Children's Education
Women and Youth
Vulnerable Communities
Project Saksham - Tailoring Skills Training & Enabling Livelihood
Launched in October 2016 in partnership with IDFC First Bank, as part of its CSR initiative, project Saksham is an advanced tailoring internship to facilitate the transition of underprivileged women to entrepreneurs or major livelihood earners.
In its sixth year, the syllabus has been developed with garment manufacturing companies, who have a great need for such skilled workers, and perceive a huge void of skill required for their industry. The internship has been designed in a ‘learn and earn’ format and is imparted in physical centres as well as in online classes. The women are trained and prepped to earn income during and after the 12 week training program through available job-work opportunities.
At the end of their training, women are connected with garment manufacturing companies to use their expertise to fulfill orders from home or in factories. ACT and IDFC First Bank have also dedicated parts of their Saksham centres in Jogeshwari West, Mahakali Caves and Vashi Village to graduates of Saksham, so that those without the space or facilities at home can generate livelihoods through garment partnerships facilitated by ACT.
Project Donna – Income Generation Support to Women
On November 2018, ACT launched Project Donna sponsored by Fondazione Pianoterra focusing on creating income generation opportunities through Stitching, Handwork and Embroidery for women trained in tailoring skills. This is an innovative approach to link artisans to various garment manufacturers and is based on the partnership between ACT and 2nd Innings Handicrafts Pvt Ltd, a social enterprise that owns and runs the lifestyle brand I was a Sari.
The objective of this project is to upgrade the lives of female artisans from the underserved communities and to make them financially self-reliant. ACT artisans are not only skilled but confident, and their average monthly income has increased over 80% since the time they connected with Project Donna. They now lead their lives with dignity and take pride in the work they do within Project Donna.
In our fourth year of Donna, ACT has created a safe space for women, within a professional garment factory type environment, where beneficiaries turned artisans earn livelihoods by stitching, embroidery and handwork activities and become specialized and deliver quality products to garment partners.
Project Madonna- Income Generation through Embroidery and related activities
Project Madonna focuses on providing skills and infrastructure for embroidery and related activities for livelihood
generation, capacity building, and stipend payment to the artisans for the training and on-the-job work related to
embroidery and other activities. Project Madonna is situated in Mumbai’s urban slums and facilitates their earning opportunities.
Project WASH Awareness Programme - Empowerment of rural women and girls by enabling access to clean water and sanitation
ACT joined hands with Water.org as implementation partner for WASH Awareness program in August 2019. Water.org is a global non-profit organization working to bring water and sanitation to the world. It helps people get access to safe water and sanitation through affordable financing, such as small loans. The partnership aims to empower people in need with these life-changing resources – giving women hope, children health and families a bright future.
In our third year, ACT has successfully connected more than thirty thousand women in rural households across 8 states of India with the help of field project coordinators. We continue to spread awareness and education on clean water, sanitation and hygiene benefits, which has become even more crucial in post Covid times.
Project Study Buddy – One-to-one Free Tutorship
The Study Buddy project is a unique after-school study support program and is currently being run at three ACT community centers. College students are enrolled to help tutor poor and needy school students on a one-to-one basis, especially in the core and critical subjects of English, Mathematics, Science and Computers. Volunteers teach the beneficiary children after school, twice or thrice a week for 1 to 2 hours, and help to improve their scholastic performance. Volunteers who successfully complete the minimum hours of service are awarded volunteer certificates.
Project Nanhi Balika - Sponsoring Girl Child Education
ACT supports education for under-privileged girls from Std. 1 to 12 as well as professional graduate and post-graduate courses to empower them with the self-confidence and intelligence required to ensure better lives for themselves. Education of girls lifts not only the individual but also her family, community and society.
We invite donors to use their fortunate ability to create smiles and make a difference by supporting a girl child’s school education and help fulfil her dreams. This ACT of grace and compassion will most certainly change her world and improve the gender equality ratio and status of girls in our society. This sponsorship can also be made as a thoughtful gift to friends and relatives, and as a unique birthday or wedding or any other memorable favour to guests. We urge you to help us raise funds for this much needed girls’ education empowerment initiative.
Project Sakshartaa – Remedial education support for vulnerable children
ACT works on strengthening capacity for education for vulnerable children from Std. 1 to 12 as well as professional graduate and post-graduate courses to empower them with the self-confidence and intelligence required to ensure better lives for themselves. After-school remedial classes have been conducted over the past few years in 13 centres across 15 most vulnerable villages in Dadra Nagar Haveli and in slum communities of Mumbai.
