“First we had to change ourselves before we could do anything about our community.”

— Gyarsi Bai

Now a seasoned activist who emerged as a young leader from the community. She has been recognized and awarded by the Rajasthan government for her contribution to community service.

ActionAid India emphasizes engaging with communities we work with, building their capacities so they can better participate in the interventions for change, voice their ideas of growth and development, and step forward to access their rights and entitlements. In order to help the community engage more actively AcionAid India conducts programmes to build leadership skills for young women and men, and orient traditional leaders to giving them space, so that the youth are able to better mobilise their community to address issues they face. Seeking to tap into their energies and enthusiasm this programme targets the youth.

Raji was married at 12 and had her first child at 15. With an ailing husband she found herself at crossroads at a very young age of 22. However, she has overcome all odds and is a leader in her community of fish vendors today and is now one of the active voices of an initiative supported by ActionAid in Jalaripalam, Vishakapattanam, AP.

What ActionAid India has been able to achieve recently:

• Around 19,000 youths from socially excluded communities have been trained in leadership schools on various aspects of the constitution, law and principles of social justice.
• 5531 panchayat members,of which 1080 are women, have been trained to use their term in the panchayat to serve the community better.
• 250 community watch groups have been formed for monitoring public services provided by government.