Past Projects

ASRA Delhi

Action for Self Reliance and Alternatives

Action for Self Reliance and Alternatives (ASRA) is a charitable trust, which supports disabled and non-disabled young people in the slums of Delhi with a view to making them economically self-sufficient, helping them assume their rights and strengthening their self-esteem. Over the past 15 years of its existence, ASRA has developed a comprehensive and proven approach. Working in the slums of Delhi, their activities cover a slum population of 200,000 inhabitants who are reached through 14 field offices and supported by one central coordination office. ASRA offers medical treatment, education, job training, job searches and seed loans.

ASRA was one of the first projects supported by the foundation. Dalyan was contributing to the general budget of ASRA.

BECC

Training of children and youngsters in Bandra East Community, Mumbai

Bandra East Community Centre (BECC) was established in 1974 with the aim of improving the life quality of the inhabitants of the slums in Bandra East, Mumbai. BECC has a number of projects, but its main activity is running a home for street children. BECC offers these children food, shelter, education, health care and guidance as well as a caring home environment and lasting relationships.

Dalyan supported two of BECC’s projects over a period of two years. Through the Traffic Warden program, jobless boys aged 16-20 years, were trained as traffic wardens and helpers for the traffic police.

This program provided them with a structured daily routine, a sense of community responsibility and improved their self-esteem. The second project saw women and girls in the Tailoring Training Centre learning tailoring and sewing skills, enabling them to generate income and support their families.

Chagall

Supporting children with migration backgrounds in achieving a higher education

The ChagALL Program (Chancengerechtigkeit durch Arbeit an der Lernlaufbahn) was established in 2008 and aims to help secondary school students with a migration background, modest financial means and limited German language skills, get a fair chance to pass the entrance exams to gymnasium. Gymnasium is a type of secondary education in Switzerland which provides advanced academic education and opens the way to university. The ChagALL Program targets students who have the potential and will for higher education but are not able to capitalise on these strengths for the above reasons. Since its inception, an average of 65% of participating students has passed the exam. None of these students would have had a realistic chance to go to gymnasium without the program.

Dalyan provided a four-year sponsorship to the ChagaALL+ Program , which was designed as a follow-up program, supporting the ChagALL students who had been accepted to gymnasium throughout their six-month probation period. The aim of ChagALL+ is to have a minimum of 75% of participants successfully passing the probation period. In the first year of our support, eleven out of twelve students successfully completed the probation period. Similar results were achieved with the following group in 2014-2015, with ten out of eleven students passing the probation period successfully.

Chagall Initiative Fund

Supporting children with migration backgrounds in achieving a higher education

The ChagALL Team by Gymnasium Unterstrass has been active since 2008 in helping talented high potential secondary school students with a migration background and limited financial means to get a fair chance to master the path to a university education. Research shows that children with a migration background have one third of the chance of Swiss children to pass the Gymnasium test. Their families usually have very limited ability to support them due to low education levels, limited language skills and inability to afford private tutoring.

The ChagALL Program has had great success with intensive support classes and coaching to carefully selected youngsters and managed to get these students’ exam success rates to surpass those of their Swiss counterparts. None of these students would have had a realistic chance to enter gymnasium without the program.

Based on the great success of the ChagAll Program, a fund was established under the management of the ChagAll team to scale the idea throughout Switzerland by supporting projects with a similar concept and aim. After the initial four-year support  of the original ChagAll program, Dalyan supported the ChagAll Initiative Fund together with 7 other Swiss foundations, with the aim to facilitate at least four more similar programs throughout Switzerland.

China’s Forgotten Orphans

Providing professional care for orphans with special needs

The organization “China’s Forgotten Orphans” was established in 1998 and focuses on improving the living conditions and health of physically or mentally disabled orphans. Amongst other activities, it supported an orphanage located in the rural vicinity of Fuyang, one of the poorest regions in China. The initially privately sponsored orphanage was recently taken over by the local government and is now located in a modern building. The children in the orphanage suffer from multiple disabilities.  

After having supported the establishment and maintenance of a physiotherapy station in the privately run orphanage over a period of three years, Dalyan supported the consolidation of a second, expanded physiotherapy program in the new government sponsored orphanage. With Dalyan’s support over a period of three years, 45 children benefitted every year from the physiotherapy program as well as from cognitive training.

