Celebrating NGOs Driving Change: Pratham, TRI, Population Foundation, and Goonj

On World NGO Day (February 27), here is a curated list of four organisations and their most successful initiatives that are uplifting communities. From feeding millions of schoolchildren to empowering adolescent girls and promoting sustainable rural development, they truly embody innovation and compassion.

These NGOs have launched meaningful initiatives that are impacting millions of lives

According to the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), India has over 33 lakh non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as of 2024. While their collective impact could have driven significant societal and economic progress, their sheer number makes it difficult to evaluate each one’s contribution. Still, some NGOs have profoundly impacted lives through meaningful interventions, emerging as torchbearers of positive change.

Pratham – Teaching at the Right Level

One of India’s largest non-governmental organisations, Pratham was co-founded by Madhav Chavan and Farida Lambay in 1995 to provide preschool education to children in slums. Today, it operates across 23 states and union territories in India, with supporting chapters in the United States, UK, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. Among its most successful initiatives is ‘Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL),’ a structured approach to improving foundational learning. Between 2012 and 2017, Pratham focused on helping children in Grade-Three and above to catch up on basic reading and arithmetic through TaRL. Designed for government school students in Grades Three to five, the programme consists of intensive learning camps lasting 30 to 50 days or three to five cycles of 10 days each. By the final camp, over 70% of children can read simple texts fluently and perform basic arithmetic with confidence.

Transform Rural India (TRI) – Millionaire Farmer Development Programme (MFDP)

Making a lasting impact across eight states, 42 districts, 165 blocks, 2,405 grama panchayats, and 20,399 villages, Transform Rural India (TRI) is one of the country’s most successful non-profit organisations working in rural development. With a vision to design systemic solutions for change and expand opportunities for rural communities, TRI is redefining rural development.

One of its most impactful initiatives is the ‘Millionaire Farmer Development Programme (MFDP),’ which classifies farmers into three categories, small, medium and star farmers. The programme connects star farmers with medium and small farmers, equipping them with knowledge on crop selection, efficient production techniques, market opportunities, and government support. It also provides training in modern agricultural practices and access to initiatives like the Birsa Green Village Scheme, irrigation enhancement projects, and carbon credit programmes. Farmers participating in MFDP are now earning lakhs by applying these techniques. The success of the MFDP has been particularly evident in regions like Jharkhand, with farmers like Haricharan Oraon and Nikki Kumari already gaining wide attention as millionaire farmers.

Population Foundation of India – Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon (MKBKSH)

Founded in 1970 by the late JRD Tata, the Population Foundation of India is a leading NGO focused on population dynamics, gender equity, and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) through impactful grassroots initiatives.

In 2014, it launched Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon (MKBKSH), an entertainment-education initiative promoting gender equality, women’s empowerment and health-seeking behaviours. Spanning three seasons, the series aired 183 episodes on Doordarshan and All India Radio, reaching 150 million people across India. The audience comprised 52% women and 48% men, with 40% aged between 15–24. Evaluation of the seasons revealed a major increase in positive attitudes and awareness of various SRH-related issues among viewers.

In 2019, as part of MKBKSH, it introduced SnehAI, a free chatbot hosted on Facebook Messenger. Modelled after Dr. Sneha, the lead protagonist of the MKBKSH show, the chatbot serves as a personalised, non-judgmental companion, offering guidance on virginity, safe online behaviour, contraception, puberty, mental health, consent, gender-based violence, same-sex attraction and masturbation, the topics often considered taboo.

Since its launch, SnehAI has facilitated over 2.4 million conversations and reached 22 million people through online promotions, making it one of the most impactful chatbots of its kind.

Goonj – Not Just A Piece of Cloth

An award-winning social enterprise, Goonj aims to foster an equitable relationship of strength and dignity between urban and rural India by utilising underutilised materials as a tool for development. By repurposing urban surplus materials to address basic issues in underserved regions and involving local communities in designing and implementing their solutions, Goonj has launched several impactful initiatives. These efforts empower people with knowledge and dignity.

One of Goonj’s major initiatives, ‘Not Just a Piece of Cloth (NJPC),’ encourages urban populations to contribute cloth for making MY Pads – cloth sanitary pads for women in rural areas who struggle to access basic hygiene products. For over two decades, Goonj has worked across India to help women in rural areas transition from using cloth to sanitary pads. To date, more than 5 million MY Pads made from urban surplus cloth have reached women nationwide. In the Delhi-NCR region alone, Goonj has distributed pads to over 1,000 women.