To contribute towards social change, social entrepreneurs capable of innovative thinking are needed to
ideate, create and implement path-breaking solutions to social problems. Listed below are some of the Social Enterprises and NGOs established by our Alumni
- Criminal Justice & Police Accountability Project:
It is an intervention focused on the criminalisation of certain communities
by the Police and the criminal justice system and on decarceration. The project is a
grassroots litigation-research based intervention based in Bhopal, working in specific
locations, and with particular communities across the State of Madhya Pradesh.
Read more about the project here
Nikita Sonavane, the co-founder of this project, holds an LL.M in Law and Development
degree from Azim Premji University (APU), Bangalore (2016-17) and an LL.B. degree
from Government Law College, Mumbai. She has worked as a legal researcher and an
advocate for three years. Prior to the project she has worked on issues of Adivasi
self-governance and sexual violence.
You can follow them on Twitter and Instagram for regular updates of their work.
- Spriha Society:
After completion of M.A. Development(2015-17), Ankita Ghosh has set up Spriha Society, accompanied by two other young professionals. The organization is set up in March 2020.
They work with marginalized community. Specifically with women and children’s health (mental and physical) and their Education. They are planning to set up medical camps in and around Kolkata.
As the world currently is facing a crisis, the team is distributing food kits to daily wage earners, migrant workers, domestic helpers and also few slums.
Click here to to find them on Facebook.
- Maati Foundation (From Roots to Wings):
The essence of Maati lies in community building as we seek to create a community where experiences are shared, ideas are emerged, individuals are empowered, partnerships are formed, challenges are tackled and solutions are found. Maati aims to re-define education and thereby facilitating the reformation of schools and the education system at large. The idea is to create a platform for the stakeholders to come together in order to initiate a conversation around school transformation.
Maati is founded by Shreshtha Jain, Batch of 2017.
Click here to read more about Maati Foundation.
- Step India Foundation:
A world where children with special needs and typically developing children recognize abilities, not disabilities, and learn together in high-quality, inclusive environments.
Their Mission is to nurture all children with and without special needs in safe, inclusive and supportive environments through education, therapeutic intervention and community acceptance.
Step India Foundation is founded by Hazrat, M.A. Development 2012-14, Azim Premji University. Know more
You can also visit their Facebook page for regular updates.
- North East Educational Trust (NEET):
North East Educational Trust (NEET) is a NGO registered as a public charitable trust in Assam, Guwahati founded by Risha, an alumna of the Azim Premji University (2011-13). NEET works with the vision of creating, “A just, equitable and sustainable society, in which the dignity of labour is respected.” NEET’s mission is “to create educational cultures that nourish autonomous, creative and critical thinkers”. NEET is currently focusing on implementing library programme in government schools to strengthen children’s literature engagement and enhance their critical thinking. It intends to set up a vibrant community library and a community outreach programme that would function through a mobile library in a rural area of the Kamrup District to provide access to children of that particular area to the library experience. Through it, oral folklore and narratives from the community would be documented in the form of short stories.
Read more about Risha’s work here.
- Library for All (LfA)
The idea of Library for All (LfA) was born in the mind of two ex-students of Azim Premji University who hail from Manipur. The initiative endeavors to provide enriched learning environment to all children by improving existing libraries and setting up new libraries in government elementary schools and thus contributing towards the transformation of the school education system in Manipur. LfA also aims to enrich and supplement conventional curriculum in hilly regions where the variety and quality of teaching-learning resources are inadequate. It will try to ensure that all children have access to quality books and resources appropriate to their age and leaning level for a joyful and quality learning. The initiative further aims to enable all children to read, comprehend and present themselves effectively.
Read about Yasin’s Journey here.
Take a look at Kharingyo’s Journey here.
Know more
- Mitti Café:
MITTI facilitates the creation of cafes in corporate, healthcare and educational institutions to
serve organic multi-cuisine fast food and fresh juices. MITTI Cafes are run by a team of persons
with disabilities. By employing such persons, we believe that these persons would act as agents
of change by example and thereby promote a system of self-sustenance and wellness through
our unique livelihood development initiative. These Cafes are unique as they are designed as
platforms for the differently-abled communities to showcase their potential for productive
activity and to create awareness for the cause of equal opportunities in employment.