Chintan

Improving the livelihood of waste picker families

Dalyan’s cooperation with Chintan started 2014 with a project support for the No Child in Trash program. After this initial project finance, Dalyan’s moved to supporting Chintan’s own organisational development. Dalyan contributed to Chintan’s non-project related costs and financed organisational coaching. The coaching was conducted by Toolbox, an Indian NGO and included the redesign of key responsibilities for senior staff, the identification of additional management capacity and skills needed and financial planning, budgeting, internal reporting and cost control.

CULP - Centre for Unfolding Learning Potentials

Improving education for children in Rajasthan

Dalyan contributed to CULP's Pehan Project.

CULP works with marginalized rural and tribal communities in Rajasthan. It aims at improving the situation of girls, who traditionally marry as early as age 13. The Pehchan Project seeks to reduce the number of out-of-school children (mostly girls) by creating a child friendly classroom atmosphere. The project also offers bridge-courses to mainstream children back to public schools and provides academic support to adolescent in school. Finally, life-skill education camps are conducted to teach adolescent girls between the ages of 10-19 about health, personal hygiene and democratic processes. The project shall benefit out-of-school girls and low-performing in-school girls through the academic support and through the camps. Teachers and government education officers will also profit from skill building.

DASRA MEL

Building a monitoring and evaluation framework for girls empowerment

DASRA is a non-profit organisation collaborating with different donors to support small NGOs in India. The DASRA Adolescent Collaborative (DAC) is a systemic collaboration, which aims to improve the well-being of adolescent girls in Jarkhand. In the scope of this program, DASRA has established a local community of 280 small NGOs.

To coordinate the various goals of the different parties involved, DASRA developed a comprehensive system to monitor and evaluate progress. The Monitoring, Evaluating and Learning (MEL) Framework serves as a tool to measure success at different levels of the collaborative, but can also be used to measure other systemic programs.

Dalyan supported DASRA over a 1.5 year period to develop the MEL Framework.

ECF - Equal Community Foundation

Helping young men become more gender equitable

Established in 2009, Equal Community Foundation (ECF) strives to change gender attitudes and develop leaders to end violence against women. Their mission is to ensure that every man in India has the opportunity to study and practice gender equitable behavior with the belief that men are part of the solution to end gender inequality. Their core program is called Action for Equality and is divided into three stages lasting a total of 60 weeks, during which boys are trained by mentors to manage day-to-day situations in a gender equitable way.

Dalyan supported ECF’s research and evaluation department to strengthen their long-term impact measurement over a three-year period.

Future Hope

Giving today’s street children a better tomorrow

Future Hope was founded in 1987 to provide a home, education, medical aid and opportunity to children living on the streets of Kolkata. The organization runs various homes where former street children now live in a secure, stable and nurturing environment. It also runs a school where Future Hope children and other children from nearby slums can attend classes from Kindergarten onwards.

Sport also plays a major role in Future Hope’s programs, as playing sports helps children learn trust, teamwork, self-discipline, determination and gain self-confidence.

Additionally, Future Hope has built a small community on the outskirts of Kolkata. Those who have found jobs can take on a small home and develop independent life skills in a safe environment close to their friends.

Future Hope was supported by Dalyan through a contribution towards their annual budget over a period of two years. 

Hayat Sende

Mentoring for youngsters and children under legal protection and care leavers in Turkey

'It’s Your Life' Youth Academy (Hayat Sende) was founded in 2007 in Ankara. It’s mission is to improve life prospects of children and youngsters under legal protection and care leavers (predominantly orphans).

Hayat Sende has been working on initiatives to increase life skills of their target group, to combat negative discrimination in the public and to defend their rights via lobbying and advocacy. Dalyan was supporting their 'Runners Towards the Future Mentoring Program' that had commenced as a pilot in 2017-2018 school year, and made use of different mentoring approaches, namely one-to-one, group and peer mentoring, aiming to evolve into a model that can be adopted by other NGOs and government institutions working with children and youth under state protection.

Dalyan supported this young NGO for three years.

