For all those who think that their life has come to a standstill, life doesn’t ever stop. It does not matter whether anyone is with you or not in your journey; if you are with yourself, then the whole world is with you.
1. Tell us more about your Foundation and your journey.
About the Organization: Ladli Foundation is an internationally recognized non-profit organization. It is known for its innovative action research initiatives and effective community outreach at the grassroots level.
Foundation is also listed by the Niti Aayog - The highest policy-making body of the Government of India. Driven by concerns of gender equality as an integral and critical dimension of human rights, Ladli Foundation became a reality in 2012 for working as a grassroots social catalyst. With a mission of building a gender-sensitized inclusive society with equal access to basic, essential amenities and services - healthcare, education, workforce participation by women- the foundation has been diligently working in 50 districts across 10 states in India.
In the past nine years, the organization has gained recognition through its innovative initiatives, especially for empowering lakhs of uneducated, disadvantaged females and persons with disabilities in urban and rural slums. It is also known for innovations, implementation & assessment of grassroots-level Initiatives.
Its Innovative initiatives have directly benefited over one million beneficiaries through Primary Healthcare, Education, Sensitization, Rehabilitation projects and also impacted the lives of millions of people indirectly by creating awareness on most sensitive issues like patriarchy, religious myths, menstrual taboos, child marriages, trafficking.
About the founder’s journey: Child Labour to National Youth Awardee - Devendra Kumar, a young man, self-made and having grown amidst extreme poverty but with a "never say die" approach, is the soul behind Ladli!. He was born in a high-crime-prone Slum of Delhi, where he embarked on his journey when he was left alone by his parents at the age of two with an infant sister.
At the age of 8, he started working as a child labourer by selling balloons & working as an aide at a clinic for just 4 US dollars Per Month for his survival, by continuing his education in a Charitable School. During his balloon-selling, he was snatched & brutally beaten by a group of delinquents and drug addicts.
These miseries motivated him to uplift his fellow youths by involving them in sports & community policing initiatives with the Delhi Police and volunteering with saint john ambulance and Indian Red Cross society. In 2010 his struggle with dowry for his sister's marriage led him to found Ladli Foundation Trust.
2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?
In 2007 his concern for diverting young acquaintances from substance abuse, he crusaded to stop illegal selling of banned drugs at chemist shops and started his first initiative, "JOSH." His diligence bore fruit, and he was able to divert more than 1500 young boys from addiction through his innovative idea of involving them in sports and community service, volunteering at cultural festivals etc.
In 2009 working as an RTI activist, he also exposed many national level striking issues, including the malpractices of gas dealers, for not taking refill booking of domestic gas cylinders before 21 days and illegal and forceful selling of gas stoves to underprivileged people at four times higher prices in place of registering domestic gas subscription. Exposing this scam benefitted millions of Indians across the country through national-level media coverage.
In the year 2010, his grassroots-level social involvements were rewarded by nature, and he was offered a human resources service contract by an industrialist where he also employed his fellows who were de-addicted through his initiative.
After that, he started involving communities to support underprivileged unmarried females through his unique wedding initiative, where his efforts were able to facilitate 1753 destitute females to give them new life by saving them from social victimization, prostitution, and trafficking. All of this paved his way towards social welfare, and today he is continuously working for the vulnerable and marginalized section of society.
3. What's the motive of your organization?
Lying at the heart of Ladli Foundation Trust has a mission to build a safe, gender-neutral, and inclusive society. It aims to achieve gender equality, focusing on prioritizing the concern of women's health and wellbeing, especially in developing countries and also those with the menace of atrocities against women.
Seeking to bring reformative changes in the mindsets of the society, it proposes to initiate a dialogue at the global level to combat patriarchy, inequality, and Gender-Based Violence.
Equally, it aims to create awareness among the global community about the significance of scientifically proven Indian traditional practices for advancing sustainable living for achieving United Nations sustainable development goals.
4. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced along the way, and how did you respond to them?
Prejudices, myths & taboos that are still present in our society are significant challenges that we face while conducting any project. To deal with these challenges, we always start with a community sensitization and awareness campaign before implementing the project.
The topic we are working on is vital to the whole community, so it becomes essential to break their myths & taboos, reduce/eradicate the prejudices and work for a better world.
5. What message would you like to convey to our readers?
For all those who think that their life has come to a standstill, life doesn’t ever stop. It does not matter whether anyone is with you or not in your journey; if you are with yourself, then the whole world is with you.
So the first thing that we have to learn is whether we are with ourselves or not, whether we are faithful and honest with ourselves or not, that is the most important thing to remember for the journey.
Interviewed by - Pooja Trivedi
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