Karuna-Shechen began its work in Bihar, one of India’s most destitute states, in the late 1990s by sending a mobile clinic to distribute medical help to poor villages. This small-scale humanitarian project has evolved into a successful movement for rural development.
We have a creative approach to helping vulnerable communities become sustainable and self-reliant. In addition to our health and education programs for adults and children, a crucial part of our work entails providing villagers with the tools and knowledge they need to make sustainable use of local resources and to contribute concretely to their community’s well-being.
Each of our activities is interconnected, and together they create an eco-system of interventions in which they build on each other’s success to empower rural communities. For example, our distribution of seeds and plants to villagers so that they can grow organic kitchen gardens gives them access to nutritious food, which leads to better health. Our water-harvesting teaches water management and proper use of precious resources to communities in drought-prone areas.
In each village, local committees are set up and a motivator is chosen to act as an essential link between the people and us. By working with villagers in this way, we seek to affirm their dignity and self-determination.
Our Small Money, BIG CHANGE program allows communities to plan and implement small-scale projects that directly address their specific needs with a minimum of start-up funding. This directly benefits villagers’ daily lives while also teaching them about transparency and the responsibilities of ownership. Equally, it helps us identify the hidden talents and natural ingenuity of the people we serve.
We will continue to engage villagers in projects that build their resilience and self-sufficiency. With this strategy, we strive to create a better and more sustainable world, one village at a time.
Shamsul Akhtar
July 12 2022
From Rennes to Kharsa: a collaborative project The beginnings of the project Karuna-Shechen aims to reveal the altruistic potential of individuals, groups and communities. At the beginning of 2021...
July 4 2022
For a year now, Karuna-Shechen has been present in the Ruby Valley in Nepal, in order to develop educational, economic and agricultural programmes to meet local challenges. Thanks to the opening of of...
May 6 2022
We believe that education is a tool for development, which should also help everyone to cultivate their inner qualities. Indeed, Early Childhood Development (ECD) is a major axis of intervention for K...
April 28 2022
This year, all the donations collected by Action For Karuna finance our food security program in India which supports more than 53,000 families: organic vegetable gardens, fruit trees, drip irrigati...
April 19 2022
"When altruists join forces, they can generate a tremendous power for good. (...) Everyone can mobilize in his or her own way and cultivate an altruistic state of mind to become a link in the immense ...