Kalakshetra Foundation

Dance scholarships for talented, underprivileged girls in India

The Kalakshetra Foundation is an institution dedicated to the teaching of arts and dance, established in 1936 by the renowned dancer Ms. Rukmini Devi in Adyar, a suburb of Madras in India. Its philosophy is to provide a comprehensive education in arts amidst an inspiring natural environment of open buildings, allowing students to learn indoors and outdoors. The educational approach is holistic in that students gain a thorough understanding of the theoretical, literary and musical basis of different art forms.

Dalyan supported five girls from underprivileged backgrounds with a six-year scholarship for a Master’s degree diploma course in dance at Kalakshetra. The scholarships were given in the name of Ms. Saskia Bianchi who was a dear colleague and friend, and an enthusiastic dancer, who was sadly taken from us too soon.

Kranti

Empowering girls of Mumbai’s red-light districts as agents of social change

Kranti (which means “revolution” in Hindi) is an NGO founded in 2010 by two ambitious young Indian women. Kranti works against discrimination and for better life chances of sex-workers and their families, by offering girls from families of sex-workers a healing home, comprehensive high-quality education and personalized opportunities. Thanks to the acquisition of knowledge, skills and newfound confidence, girls from disadvantaged backgrounds can become agents of positive change in India and in the world. 
Dalyan supported Kranti in its start-up phase through a financial contribution to the budget.

Madurai Seed

Providing education support for disadvantaged children in Tamil Nadu

Madurai Seed was founded in 1999 as a non-profit organization (NPO) for the development of underprivileged children. It operates in Karumbalai, a very poor neighborhood in the city of Madurai in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India. The focus of Madurai Seed’s work is tutoring children from poor backgrounds who go to public schools. Currently, Madurai Seed operates seven different education centers, benefiting 300 to 600 children every year. In addition to helping these children with their education, Madurai Seed also promotes their social competence and personal development. This is achieved through supported study groups, training, library facilities, sport activities, excursions, camps, and a range of creative activities such as dance and art classes.

Dalyan supported Madurai Seed with a contribution to the annual budget and by sponsoring training of the organization’s management over a period of two years. The goal was to enable Madurai Seed’s management to formalize its targets and goals, and build a robust plan for achieving them. 

Medha

Improving employability of students in government colleges in Sitapur

The challenge addressed by Medha is the low employability of the students who graduate in India each year (only 30% of one million). The education-to-employment gap is particularly acute in North-East India where some large companies have started expanding. Many of the students come from poor, rural backgrounds with no prior exposure to the workplace.
Against this background Medha delivers an employability program to improve career opportunities for underprivileged youths, mostly female, at under-resourced public sector educational institutions. The program includes up-to-date skills training, career counselling, workplace exposure, ongoing job placement and alumni support to students at their college Medha centers. Dalyan’s supported Medha to expand its work in the Sitapur district in Uttar Pradesh over a three-year period. A particular focus was on improving employment outcomes also for female students.

Milaan

Empowering adolescent girls to become change makers

Milaan wants to overcome traditional role models for adolescent girls in rural India, expand their personal development opportunities, and build them as leaders and change makers in their communities.

Dalyan contributed to scaling Milaan’s Girl Icon Fellowship program, a two-year leadership training for selected adolescent girls, comprising a learning grant, residential capacity building and individual mentoring. Each girl shall form a peer group of 20 girls in her community and build a network of advocacy for girls. Based on the program’s success so far Edelgive Foundation wants to strengthen Milaan’s organisation with increased outreach in several states.

Prajayatna

Education reform by strengthening community ownership in India

Prajayatna (which means “citizen’s initiative” in Karnataka) is a non-profit organization established in 2000 that aims to improve the quality of education in government schools. Despite large contributions from the government, the Indian school system is not sufficiently effective. For its comprehensive education reform program, Prajayatna works together with the Indian civil society, especially parent-teacher committees, to create a sense of ownership of the public school system and work towards improving it.

Prajayatna is also developing an innovative, interactive learning approach that is more responsive and relevant to the needs of children and society, called Kalikayatna.

Dalyan supported Prajayatna’s work in Karnataka over a period of three years. The aim of the program was to scale Prajayatna’s work from village to regional level, by anchoring the management of public education in the regional civil governance system (Panchayat Raj Institutions).

