Vision

Dhara for Sustaining Life envisions to create a knowledge driven society, where value education, happiness, sustainable lifestyle, clean environment and equality are the real indicators of development.

Mission

We, at Dhara, have accepted the challenge of creating a model of inclusive development. Inclusive Development is one where there is economic, social and political empowerment simultaneously.

In India, where we have high economic growth, there is high inequality as well. Urban areas with 32% population generate more than two-third of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Agriculture which employs 50% of workforce contributes less than 20% to Gross Value Added (GVA). Women who constitute 48% of demography constitute only a fraction of the workforce. Youth which has the highest potential, lack effective skills to get decent employment. Still, India has one of the highest disease burdens in communicable and non-communicable diseases despite we have rich knowledge of both traditional and modern medicine.

Gandhiji strongly believed in the power of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to bring balanced growth. But today, they contribute very less to the GDP, employment as well as formal economy. India faces water stress because of unregulated usage, poor attitude towards conservation and water pollution. Linear economy model has led to high waste generation – plastic waste, solid waste and hazardous waste. These grim realities present great opportunities to give back to the society and the environment.

Hamara Nara, Samaveshi Bharat bane Hamara. (Our slogan – Our India becomes inclusive)

Our approach is to bring holistic development for those at the bottom rung of the society, economy and polity.

Objective

Education: By education, we mean social empowerment. Value education is one which not only literates but also enlightens. Our work is centred on making children and youth capable to think independently and rationally. They should be guided by values of “Not me but You”, and “Service of people is Service of God”.

Rural Development: We strive to unlock the potential of the rural communities and economy by exposing them to area specific development strategy. For this, we hold extensive discussions with villagers to understand main bottlenecks. We also have a rich knowledge bank of various successful models from which we derive inspiration.

Agriculture: We collaborate with agriculture specialists to spread awareness about sustainable farming methods among not only the farmers but also the educated youth. This enables educated persons to take up scientific techniques. We also help farmers take full benefit of the thriving ecosystem of services.

Women and Youth Empowerment: We empower the two main pillars of our demographic dividend through – skills, education and collectivization. We not only suggest sustainable livelihood strategies to them but also engage with them constantly to implement the same. Simultaneously, we help overcome challenges faced by underprivileged, disabled and vulnerable sections through appropriate actions.

Citizen Awareness (Lok Kalyan) and Attitudinal Change: For us, this is prime focus area because ignorance is biggest evil. When people are informed, they take better decisions which benefits them and the society. We do extensive surveys, interviews, seminars etc. to spread awareness about people rights, responsibilities and roles.

Sustainable Development: We follow one principle in all our activities always - “there is enough for everyone’s needs, but not for anyone’s greed”. We strongly believe that if your hands get dirty in cleaning, then that dirt is good. We strive to invoke the spirit of environmentalism in society. Also, we work to achieve consideration of environment in all policies of government.

We work in collaboration with our partners, with full enthusiasm and motivation to achieve our Mission.