Location: Jodphur Setting: Urban Established: 2004 Staff: Office: 17 Field: 50

Community Development: Community Empowerment; Community Mobilization/Organization
Human Rights: Advocacy; Poverty, Equality and Social Justice
Education and Youth Development: Social Leadership; Vocational and Life Skills Training; Skill Building; Guidance and Counseling; Leadership Training
Women's Empowerment: Advocacy and Rights; Violence Against Women; Capacity Building

Vikalp Sansthan’s mission is to spread awareness and inspire understanding of the problems related to gender based violence, to make individuals aware of their rights as human beings, and to empower young women and men to actively participate in development and social change. Vikalp works in 12 districts of Western and southern Rajasthan, focusing on this region due to its strong social problems including but not limited to a rigid caste system, illiteracy, female infanticide, violence against women, forced child marriage, and dowry. Their long-term vision is to create a violence free society based on equality, peace, and justice.

Launched in 2004, the We Can End All Violence Against Women campaign works in six countries in South Asia to stop violence against women and children. In collaboration with the Oxfam India Trust, Vikalp leads the “We Can” campaign in 12 districts of Rajasthan. The campaign encourages people to challenge institutions related to religion, social norms and cultural practices that render women inferior economically, socially, educationally, and politically. The overall goal of the campaign is to reduce the social acceptance of VAW. The main objectives of this campaign are:

• To empower and enable women and men to challenge the attitudes and beliefs that support and promote violence against women in society
• To assist “changemakers” who are committed both to not tolerating or perpetuating violence and to influencing others in their community to take a similar path
• To bring together local, national, and regional alliances to address VAW
• To mobilize communities using mass media and innovative forms of communication
• To create an environment where those who have committed violent acts see a positive opportunity and reason to change
• To produce a fundamental shift in attitudes and beliefs that support VAW

Link to Official ‘We Can’ website:

The “Our Daughter’s Right” campaign aims to raise community consciousness and prompt action on the issue of child marriage. According to Indian Law, child marriage is illegal; however it continues to be practiced openly in many parts of Rajasthan. While detrimental to both parties, child marriage disproportionately and negatively affects the girl child. Girls are sometimes married off at young ages such as 10 and 12 years of age, often times to males who are several years older. In almost all cases, the girls are taken out of school after marriage and often become pregnant at an age much too young for childbirth. In coordination with UNICEF, Vikalp has implemented the “Our Daughter’s Right” campaign within 10 slum communities of Jodhpur city and 100 villages of Luni block of Jodhpur district. The main objectives of this campaign are:

• To sensitize various stakeholders involved in the process of child marriage to the harmful effects of the practice
• Confront the problem of child marriage, raise questions and seek solutions at a collective level in target communities through awareness building workshops and rallies
• Partner with government, NGOs, police and other stakeholders to create a positive environment for stopping child marriage
• Establish a system of intervention in communities to stop or delay local child marriages

Vikalp believes that the laws against child marriage will not be enforced until child marriage is socially and culturally unacceptable. Therefore this campaign targets the harmful beliefs and attitudes that support the practice of child marriage, aiming to create an environment where both girls and boys are valued and respected equally.

Vikalp’s Violence Free Zone campaign seeks to create a zone free from all types of violence against women and also address the declining sex ratio. Working in several districts of Southern and Western Rajasthan, the Violence Free Zone campaign addresses many different forms of VAW such as female foeticide and infanticide, domestic violence, health and nutritional inequalities, etc. By facilitating the creation of local coalitions, Vikalp approaches the issues of violence and discrimination through open dialogue and effective action initiated and supported by community members.

Since its inception, over 62 women’s groups, 38 adolescent girls’ groups, 29 youth groups, and 51 ‘We Can’ committees have been formed to build capacity and strengthen empowerment. These community support groups and volunteers work together to engage the surrounding communities by counseling families, conducting speak outs, evaluating cases of domestic violence, distributing resource materials, and holding community radio programs sensitizing individuals to the issues surrounding GBV. The campaign also strengthens the capacity of its volunteers by coordinating conflict resolution training, facilitating street play training and offering paralegal training. Additionally, the VFZ campaign has established numerous celebrations of women and girls including International Women’s Day, 16 Days of Activism, celebrations of girls education, and celebrations of the births of girl children. Thus, by encouraging the empowerment and valuing of women, Vikalp aims to create a society in which GBV is not tolerated.