Quest Alliance

Improving public education in Bihar

Quest Alliance works to improve opportunities of children and young people by creating engaging school environments and providing skills to prepare young people for the job market. The foundation has a strong focus on 21st century skills for self-learning and engages educators, civil society, industry and the government to create better learning eco-systems.

Dalyan supported the “Anandshala” school program in Samastipur district for a period of 3 years. The program was focused on the improvement of public schools in the state of Bihar by supporting existing structures and working with students, teachers, headmasters and cluster-level responsibles.

Sense International

Supporting and advocating for better services for deaf-blind children and adults

The vision of the organization, established in 1997, is to help deaf-blind children become full and active members of society by offering a range of educational, vocational and training services. It also campaigns with different government bodies for the rights of the deaf-blind and works with both communities and families to increase their understanding and awareness of the disability and improve communication between them. Dalyan supported Sense International over a period of two years in the effort to strengthen their Regional Learning Centres in India: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where only basic services were being offered.

Street Survivors

Helping women exposed to domestic violence make a living

Street Survivors India (SSI) was founded in 2000 and today comprises three organizations: JAGRUTI, a school for 350 students from poor backgrounds, DAMINI, a home for destitute widows or women who suffer from domestic violence and KANTHA, an organization which trains women in the traditional way of producing special embroidered fabrics. KANTHA also organizes the distribution of the products in order to enable these women to generate their own income.

Dalyan supported Street Survivors India over a period of two years by co-funding the construction of a new house which offers the necessary space for kantha production and hosts a restaurant and small guesthouse. All these activities endeavor to strengthen the long-term financial basis of the NGO and help women make a living and contribute to family income. 

The Gender Lab

Raising boys’ awareness on gender issues

The Gender Lab is working towards empowering adolescents and youth to question patriarchal gender narratives through critical thinking and meaningful engagement with their communities.

Building on the work of engaging adolescent girls to build their voice, agency and leadership, a need emerged to engage young men and boys towards building gender equality. Thus, The Gender Lab Boys Program was initiated with the intention to build a generation of boys and men who are self-aware, empathetic and sensitive to gender issues. The participants of the program are 12-14 year old school-going boys who take part in workshops and learn through community-based projects.

Furthermore, the program aims to create an enabling and gender-sensitive environment for the adolescent boys by engaging parents, educators and other important stakeholders.

The YP Foundation

Encouraging gender equitable attitudes among young men

Initiated in 2002 and registered in 2007, The YP Foundation (TYPF) is a youth-led organisation that supports and develops youth leadership to advance the rights of young women, girls, genderqueer youth and other marginalised young people. To do this, TYPF builds young people’s feminist, intersectional and human rights based leadership on issues of gender justice and inclusive education and healthcare.

Feminist Campus is a programme design exercise to develop a new on-campus intervention on gender equity and masculinities. The aim is to understand and analyse key issues and experiences of gender based violence and discrimination online and offline among young people in higher education institutions. The programme seeks to ultimately deepen young men’s understanding of gender injustices in order to reject violence and promote positive masculinities in thought and action.

CYDD Mentorship

Mentoring for university students from disadvantaged backgrounds

CYDD was established in 1989. Its aim is to support the modernisation of society in Turkey through secularism, progressive education and by offering equal opportunities for children and young people in accessing schooling and modern educational tools. CYDD has been successfully running campaigns to increase school enrollment of girls in particular. To date, it has given scholarships to over 120,000 children, mostly girls. Special attention is placed on areas in Turkey which are economically underdeveloped and also areas in big cities which have been focus of domestic migration.

Dalyan supported the establishment of a mentoring program for university students from disadvantaged backgrounds, to enable their successful transition to professional life and to help them fully capitalise on their education. The program ran over a period of three and a half years and seeked to build systematic one-to-one mentoring for university students from disadvantaged backgrounds (80% female) and to mobilise CYDD`s alumni and volunteers as mentors.

The mentors accompanied the mentees through their critical last years of university, supporting them in areas such as career planning, job search, self-presentation and dealing with personal issues. CYDD strives to bring their alumni closer again by engaging them in a social responsibility project with a meaningful task, whereby they can have an impact on the lives of youngsters from similar backgrounds as themselves.

With Dalyan’s support, CYDD also seeked to professionalise its organisation and implement a specifically funded project which they could roll out throughout the country, thereby adding a new line of activity. In addition, CYDD aimed to reach students without access to a CYDD branch and spread the mentorship project with the implementation of an online mentoring tool. With the help of online mentoring, alumni and university students have a platform to communicate and share information.