Alina Alam (Founder) is Alumnus of Azim Premji University (Batch of 2017) aim is to provide
tasty, nutritious, non-GMO and chemical- free food. Know more
- Vidhya Vidhai:
The purpose of Vidhya Vidhai is to bridge the gap between the resourced and under resourced
schools. The drive to work for schools comes from our personal experiences with schooling.
Coming from a schooling process which just thought us to rote learn and have no link between
what we learn and the life we live, we realized the flaw in the education system. Vidhya Vidhai
strongly believe that every individual has the right to quality education and therefore we committed ourselves to work for School Transformation Programme. The vision is “To create an
egalitarian society through education” where each child has equal opportunity to access quality
education
Vidhya Vidhai is founded by Ram Prakash and Regila, Batch of 2017, Azim Premji University. Know more
- Green saver and welfare:
Started by our 2014 – 16 batch alumni Suhawan Singh (Development) this NGO provides
Development consultancy to Members of Parliament. Currently the organization is assisting
Chirag Paswan, M.P. of Jamui (Bihar) and designing and implementing development initiatives at
adopted village under Sansad Aadarsh Gram Yojana. Know more
- Ayang:
After the completion of his fellowship with American India Foundation, Dharamjeet (Batch of
2016) returned to work at Majuli, Assam. He and his friends Bipin & Vatan have formed ‘Ayang’,
an organisation to engage with the Mishing community of the river island Majuli. Know more
- Sanstuti Foundation:
Sanstuti Foundation is established in Uttar Pradesh to support the Village government schools.
The foundation support the government schools in Quality support programme. The Program is
based on 3 principals i.e. Student Engagement, Teacher Engagement, Community Connect.
Sanstuti is founded by Santosh Verma, Batch of 2017
Know more
- Dviti Foundation:
After completion of M.A. Education (2013-15), Amita Nizam worked for over two years as a teacher and a teacher trainer with schools in India and the middle east.
Her interactions and exposure to primary stakeholders-teachers and students as well as an understanding of classroom as an entity, she identified a problem that she desperately wanted to solve. She identified that while there were talks about the agency of the learner and constructivist pedagogies, at the end of their school life learners still struggle to make their own meaning out of the learning imparted in school and steer ahead in life. Conformity was still harming the basis of educational health.
The result was Dviti Foundation, formed after a year-long research in the domain of social and emotional learning
Read more about Dviti here
Follow their work at https://www.facebook.com/dvitifoundation/
- SIMPLE : Simple, Ingenious,Mindful, Products for Lifestyle and Environment.
SIMPLE is an initiative towards creating an awareness and a consciousness regarding our consumption patterns and our waste creating lifestyle.
Through our products and services we wish to start a conversation about our waste stories and the consequences our civilization and planet is facing due to the current cycle of consumption.
Our vision is to facilitate people to live a healthy , enriching life which is guided by creative,innovative lifestyle changes that reduces the waste going in our landfills.This initiative is our way to contribute towards building a mindful community that lives to create a simple,healthy and sustainable environment free of waste.
Simple was co-founded by Anushree and Vartika (M.A. Development
2015-17), Azim Premji University.
Currently they are coming up with their very own Zero Waste Travel Kits.
You can always message them or drop them a message on their Instagram page.
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: zerowastetravel_av
- Gubbachi Learning Community:
Gubbachi are the community of learners who have come together to bridge migrant out of
school children back into the public education system. A program which endeavours to make
learning meaningful for the child and strives to improve the life chances of the child and
potentially, his/her family!
Five Alumni of Azim Premji University (Batch of 2013) wanted to hit the ground with a mix of
Experience, frameworks and passion which resulted in Gubbachi Learning community. The
founders are:
- Somya Suri
- Nomita Sikand
- Rizwan Ahmed
- Joseph deyone Jacobi
- Preethy Rao patel
Know more
- Reach India Foundation:
Reach India foundation is a non-governmental organization committed towards developing
critical perspectives on education among the community of teachers, parents, youths, children
and towards encouraging holistic education of all members of society. Reach India extends the
discourse on education from quantitative to qualitative perspectives.
Reach India is a collective of educational and development professionals. The foundation is
based in Wayanad district of Kerala, which by virtue of its geographical separation, distinctness
and difference in demography, faces numerous challenges including those in the provision of
quality education for all.
