About Us

Back in the 1980s when the feminist movement was picking up pace across the country, three women set out into the interiors of the vast desert land that is Kutch. No cars, no trains / reliable public transport, (no roads?) no cellphones, no maps. Armed with perseverance and faith, they travelled by public buses and cycles, to the remotest of remote crevices of Kutch. Initially all they did was reach in the morning and return at night. Trust is never an easy relation to build is it? Suspicion, fear and uncertainty plagued everyone’s minds. Sushma recalls in laughter, how because of her short hair, the men suspected that she was a male government spy disguised as a woman, who had come to snitch on them. It took the team of Alka, Sushama and Meera, three arduous years to build rapport with the community. Thus began a relationship of camaraderie and resilience. The rest is history. 

Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan was registered in June 1989 as a non-profit Trust-Society. Although we began working with rural women, today we have been able to reach out to women in the fringes of urban slums in Kutch too. The overarching mission and goal has been the empowerment of women in Kutch. We believe empowerment lies at the intersection of four primary components  – 

• Increasing Women’s Security; 
• Improving Women’s Access To Resources; 
• Enhancing Women’s Ability To Become Decision Makers & Effective Leaders
• Institutionalising The Change Process.

To enable women to lead a gender transformative process within communities, citizens, youth and institutions; and to create a pro-active, safe and sensitive environment which fosters perspectives, actions, thought, and policies that are free of violence, patriarchy and gender-based vulnerabilities.

The overarching mission is to empower, conscientize and organise youth, community organisations and local governance institutions for addressing gender inequities and ensuring a compassionate and safe environment for women and girls.