Gateway to India

Supporting Swiss students interning at Indian NGO's

Gateway to India (GTI), initiated by students in 1998, organizes internships at Indian NGOs for selected Swiss students. The organization arranges a valuable cultural exchange between qualified Swiss students and established NGOs in India. GTI has been able to support the Indian NGOs in their effort to make a long-lasting impact in their chosen field of activity. 

Dalyan`s contribution over a period of three years gave selected Swiss students the opportunity to gain field experience in an Indian NGO, while simultaneously obtaining an invaluable insight into the everyday challenges of its partner organizations. 

Gateway to India II

Supporting Swiss students interning at Indian NGO's

Established by students in 1998, Gateway to India (GTI) organizes internships at Indian NGOs for selected Swiss students. The organization arranges a valuable cultural exchange between qualified Swiss students and established NGOs in India. GTI has been able to support the Indian NGOs in their effort to make a long-lasting impact in their chosen field of activity.

Dalyan`s three-year contribution from 2010 to 2013 gave selected Swiss students the opportunity to gain field experience in an Indian NGO, while simultaneously obtaining an invaluable insight into the everyday challenges of its partner organizations. 2014 saw the extension of the project and Dalyan’s contribution increased with the support of six additional internships over the forthcoming years.

GRAVIS

Microfinance for women and education for girls

GRAVIS (Gramin Vikas Vigyan Samiti – Center of People’s Science for Rural Development) was founded in 1983 by Gandhian Development Activists. The NGO works to improve the situation of people living in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan. In this extremely arid region, there is very little clean drinking water, let alone water for irrigation. Due to this water scarcity, inhabitants – especially women – dedicate most of their time to organizing food and water.

The NGO’s approach is based on the Gandhian philosophy of village self-rule: empowering communities to identify and solve problems through knowhow transfer and self-organization. The main program areas which GRAVIS addresses are farming/water management, health, formal education, skills training and leadership development through women self-help groups. Dalyan supported two of GRAVIS’ projects. The first was a livelihood project for women. Within the framework of self-help groups, GRAVIS aimed to empower women through leadership training, education and livelihood initiatives such as microlending.

The groups also received seed capital and facilitated access to bank loans. In addition, women learned about their rights and about government programs they make use of. The second project focussed on facilitating access to education for girls. The aim of this project was to support girls who aspire to go to middle and high school, by providing teaching materials and bicycles and in exchange requesting the commitment of the family to send the girl to school. Since the program started, the number of girls going to school has increased considerably.

Kolkata Sanved

Improving livelihoods of young women through dance therapy

Kolkata Sanved, founded in 2004 by Sohini Chakraborty, uses the medium of dance movement therapy (DMT) to support women, girls and young men who have been trafficked and sexually abused. The therapy helps them come to terms with their situation and begin the path of self-realisation, confidence building and reintegration into society.

The organization collaborates with over 30 organisations such as shelter homes, hospitals, government institutions and schools offering this form of healing and recovery. DMT provides an alternative approach to psychosocial rehabilitation and helps survivors to pursue an independent life.

Beyond the basic sessions and workshops, Kolkata Sanved also offers a certified DMT Leadership Academy course. The goal of this one-year training program is to empower participants with specific life skills and to create alternative employment opportunities as DMT practitioners. Dalyan supported this course over a two-year period.

Mann Deshi

Cash credit for women vendors from disadvantaged backgrounds

Mann Deshi Foundation and Mann Deshi Bank want to improve access of women from disadvantaged backgrounds to capital and to business know-how.

Jointly with Edelgive Foundation Dalyan contributed to Mann Deshi’s Weekly Market Cash program, which helps women vendors in Indian markets better manage their cash cycle throughout the day through an innovative overdraft facility and a business training and financial literacy program.

Maya/ KEDV

Microcredits for underprivileged Women in Turkey

KEDV/FSWW (Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation registered in Istanbul, Turkey, with the mission to empower grassroots women’s initiatives to improve the quality of their lives and their communities. KEDV has built an economic enterprise, called Maya Enterprise for Microfinance (“Maya”), to offer microcredit to low income women in order to empower them financially and help them start new or improve existing business. Maya started its operations in the earthquake affected regions of central  Turkey in 2002 and has been expanding since, mostly in urban areas.