Project Drive Forward –Financial education support for Driver's Children
![IDFC FIRST Bank - Drive Forward IDFC FIRST Bank's Commitment to Supporting Families From India's Driver Community [XezsCjYbZBI - 853x480 - 0m35s]](https://animedhtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/IDFC-FIRST-Bank-Drive-Forward-IDFC-FIRST-Banks-Commitment-to-Supporting-Families-From-Indias-Driver-Community-XezsCjYbZBI-853x480-0m35s-r1frk3q3m8bpbh2a1g2cliqsczvgvfmlsv4dpjtd4o.png "IDFC FIRST Bank – Drive Forward IDFC FIRST Bank’s Commitment to Supporting Families From India’s Driver Community [XezsCjYbZBI – 853×480 – 0m35s]")
![IDFC FIRST Bank - Drive Forward IDFC FIRST Bank's Commitment to Supporting Families From India's Driver Community [XezsCjYbZBI - 853x480 - 1m53s]](https://animedhtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/IDFC-FIRST-Bank-Drive-Forward-IDFC-FIRST-Banks-Commitment-to-Supporting-Families-From-Indias-Driver-Community-XezsCjYbZBI-853x480-1m53s-r1frnxwdivkuq5hkmlsia1vjomyfaxv5bv0r984hq0.png "IDFC FIRST Bank – Drive Forward IDFC FIRST Bank’s Commitment to Supporting Families From India’s Driver Community [XezsCjYbZBI – 853×480 – 1m53s]")
The program is a beacon of hope for the driver community, offering vital financial support beyond merely easing daily struggles. It serves as a bridge to opportunities, empowering families to dream bigger and achieve more. Among the many inspiring stories that emerge from this initiative is that of a young girl whose father, a dedicated driver, has always dreamed of a brighter future for her. This initiative underscores the transformative power of targeted support, helping young girls from underserved communities to rise above challenges, redefine possibilities, and inspire change for generations to come.
Project Nanhe Kadam – Early Childhood Development & Disabilities support to vulnerable children of ages between 0 – 6 years
ACT started working in Dadra Nagar Haveli among underserved adivasi communities in the year 2017. Women empowerment project Samruddhi and children’s after school project Sakshartaa were doing well bringing financial empowerment to women and education support to children. In 2018, we invited knowledge partner- Ummeed CDC and jointly, we observed that there were gaps and certain social and systematic issues that needed to be addressed urgently if children and their families needed to benefit long term from the work that ACT was doing in the community. After doing an intensive need-based assessments, we came to prioritise on early childhood which needed to be addressed if we aimed for a deep rooted impact in the community.
We started working with children of ages between 0 – 6 years of age in order to address early delays and disabilities which is rampant in DNH because of lack of resources and parental education on child development. We have trained 4 members from the community to become Child Development Aides (CDA). More than 590 children and families have been impacted by the interventions promoting early childhood development and therapeutic support to delayed or disabled children, close to their homes.
Project ACT Nutrition – Addressing and mitigating malnutrition among the tribal population in DNH due to identified health, socio-economic, and developmental challenges.
ACT announces the launch of its project to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition in the vulnerable tribal communities of Dadra Nager Haveli Daman & Diya (DNDD), reporting a high prevalence of stunting and wasting ( NFHS -5 survey 2019-2020). ACT will focus on the ‘golden period’ of the First 1000 days of a child, as recommended by UNICEF. Addressing malnutrition during this period is not just an act of charity; it is a strategic investment in the future health and well-being of these communities. ACT now and donate to support this urgent cause.
Project Mehek – Community Mental Health and Emotional Well-being of the children, youth and women of DNH
The tribal communities of Dadra & Nagar Haveli are affected by severe hardships. Theirs is a 5000-year-old legacy and they are cut off from the mainstream as they are ‘shy of contact’. In the last few years, this union territory has become a hub of factories. The indigenous people are landowners and nature lovers and are conflicted with industrialization because it means economic prosperity, job opportunities and progress on one hand and loss of land, pollution, and change in lifestyle adversely impacting the social fabric of the ethnic people on the other hand.
Children, youth and women in this region are the most vulnerable and are afflicted by violence, poverty and alcoholism and have been cut off from development and progress. They face significant gender inequality and have been identified as being highly oppressed and distressed due to lack of education, social issues and lack of livelihood opportunities.
In collaboration with knowledge partner-Ummeed’s Community Mental Health Expert team, we trained 13 adivasi members from the community to address the mental health issues of mothers, children and families. To date, we have connected with over 1000 adivasi families and spent collectively more than 10,000 hours in building relationships of trust, creating emotional safe spaces for the children, youth and women, spreading awareness on mental health, sensitizing the masses and facilitating linkages or referrals to the government’s specialized care services.
Project Dolarani – Enabling economic sustainability and psychosocial resilience of Tribal families by fostering entrepreneurship in tribal communities
During a survey conducted by ACT, local women expressed the need for support in securing consistent livelihood opportunities. In response, we initiated training for 19 tribal (Tribal) women from indigenous families living below the poverty line, aged between 16 and 45 years, who reside in Dolara village, Kherdi panchayat, Silvasa District, within the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli (DNH) and Daman & Diu, India.
Focuses on the job readiness of the already trained women in tailoring and enable livelihood generation opportunities through market linkage readiness. And to promote financial self-reliance and build the confidence of women in Tribal communities residing in Dolara Village of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Project Poshan ki disha – Improving maternal and child health and reduce malnutrition in DNH & DD through the implementation of a 1000-day approach.
Project Poshan ki Disha is a transformative initiative aimed at improving maternal and child health and reducing malnutrition in Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (DNH & DD) through a collaborative, evidence-based 1000-day approach. In response to alarming rates of under-5 stunting (39.4%) and wasting (22.6%) highlighted in NFHS-5, the project partners with public health systems, ICDS, and communities to bridge critical gaps in nutrition and healthcare services. By strengthening the capacity of 405 Anganwadi and public health workers through skill-based training, enabling Animedh Charitable Trust to implement the 1000-day model in 28 Anganwadis, and fostering convergence between ICDS and health departments in 70 high-need centers, the project ensures sustainable, targeted interventions. Grounded in data-driven strategies, baseline surveys, and community engagement, Poshan ki Disha empowers frontline workers and institutions to deliver holistic maternal and child health services, combat malnutrition, and create lasting change for vulnerable families.