Janakiraman Durai, Batch of 2015, Azim Premji University anchors the initiative Reach India
Foundation at Mananthavady, Wayanad, Kerala. Reach India Foundation was Co-founded by
Anita Jose, Muhammed Asrath, Vijitha Rajan, Muneer C, Aboobacker Sidheque. Know more
- Credence Learning Foundation (CLF):
The organization is established at Kolar by Qaadir Maaz (Batch of 2016), Karnataka to work on
life skills development among school students. Currently, the life skills are targeted through two
interventions- Early Childhood Education-ECE and Adolescence Education. Both the projects are
on a pilot basis. CLF is working with 2 partner schools. Know more
- Rahi Art Crafts:
RCI is a national level platform for handicrafts manufacturers, suppliers and exporters. RCI
emerges out with a large collection of beautiful handicrafts made by highly skilled and professional team of artisans. They basically deal in wood craft, metal crafts and other similar
kind of products. The aim is to provide a wide array of handicrafts to customer at their door.
Rahi is founded by Akbar, Batch of 2016. Know more
- Knappily:
Knappily is a digital magazine app meant for the “knowledge-hungry time starved people” of
today. The app, available for free on Play Store and App Store, comes with an interesting
framework – 5W1H (What, Why, When, Where, Who, and How). The app uses this framework
to not just uncover information about a topic but also provide complete coverage on it.
Ranjith kumar (CTO & Co-Founder) Alumni of Azim Premji University (Batch 2016) has a leaning
towards social sector and has engaged with various NGOs for addressing developmental
challenges. Know more
- RUDRA (Rural Urban Development Research and Action):
When Kena Holkar completed her Engineering in Computer Science she opted to do a postgraduation in Development with a deep desire to contribute in the development Sector
After working for organisations like Srijan she decided to form an organisation of her own and RUDRA was born.
After the formation of Rudra, they have been working in Dadha Gram Panchayat, Chatra District, Jharkhand. Nature of work under the ambit of Rural Development is with a dream of creating a model village, a society which has achieved holistic development in all spheres of life. A society which is intrinsically linked with the laws of nature and believes in community effort. Their projects spread over all spheres of human lives i.e. Health, sanitation, livelihood, community institution building, women empowerment and Environment.
Read Kena’s journey here.
Follow their work at https://www.facebook.com/rudradevelopment/
- Travelling Tripod Films:
Travelling Tripod Films is a documentary video and photo production house working with governments, multilateral organizations, research institutes and nonprofits in telling stories of human interest in the social development sector. In the course of time, they have been fortunate to have associated with individuals and organizations from India and abroad in covering some of the most fascinating stories of challenges, positive interventions and best practices in the development landscape.
Travelling Tripod Films was founded by Goutham G, (M.A. Development 2011- 13), along with a group of film makers and development practitioners.
You could know more about their work here : www.travellingtripodfilms.com
- We- Mana:
We- Mana is a social enterprise that is committed to nutrition, especially the nutrition of the socially and economically marginalised.
Uma R. Maheswari, alumnus of Azim Premji University, Batch of 14 is the founder of We-Mana.
Follow their initiatives here.
- NEED Charitable Trust:
Necessity of Education, Equality and Dignity.
Sai Harish Perka after graduating in B.Sc (Biology) from Azim Premji University founded NEED, a non-profitable charity trust.
The objectives of the organization include activity based and practical based learning and skill shops with experts of respective fields for the parents as they believe that parents ignorance shouldn't limit children dreams.
Making education accessible to the people at the bottom of the pyramid is the soul of the organization. Click here to know more about NEED.
- NayiTaleem:
NayiTaleem provides continuous assessment for CBSE Schools to
understand the learning gaps amongst students and communicate the
to Students and Teachers in real-time. Currently,
we are based out of IIM Bangalore as part of the Launchpad program of NSRCEL.
Nithin Vijayan, an alumnus of Azim Premji University,
Batch of 2014-16 is the Founder of NayiTaleem.
Get in touch with Team NayiTaleem Google Form
- BastaR se BazaaR tak
This enterprise is trying to enhance livelihoods of local forest dwellers by
reducing post-harvest losses and supplying high quality, unadulterated,
processed forest produce to urban consumers at a fair price.
The co-founder of ‘BastaR se BazaaR tak’ Satendra
Singh Lilhare an alumnus of Azim Premji University (M.A. Development)
He has also worked for more than seven years as a freelancer which includes liaison with government officials for welfare projects