In Turkey, the rate of female participation in the general workforce is a mere 27 percent and close to 70 percent of women remain unbanked. Micro entrepreneurship is one of the important ways for women to overcome poverty, gain a decent income and be included in the workforce. The microfinance sector in Turkey is still in its early stages of development. Maya was the first microfinanceinstitution in Turkey and remains one of the only two NGOs providing microfinance in the country today. Dalyan supported Maya/KEDV in sustaining its microfinance operations over twelve months and preparing the ground for further fundraising to successfully scale its microfinance activities. By scaling, Maya aimed to be operationally sustainable as a whole organisation in three to four years and serve close to 10 thousand women within a time frame of five years.

MHT - Mahila Housing Trust

Upgrading skills of women working in the construction industry

Mahila Housing Trust founded Karmika School of Construction Workers in 2004, with the aim to provide skill-based training to disadvantaged women working as unskilled labor in the construction industry. Majority of the women trained by the Karmika School are manual laborers, working mostly as head-load workers. Despite doing the hardest work, they are worst paid and enjoy no job security or benefits.

The Karmika School provides training in various construction skills in order to move these women out of the unskilled category into the skilled labor force, which is better paid and more in demand. Karmika has trained several thousands of women so far. 80% of them reported higher income and better employability after the training. The three-year project supported by Dalyan was focussed on strategically improving the marketability of these women in the employment market.

SSP - Swayam Shikshan Prayog

Building female leadership and entrepreneurship to improve resilience of rural communities

Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) addresses the limited access of entrepreneurial women from disadvantaged backgrounds to capital, higher education and business skills. As a consequence, women remain mostly at a micro subsistence business level, without the ability to develop as employers and leaders.  SSP aims at improving the resilience of rural communities by promoting women entrepreneurs as employers, leaders and advocates for their communities and through other initiatives.

The three-year cooperation between SSP and Dalyan aimed at expanding and deepening SSP’s entrepreneurship and leadership development training and mentorship to women in a disadvantaged region in a sustainable manner by building self-managed support structures.

These support structures (Resource Centers) are to continuously drive women entrepreneurship and women leadership, offer a platform for networking and peer learning, fundraising and coaching support to scale successful businesses and create lasting jobs.

Nilüfer

Building a catering business for a women’s cooperative in Turkey

The Nilüfer Women’s Cooperative (‘Nilüfer’) was originally established as a centre for women and children in the temporary settlements of Düzce following the 1999 earthquake. Nilüfer aims to enhance the well-being and livelihood of local women and children from economically deprived backgrounds through various initiatives, including daycare and education services for children, vocational training, self-help groups and cultural programmes.

Nilüfer launched a project to improve its organisational capacity and self-sufficiency through new income generating activities and services. With the support of Dalyan, Nilüfer reopened a catering business and increased the capacity and services offered by the daycare centre. The aim of the project is to make Nilüfer as independent and self-sufficient as possible, both economically and institutionally. Dalyan and KEDV, a foundation that supports women’s work, jointly supported the project over a period of one year with financial contributions as well as by providing expertise, mentoring and guidance.

Nirnaya

Revolving loan funds for women self-help groups in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa

Nirnaya, founded in 1998, provides capacity building support to approximately a dozen grassroots organizations in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. These organizations help women living in poverty and from marginalized communities to improve their livelihoods and become self-sustaining. Nirnaya identifies NGOs and women with strong leadership capabilities and helps them build self-help groups. These self-help groups establish micro-lending and other activities to improve women’s well-being and strengthen their rights. Nirnaya’s bottom-up approach includes beneficiaries as partners for driving long-term societal and economic change in the poorest and most marginalized communities in India.

Dalyan’s support over a period of one year was used to set up three revolving loan funds for micro-lending and to help Nirnaya strengthen three local grassroots organizations.

Prajwala

Emergency relief for flood victims

Despite government help, massive flooding in the state of Andhra Pradesh in 2009 left millions of people homeless and in desperate need of further support. Prajwala, an anti-trafficking organization founded in 1996, received the mandate to coordinate the work of a number of non-governmental organizations in a refugee camp for around 100,000 people in Mahboobnagar, approximately four hours south of Hyderabad. 

