Reading Time: 5 minutes ‘Leading from a place of compassion’ may seem like an ambiguous concept, but it surprises us when we see it in action. Perhaps its simplicity surprises us, but if we look around, what seems really profound is really simple. I am sharing this because my recent field visits to Shadhika’s partner organizations were also full   

Reading Time: 6 minutes ‘करुणा की स्थान से नेतृत्व करना’ शब्दों में समझना मुश्किल होता है, लेकिन इसे कार्रवाई में देखकर हमें ताज्जुब होता है। शायद इसकी सादगी हमें चौंका देती है। लेकिन अगर हम अपने चारों ओर देखें, तो बहुत सी गहरी चीजें सबसे सरल चीजें हैं। मैं इसे यहां साझा कर रहा हूं क्योंकि मेरी हाल की   

Reading Time: 3 minutes Climate justice and action to reverse the climate crisis is a burning global topic highly advocated by youth around the world. In response to this urgent agenda, Shadhika has received an opportunity to address “Climate Change as a Girls Rights Issue” through a Posner Center Collaboration Grant.  Educating girls has been regarded as one of   

Reading Time: 8 minutes Shadhika implemented the Community Leadership Project component of the Scholarship Program in June 2019. All scholars select topics based on their community’s needs. They learn so many things while planning a project, like budgeting, project management and how to have a helpful and enjoyable conversation in person. The main goal of the community leadership project   

Reading Time: 6 minutes Shadhika’s work to empower young women to reach their full potential begins with the Supports for Success (S4S) program. Since its inception, Supports for Success has become the foundational program through which Shadhika and our partners aim to advance Indian young women’s rights and ultimately support empowered young women leaders. As of 2021, Shadhika works   

Reading Time: 9 minutes Violence against women is a deep rooted and a complex global predicament which predominantly exists under every roof of a woman’s world. Some forms of violence are visible, however most are neglected as they remain invisible. Both forms of violence share a thin line of acceptability and often overlap or are pushed “under the rug”   

Reading Time: 7 minutes As we near the end of October, our Shadhika team and partners reflected on the multitude of ways we have transitioned and adapted all in-person programming and communication to virtual platforms since March 2020. Indeed, our collective global society is more and more accustomed to the reality of virtual conferences, training, lectures, classrooms, and even   

Reading Time: 15 minutes In August 2020, as India celebrated it’s 74th Independence Day, the central government announced they would increase the legal age of marriage for Indian women from 18 years to 21 years with the hope of halting issues related to the age of motherhood, maternal mortality rates and child nutritional levels. The existing law, “The Prohibition   

Reading Time: 8 minutes With nearly 370,000 known COVID-19 cases and over 12,000 related deaths, India is in Phase I of re-opening the country after nearly 3 months of strict national lockdown. This means that places of worship and select hospitality businesses–including shopping malls–are allowed to be open while respecting social distancing precautions. Whether or not the country will   

Reading Time: 3 minutes Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, Shadhika raised over $20,000 for our COVID-19 fund to give our partner sites the flexibility to address emerging needs on the ground. Over the last 3 months, India has been under a strict national lockdown, leaving businesses and schools closed and leading to devastating unemployment rates. Our partners listened to the   

Reading Time: 3 minutes It has been a little over three years since the COVID-19-induced lockdowns hit India, and we continue to grapple with the profound impact it has had on us. While the proportion of out-of-school girls fell to a record 2% in 2022 (Annual Status of Education Report, 2022), women’s employment fell by nearly 40% post-Covid according   

Reading Time: 6 minutes “I’d never seen women using a laptop in my family, so didn’t know if even girls can use a laptop. So that ‘fear’ was instilled in me and my mom that and the fear only kept increasing among the other women of the family too…”  When access to technology and digital spaces is dictated by   

Reading Time: 4 minutes Welcome to the first post of our Executive Director’s blog series! In this series, our Executive Director will be sharing insights on Shadhika’s mission, our gender justice work, and the impact of our programs in India. Follow our Executive Director on Instagram and Twitter for more! Read more from The Executive Director’s Desk here. We   

Reading Time: 4 minutes “I want to send my daughter to college but my family wants me to marry her off soon so she won’t be a burden on the family. I don’t have money to take care of her, so I don’t know what to do. I can’t let her dreams be cut short so soon either,” said   

Welcome to Shadhika’s 2020 – 2021 Annual Report. While the past 18 months have been overwhelming, at Shadhika, we have been uplifted by the stories of resilience, perseverance, and leadership our community demonstrates every day. In fact, our hard copy of the report could not contain all we wanted to share. Hence, we present this