“To develop models to improve quality of life, increase income and generate employment at the grass root level by an equitable and holistic development.”
WELCOME TO KF INDIA!
Who We Are
KAUSHALYA Foundation (KF) is a non-government, non-profit organization aimed at achieving socio-economic empowerment of the rural and urban poor and underprivileged as well as developing youth of the state. The organization is founded by a cohort of IIM-Ahmedabad graduates to work for the holistic development of the resource-poor touching upon their livelihoods, education, and health. KF has strong imprints through implementing work in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh (UP) while it has also given consultancy both across and outside India.
Team KAUSHALYA Foundation (KF) comprises committed professionals and experts as young professionals in the area of rural and agriculture development from the core and cross-cutting disciplines with rich and extensive experience.
Statutory Details
- A Public Charitable Trust – Registered Under Registration Act 1908, Guided By Indian Trust Act 1882
- Registration No: 131/2008-09 Under Section 12 A Of Income Tax Act, 1961
- File No: 80G/08-09/2211-14 Under Section 80G A Of Income Tax Act, 1961
- Registration No: 031170582 (Nature: Social) Under Section 11 (1) Of The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010
- CSR Registered Number: CSR00001538
Overview
KAUSHALYA Foundation (KF) was envisioned in 2007 by a group of young agribusiness, rural management and development professionals with empathy for the marginalized and underprivileged mass of the society, all of whom decided to work at the grassroots in order to change the socio-economic condition of the community.
KAUSHALYA Foundation (KF) believes that equipping the marginalized and poor with the technical, organizational, marketing, negotiating and networking skills will enable them to break free from intergenerational poverty. KAUSHALYA Foundation (KF) takes the holistic view of the development touching upon their livelihood, educational, gender-equity sanitary and health mandate. For the same KAUSHALYA Foundation also engages extensively in research studies partnering with relevant agencies and resource institutes while also providing consultancy.
KAUSHALYA Foundation (KF) has been working towards professionalizing the agriculture value chain as its forte aligning it to best practices encouraging organic farming and environment-friendly climate-smart agriculture by training and organizing them under institution thereby empowering them to face the future challenges in the new global economy, and thus creating wealth and prosperity from farm gate to food plate through undertaking the holistic view of vegetable supply chain. KAUSHALYA Foundation (KF), engaging itself in enduring community relations, primarily observes a bottom-up approach in communicating their development demands by fostering dialogues and attracting partnerships for it. After preliminary studies, area assessment and need identification, KAUSHALYA Foundation (KF) explore partnership opportunities for the development interventions evaluating each one with baseline and end-line surveys.
Mission, Vision, & Goals
Mission
Vision
“Empowering poor to live a life of dignity and enhancing their social and economic wellbeing through Knowledge, Innovation, and transformative action.”
Goals
- End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
- Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all while promoting gender equality
- Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being
- Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
- Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning andentrepreneurship opportunities for all
Our Organisation
The governance of KAUSHALYA Foundation has been vested on the Board of Trustees. The board is composed of Young Professionals – all of whom have devoted their lives to social development and agri-business sector. There is an advisory board which consists of management experts and professionals to guide and advise the Board of Trustees in strategic decision making and planning matters.
Field-based teams; each led by a project manager, carry out the organization’s daily operations including the professional assistance/consultancy services in the agriculture sector and allied industry.
Also, see:
Board of Trustees Advisory Board TeamWhat We Do
We have been able to work with more than 10000 smallholders and the poor addressing the regressive issues pertaining to their livelihoods, education, gender-relations, health, nutrition, and environmental-solidarity. We focus our efforts on these areas:
Development Programmes
We work with the underprivileged communities on long-term area approach to eradicate poverty and inequity through creating new opportunities for them.
- We promote sustainable micro-enterprises in an environment-friendly manner.
- We impart knowledge and ensure sustainability through training, capacity building, and initial handholding.
- We facilitate robust agriculture value chains.
- We empower the poor through organizing them in their own grass-roots institutions.
- We creative strong collaboration with Government bodies, Private sector players, and research institutions.
Campaigning
We are part of a global movement for the betterment of the world. We increase public awareness of the root causes of poverty and handhold ordinary people to take action to come out of poverty.
Advocacy
We influence decision-makers to change policies and practices that affect farming communities and their life.
Acknowledgement & Appreciation
We value, recognize and appreciate our partners, donors for their contribution and support.
Putting It All Together
We use a multi-dimensional and integrated approach to address both the causes of poverty and its effect on people’s lives.
To know more, Download our brief profile.
Our Approach to Prosperity
How We Do
In order to address the development needs, KF has developed an effective strategy that can be summarized as broadly categorized below:
CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE
Climate-smart agriculture covers the three important aspects of sustainably increasing a farmers’ income in his local environment, building resistance to climate change and adopting eco-friendly practices. Kaushalya Foundation has facilitated the creation of platforms for better interaction between the scientists and farmer to educate them about the same.
PROMOTING FARMER INSTITUTIONS
In today’s era of business where bigger is better small farmers were at a disadvantage when they had to deal with big companies. Then came the idea of farmer institutions like FPOs and FIGs. Farmers came together to stand up for their common interests. Kaushalya Foundation helps in collecting and sensitizing the farmers about the issue, make them aware of the possible solution and help them in executing it.
SENSITIZATION PROGRAM ON THE VALUE OF COLLECTIVE ACTION
The sensitization program is an intensive effort to inform and introduce the target beneficiaries on the value of collective action and on the value of coming together under an institutional model. This is being done through sensitization meets and continuous interactions with communities taking help of dialogues, bottom-up brainstorming sessions, and behavior change communications.
ENHANCING SOCIAL SOLIDARITY, PRODUCTIVITY, MARKETABILITY AND VALUE ADDITION ADHERING TO THE PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY AND BEST PRACTICES
To ensure the value of intervention, the first effort is to enhance social solidarity through organized collectivism. Secondly, productivity and marketability are enhanced – both in terms of economic value and volume. This is being done through the first level of a capacity building, value addition, introduction of efficient technology, making systems more efficient, infusion of finance and environmental-solidarity for sustainability etc.
ORGANIZING MEMBERS INTO GROUPS
Through a participatory process, community groups are encouraged to develop an agenda for the meetings, are initiated in developing micro-plans and encouraged for credit mobilization through savings to develop their ownership in the undertakings. The members are requested to provide critical information on their demographic details, livelihoods, credit history, health, and education status to help build and consolidate a database.
INTEGRATION INTO THE MARKET FOR REALIZING VALUE FOR THEIR PRODUCTIVITY
The capacitated communities are then integrated into the market, conforming to the business ethics by developing and leveraging employment opportunities and enterprise creation.
DEVELOPING DEDICATED PARTNERSHIPS
A key strategy of the approach is to develop dedicated operational and strategic relationships with the communities, implementation partners and other key players like development agencies, banks, insurance companies etc. We invite collaborations of all the Good Samaritans from all walks of life for supplementing our efforts for a better humankind.