The starting question
A group of like-minded individuals came together in early 2016 to address a big problem in the social sector. They chose education as their domain — and started exploring what could be the biggest, most under-addressed problem within it.
What we found
Nearly 70% of school-going children in India are in villages. More than 90% of them drop out before completing schooling. Beyond an incomplete education, they lacked essential life skills — self-esteem, communication, confidence, teaming, resilience and values.
The insight
Job opportunities in villages are limited. The only path to superior livelihood is entrepreneurship — but well-developed life skills are the prerequisite. So we work with children at their most impressionable age (5–14) so that, ten years later, the skills are there when the opportunities are.
For girl children, in particular
In villages, girl children also face the pressure of being forced to drop out and into early marriage. The development of life skills — confidence, voice, self-esteem — addresses these issues at their root.
Our journey
Our initiative started in November 2016, under the aegis of Sahyog Foundation, a trust registered with 12A and 80G certifications. We were kindly let to carry out our initiative by the Managing Trustee, Mr. Anish Kumar, with the understanding that once we were ready to grow, we would set up a separate entity. NavSahyog Foundation was that entity.
