NGOs have been founded in India to help break this poverty cycle and support women, families, and children to create a brighter future for themselves. This article lists the top 10 credible NGOs in India changing the lives of the poor.

India is the second most populated country in the world, after China. According to The Balance (2020), India is the world’s fourth-largest economy. But this is only a façade. Some people there face daily challenges due to poverty. According to World Poverty Clock (2021), around 6% or 86,799,498 of the population will live in poverty.

Here is the list of top 10 credible NGOs in India changing the lives of the poor:

1. YUVA India

YUVA was founded in 2015 by a group of enthusiastic young individuals. The organisation aims to create a brighter future for the children and youth of Mauritius and India. YUVA is one of Africa’s and India’s largest and most active youth-led organisations. It aims at promoting peace and non-violence, especially among the youth. It promotes peace in each individual and how they can reflect it to the world.

YUVA work with families to ensure that children and young people have access to good health, are well educated, experience the love of parents and their surroundings, and are cared for, protected, and participating.

YUVA focuses on creating better opportunities for the children and youth of Mauritius and India by getting them involved in the country’s development. Their voice is heard, and their concerns are being acted on. Children and young people gain new skills and experiences that will be useful for their development. Their objective is to develop healthy, educated, empowered, and employed individuals to break the cycle of poverty.

YUVA has arranged health programmes because it is often the cause of poverty for some families. The organisation also came up with some initiatives to enable employment.

2. Sankalp Voluntary Organisation

They are a volunteering organisation in India, created to make the world a better place. The volunteers who wish to work in India for non-profit organisations contributing to the betterment of society can apply to volunteer.

Through volunteer opportunities with Sankalp, you assist orphanages, schools, and small communities with better childcare and improve education as a responsible tourist in India. They try to make the most impact by directly supporting people through volunteer programs that provide the chance for a new life and a new future for the underprivileged communities.

3. Concern India Foundation

Concern India Foundation was set up in 1991 as a registered non-profit, public charitable trust to extend financial and non-financial support to grassroots NGOs working in education, health, and community development. Their motto is to ‘Help People Help Themselves’ by making the disadvantaged self-reliant and enabling them to lead a life of dignity. This philosophy lays the foundation for their programs to have the buy-in of the entire community and are sustainable and effective.

They work with and through grassroots organisations with passion and purpose but strapped for funds. They will help such organisations with funding, capacity building, systems, and planning to continue their work even after the financial support. Over the past 30 years, they have strengthened and supported over 1,000 NGO partners nationwide through their Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune offices.

4. Light of Life Trust

Light of life trust was founded in 2005 and has ensured that thousands of underprivileged children from rural communities in India have completed their secondary education. They focus their projects on single parents, neglected, tribal, and orphan children, youth, and women from rural communities of India and their holistic development.

Their mission is to break the generational cycle of poverty, one life at a time. They have developed multiple projects to do so. Project Anando is based on the belief that no child should be forced to drop out of school. It helps children complete their secondary education, delay their age of marriage, and equip them for employability.

5. Akshara Foundation

The organisation was founded in March 2000 and believes that quality education is the absolute right of every child and that children should not be deprived of this just because they do not have access to it or the resources to realise their dreams.

The Akshara Foundation believes that technology and shared digital infrastructure have become more relevant now than ever and that it is essential to leverage their combined power to impart education to all children. The focus has to be on blended models that can accelerate conventional learning through accessible technology-based innovations for teachers and children.

6. Smile Foundation

Smile Foundation, an Indian social development organisation, directly benefits over 15 lakh children and their families annually. They have more than 400 live welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood, and women’s empowerment in over 2,000 remote villages and urban slums across 25 states of India.

Education empowers individuals to earn their livelihood and increases their awareness of various issues. From healthcare to appropriate social behaviour to understanding one’s rights – Smile Foundation seeks to educate, empower and cultivate better citizens.

7. Care India

Care India is a not-for-profit organisation that builds the capacity of communities to ensure empowerment for marginalised women and girls. Their sustainable and holistic interventions in Health, Livelihood, Education, and Disaster Relief & Resilience, provide innovative solutions to deep-rooted development problems.

Care India believes that empowered women and girls can lift their entire families and communities out of poverty.

Along with access to the international confederation of expertise, they integrate internal knowledge and a strong network of partnerships to deliver outcomes at scale to varied stakeholders. Care India aims at upholding the dignity of each individual, adhering to an ethical code of conduct in all actions, fulfilling their duties and responsibilities, setting high-performance standards, and being accountable to them.

8. Make a Difference

At Make A Difference, they believe everybody should have a reasonable quality of life. A life in which they need not struggle or suffer to make ends meet. A life allows one to provide reasonable safety and security to their family and children. A life that one can live with dignity and on their terms. They believe a reasonable quality of life can be achieved if individuals are covered on two fronts: they are Free from Exploitation, and they can Cope with Life Crises.

They find holistic solutions, individual care and attention, age transitional, and customised programs for children combined with a willingness to do whatever it takes for as long as possible.

9. HelpAge India

HelpAge India is a non-profit organisation in India, set up in 1978. The organisation works for ‘the cause and care of disadvantaged older persons to improve their quality of life. HelpAge envisions a society where the elderly have the right to an active, healthy, dignified life. It recently became the first and only Indian organisation to be honoured with the ‘UN Population Award 2020’ for its exemplary work in the field of ageing, relief efforts work during the Covid-19 pandemic and recognition of the organisation’s outstanding contribution to population issues and efforts in the realisation of older person rights in India.

The organisation’s programmes are focused on direct interventions in the areas of healthcare, age care (helplines, senior citizen care homes and daycare centres, physiotherapy), Livelihoods, Disaster Response (e.g. Covid-19 relief response), Advocacy and Awareness on rights and policies relating to elders.

10. Sparsha Trust

Sparsha Trust was founded in 2005 by five young postgraduates who decided to do something to improve the conditions of the children living on the streets of Bangalore. The mission of Sparsha Trust is to provide poor and deprived children with the basics of living standards such as food, shelter, and education.

Sparsha Trust means ‘to touch a needy’, and for over a decade and a half, the team has been helping such deprived kids to live a life of entity, hope, and respect. Children being provided education and life skills can accomplish a good livelihood for themselves and their families.

Ingrid Roussel, YUVA Intern