tribes”, they face extreme levels of prejudice and legal discrimination. Routinely excluded from government programs and constitutional safeguards, people from DNTs have limited or no access to basic human rights. Samarthya works across Education, Gender, Disaster Relief and Governance. Ms. Ranjita Pawar, Founder of Samarthya, is from the DNT Laman community, remains driven by horrific caste and gender-based violence and stigmatisation she experienced growing up. The first teacher in her community, Ranjita excelled in her studies. Since her teenage years, Ranjita has dedicated her life to improving the education of children and opening greater avenues for women to participate in public life with dignity and equity. Samarthya has a team of 15+ - 100% from the DNT community - trained in organizing and training youth, women and children. The team has strong relationships with local elected representatives and partners with various local and national nonprofits. It was selected for the Parity Lab accelerator program and as a PeriodPreneur in 2022. The organization received the Jijau Gaurav Puraskar as one of the top 5 NGOs in Maharashtra in 2018. It was also awarded the Changelooms award (top 10%) and the Communiteer fellowship in 2009. The Founder, Ranjita, received the Udhavarao Petkar Yuva Award as one of the top 2 changemakers in Maharashtra in 2007 and the Jeevan Gourav Puraskar as the most inspiring youth leader in 2009.