Dalyan supported the work of Prajwala with a one-time emergency relief funding 

RSSA - Rajasthan Shram Sarathi Association

Educating women entrepreneurs in Rajasthan

RSSA - Rajasthan Shram Sarathi Association, founded in 2017, aims at improving well-being and resilience of communities mostly depending on labor migration. To support these communities RSSA provides a range of financial services to migrants and their families.
In 2015, RSSA successfully piloted a small fund for housing finance. Over the past two years RSSA started to focus more on women in migrant communities to develop specific financial services and products to help them become economically more empowered.
With the support of Dalyan Foundation, RSSA was piloting a program over two years for scaling women-run micro businesses in high-migration areas, through capacity building and access to finance.

Sampark

Capacity building for women`s cooperatives in India

The approach adopted by Sampark focuses on enabling poor women in their self-driven journeys towards empowerment and self-sufficiency. Sampark emphasizes a people-centered and integrated livelihood approach in which it plays a facilitating role, allowing local leadership to grow. Key interventions include self-help groups, building and strengthening of women’s cooperatives, micro-credit, entrepreneur training and health and support of migrant workers. 

Dalyan has provided financial support to Sampark in various forms, with the view to increasing the outreach of women’s cooperatives and helping them become financially and institutionally self-sustaining.  Dalyan financed a capacity-building program for women’s cooperatives from June 2011 to November 2014.  In addition, Dalyan funded a long-term impact assessment study on cooperatives and currently contributes to  a revolving loan fund for scaling the cooperative’s micro-lending activities over a period of three years.

Sarathi Development Foundation

A better life for adolescent girls through community development

Sarathi Development Foundation was established in 1996 and has been successfully running so called community building programs for many years. Through these programs, poor families from rural areas and slums, typically from lower castes, learn to organize themselves as a group and identify and solve problems. They also learn to claim their rights to government services and infrastructure. 

Dalyan’s contribution over a period of three years benefitted a program, which made families in urban slums aware of the specific needs of adolescent girls and aimed to improve the living conditions of these girls. To achieve this, volunteers, women and adolescent girls aged 10-19 years were mobilized and trained to become drivers of societal change in their community.

SEWA

Child care centers for self-employed women workers in India

The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a national union active since 1972, which helps poor, self-employed women workers achieve their goals of self-reliance and a better future for their children. SEWA offers a variety of services to its members, such as legal support, small loans and insurance. SEWA also operates child care centers for its member’s children under 6 years. The child  care centers offer full day coverage allowing mothers to pursue a job outside the home. They can generate a regular income and their older children can go to school instead of looking after their younger siblings.

The child care centers are organized as cooperatives with strong involvement by parents, including the fathers. Special activities are undertaken to support children`s development and caretakers undergo regular training in this domain.

Dalyan provided funding for six child care centers in Ahmedabad over a period of three years.

Somangalam Rehoboth

Helping mentally challenged women in India

The challenge addressed by Rehoboth, founded in 1998, lies in the harsh living conditions of homeless women who suffer from mental disabilities. Rehoboth endeavours to improve these women’s quality of life through rehabilitation based on their specific physical and mental capabilities, whilst providing  them with accommodation, daily meals and medical care. Wherever possible, the women are taught to create small items such as baskets, bracelets and decorations, which are then sold in order to create an income. The organisation started with 3 inmates and has grown to more than 180 inmates. 

Dalyan financially supported a rehabilitation shelter for approximately 40 mentally ill women in Somangalam. The purpose of the project was to scale up a small, existing farming project to a sustainable level of income generation on their existing seven-hectare plot of farmland. This project helped Rehoboth move towards more economic sustainability and gave the women, who mostly come from a rural background, the possibility of working in nature and with their hands.

In summer 2015, a well of around seven meters diameter collapsed when the NGO tried to deepen it, in order to secure water access. This presented the organization with great challenges, since the well was the source of all the water used in the rehabilitation shelter. With Dalyan’s support the NGO eventually was able to deepen and reconstruct the well.