Vikalp’s Roshani Resource Centers (RRCs), supported by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, serve as community libraries and information centers in 10 slums in Jodhpur City. Each center provides a supportive, violence-free environment and a platform for community engagement, especially for young girls. The goal of the RRCs is to build self-confidence, create self-awareness, enhance creativity and promote healthy adolescent development.

Each center houses over 700 books providing a reading center for the community. Children can come to the centers just to read or to participate in various games, art activities, sports and discussions organized by the RRC facilitator. In addition, educational programs are conducted with adults in the slum communities addressing issues such as the importance of educating daughters, domestic violence, available government schemes, and women’s health. Counseling services are also offered for adolescents and women who have been victims of violence. RRCs play an important role in creating stability and transparency in communities by providing a positive environment in which the overall objectives of Vikalp’s initiatives may be realized at the community level.

In conjunction with the Ministry for Women & Child Development, Government of India, and Department of Telecommunications, CHILDLINE aims to provide protection for vulnerable children while advocating for child rights and anti-violence awareness. In collaboration with CHILDLINE India Foundation, based in Mumbai, Vikalp launched Jodhpur CHILDLINE which provides Jodhpur City a 24-hour help line for children in distress. Victims who call the helpline are met with immediate assistance by a trained Vikalp employee who will ensure the child will receive any necessary services related to counseling, rehabilitation or long-term care. Jodhpur City will add to the network of the already existing 85 cities in India who are implementing CHILDLINE. Across India, CHILDLINE has served over 3 million children, granting safe refuge from violence and discrimination.

• Document Vikalp activities in blog entries, reports and documentaries for funders and the general public..
• Develop capacity building trainings for Vikalp field staff on issues such as safety and security, peer mediation and empowering girls and women.

Interns wishing to work with Vikalp Sansthan should be open-minded, creative, patient, and interested in working to stop domestic violence and discrimination, and to support the women's rights and empowerment movements. Interns should come to the organization prepared to work with limited resources and ready to apply their own talents and skills to the support of Vikalp’s programs. Specific qualities that may contribute to a successful internship are:

• Background and/or interest in water issues and/or engineering.
• Strong writing and documentation skills
• Background in teaching, mentoring, counseling, or youth leadership
• Background in product design and marketing

Interns and volunteers will be supervised by Usha Chodry, a Founding Trustee of Vikalp Sansthan who has dedicated her life to the empowerment of young women in Rajasthan.
Note: Responsibilities offered to each participant will be proportionate to their level of experience. Participants who are new to development work may predominantly support and assist current project agendas, while those with much applicable experience may be able to assume greater responsibility. Research projects are strongly encouraged by this organization to support each program’s objective because minimal resources are currently allocated for research.

Vikalp Sansthan is located in the Ratanada neighborhood of Jodhpur. The office is in a large building and has three rooms and a common area. The office has fans in every room to keep the employees cool in the summer months and a small kitchen to keep drinks and snacks for work hours. The Vikalp office is a 15-minute tempo ride from the FSD office. Volunteers are strongly encouraged to bring their own laptop.

Vikalp was registered in 2004 by a group of youths with considerable experience of working in social organizations, leadership building, issue based work, advocacy, lobbying and management. Their understanding and involvement in issues related to sensitization of the civil society, community empowerment, sustainable development, literacy and gender equity drove them to work with the youth and create agents of change to combat the disparaging forces of society’s problems. They committed themselves to articulate the needs of the youth with their integrity, accountability and perseverance.

Through the work of Vikalp’s staff and volunteers they aim to suggest an achievable alternative to the existing social structure marked by discrimination, violence and unequal opportunities. Vikalp is a Jodhpur-based organization that works in twelve districts of Western and Southern Rajasthan –e.g. Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Jalor, Pali, Sirohi, Bikaner, Udaipur, Nagor, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and Rajsamand—with the commitment to create a violence free society based on equity, peace and justice.