Sambhali Trust

History

Sambhali Trust was founded on 16 January 2007 by Govind Singh Rathore, after experiencing violence and discrimination against the women of his family. Hence, Sambhali Trust was created to help alleviate Rajasthani women out of poverty and financial dependence on their families. This was initially done by creating a platform to teach basic Hindi, English, mathematics and sewing for free to women and girls in Jodhpur, and later Setrawa, through “empowerment centres”. The aim of this training is to enable women and girls to acquire the skills and knowledge required to find or create employment for themselves. The name “Sambhali” means “rising of the deprived women”.

Structure

The trust now consists of 16 projects; seven empowerment centres, two sewing centres, educational programs and scholarship funding, the “No Bad Touch” project, one women's shelter service, one self-help groups and a toll-free helpline. Each project is headed by a project manager, with additional support from subject teachers or assistants. 10 teachers in Hindi and Sewing, many of them graduates of the Sambhali program themselves, are employed by the trust, with approximately 15-30 other teachers working on a voluntary basis from all over the world. Predominantly these volunteers teach English and Mathematics with some specialising in fashion and design and others working within the administration of the trust.

The trust has five trustees, with Govind Singh Rathore acting as Managing Trustee. A national and international advisory board also partake in decision making.

Sambhali Trust is financed mainly through foreign donations and grants. Since 2013 Sambhali Trust has been affiliated with sister Austrian, German, Swiss and British organisations – Sambhali Austria, Sambhali Germany, Sambhali Switzerland and Sambhali UK respectively. Donations through these sister organisations are all directed to the central, Indian based Trust

Projects

Located across Jodhpur and Setrawa, empowerment centers provide women and girls with cost free access to education in Hindi, English, and Mathematics. Women are also trained in the traditional arts of sewing and needlework. This enables them to manufacture their own products after training, or to go on and work for Sambhali Trust in the sewing centres. The sewing centres employ over 20 women to produce handmade fashion and accessories for the Sambhali Boutique, based in Jodhpur, as well as bespoke orders for overseas. Sambhali Trust funds over 190 children to attend school in Jodhpur through a scholarship program and boarding home. Additionally, the trust runs the “No Bad Touch” project which educates children, teachers, and parents about child sexual abuse. It is currently the only organisation in Rajasthan to openly address this issue. Since the “No Bad Touch” project was launched in April 2014, Sambhali Trust has attended over 20 schools and reached over 2000 students. In 2014 Sambhali Trust introduced the Nirbhaya Helpline. This service provides help and counselling to women in need, and is the first toll-free women's helpline to operate in Rajasthan. The Panaah Shelter Service, founded 2012, is also run and funded by Sambhali and acts as a short term refuge for women caught in violent or difficult situations. Additionally, Sambhali Trust facilitates the Sheerni Self-Help Group Project. The Self-Help project was established to help women by providing them with a means of saving money and access to loans. The aim of this is to allow them to create small enterprises of their own and work towards financial independence.