VSP - Vikas Sahyog Pratisthan

Capacity building of grassroots leaders and institutions

VSP aims to reduce the vulnerability of rural societies in drought prone regions in India through strengthening the resilience of rural, agricultural based communities. VSP uses a comprehensive approach, including the promotion of local integrated farming systems or linking farmers up to markets. The focus is mostly on women who are included in the design, prioritisation and monitoring of the activities.

The Dalyan/Edelgive supported program aimed at improving the income of female-headed households through more productive organic farming methods, collective marketing and generation of additional income streams. In addition, VSP was receiving support to further develop its organisation.

CULP - Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Dalyan supported selected emergency relief projects in India and Turkey for our NGO partners and their beneficiaries who have been disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The emergency support provided included food and hygiene packages and financial aid schemes.

CORO - Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Dalyan supported selected emergency relief projects in India and Turkey for our NGO partners and their beneficiaries who have been disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The emergency support provided included food and hygiene packages and financial aid schemes.

Deep Poverty Network - Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Dalyan supported selected emergency relief projects in India and Turkey for our NGO partners and their beneficiaries who have been disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The emergency support provided included food and hygiene packages and financial aid schemes.

Jan Sahas - Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Dalyan supported selected emergency relief projects in India and Turkey for our NGO partners and their beneficiaries who have been disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The emergency support provided included food and hygiene packages and financial aid schemes.

Manuvikasa - Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Dalyan supported selected emergency relief projects in India and Turkey for our NGO partners and their beneficiaries who have been disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The emergency support provided included food and hygiene packages and financial aid schemes.

MHT - Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Dalyan supported selected emergency relief projects in India and Turkey for our NGO partners and their beneficiaries who have been disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The emergency support provided included food and hygiene packages and financial aid schemes.

Nepal Emergency Relief

Post earthquake provision of shelter medical aid

In April and May 2015 Nepal was hit by two massive earthquakes, leading  to the loss of thousands of lives and leaving many more homeless and entire villages flattened across the country. Among the millions of people affected, over 126 thousand pregnant women were left in urgent need of medical care.  Damage to public infrastructure like roads and bridges left many towns and villages cut off, exposing more than 40 thousand women in remote and deserted areas to the immediate risk of sexual and gender based violence.

Following the earthquake, our longstanding partner NGO Sampark based in Bangalore mobilized its partners in Nepal and collectively concentrated their efforts towards relief and rehabilitation. Working with these local NGOs, with whom they had longstanding cooperation experience, they were able to reach out to those affected by the earthquake. The main goal of emergency relief was the provision of shelter and medical aid both in the center of Kathmandu and remote areas. Sampark’s main local NGO partner, Raksha Nepal, is sensitized to the problem of ongoing unequal distribution of emergency relief and caste-based discrimination. Through this combined effort, some of the most vulnerable victims of the earthquake could be reached, among them many women and children from difficult socio-economic backgrounds

Pragati - Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Dalyan supported selected emergency relief projects in India and Turkey for our NGO partners and their beneficiaries who have been disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The emergency support provided included food and hygiene packages and financial aid schemes.

Shirkat Gah

Emergency relief for flood victims

Initiated as a small voluntary women’s collective in Pakistan in 1975, Shirkat Gah has evolved into a leading women’s rights organization, working in forty four districts across the country. Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Centre was actively engaged in providing relief and early recovery to those affected by the floods of July 2010. In response to an urgent SOS call from its long-time partners in the field, Shirkat Gah mobilized and raised funds to conduct flood relief work in all four provinces of Pakistan. 

Dalyan supported Shirkat Gah with a one-time emergency relief funding.

SOVA

Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Dalyan supported selected emergency relief projects in India and Turkey for our NGO partners and their beneficiaries who have been disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The emergency support provided included food and hygiene packages and financial aid schemes.

STDV forest fires

Forest fires emergency relief

Amidst the catastrophic wildfires raging across Turkey in the summer of 2021, STDV, a long-term partner of Dalyan, established the Wildfire Emergency Support Fund. The emergency support included specialised firefighting equipment, access to livelihood and psychological support, as well as efforts to heal and protect the damaged ecosystem and raise awareness on ecological issues.

Street Survivors - Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Covid-19 Emergency Relief

Dalyan supported selected emergency relief projects in India and Turkey for our NGO partners and their beneficiaries who have been disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The emergency support provided included food and hygiene packages and financial aid schemes.