National Association of Farmer Producer Organisations (NAFPO) is a multi-stakeholder platform which supports the institutional development and business stabilisation of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) by strengthening their financial and legal compliance practices and general governance capabilities. Senior volunteers of Seniors in Seva (SiS) have been inducted as Independent Directors (IDs) or Advisors to 33 FPO’s, after receiving NAFPO-sponsored training on their roles and responsibilities conducted by the Institute of Directors (IoD). As IDs and Advisors, the SiS volunteers guide the FPO CEOs and Board members through regular interactions and participating in the Board meetings. SiS volunteers support the FPOs in the states of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh.
Jan Sahas has a strong legacy of strengthening Community based Organisations (CBO’s), and in the last twenty years, it has touched 14000+ villages across India. Seniors in Seva has partnered with Jan Sahas, under its Grassroots Resilience Initiative, to provide skilled volunteers help improve operational efficiencies of these CBOs. Currently Seniors in Seva volunteers are advising Grameen Swawalamban Samiti (GSS) in MP, and Kranti, in Maharashtra- both Jan Sahas sponsored CBOs.
GSS was founded in 2002 and works to support migrant workers, bonded laborers, women and children from marginalised communities. With operations across 3 districts in Bundelkhand, MP and 2 districts in UP, plans are underway to expand footprint to 14 districts in Bundelkhand. After reviewing their annual reports and vision documents, Seniors in Seva’s expert volunteer has identified seven potential areas of intervention and is currently guiding them on creation of high impact Annual Reports for funders and other stakeholders.
Kranti was formed in 2010 in Maharastra to serve nomadic and denotified tribal communities in the region. It addresses issues of poverty, cultural discrimination, illiteracy and lack of awareness on human and legal rights . Seniors in Seva’s expert volunteer is currently helping Kranti create an actionable Human Resources handbook to help them attract, motivate and retain the best talent in their teams, as they scale and grow.
Women on Wings is a Netherlands-registered nonprofit with a local presence in India. They aim to co-create one million jobs for women in rural India through pro-bono consulting and mentoring of women-led rural enterprises and institutions. Seniors in Seva has partnered with Women on Wings (WoW) and provides Indian experts to support women Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) mentored by WoW.
SIS volunteers are providing guidance in Business plan development and support in market linkages for the Samridhi Farmer Producer Organisation, Rajasthan and Lehar Farmer Producing Organisation in Uttar Pradesh.
Seva Mandir works with more than 500,000 people in 1500 rural village of Southern Rajasthan. 84% of the population are subsistence farmers who struggle to make a living from their small landholdings. Seva Mandir’s interventions in these communities span different areas from education, health to natural resource management. Seniors in Seva is helping Seva Mandir review its current documentation procedures across departments, and identify opportunities for improving efficiency through digitisation and/or better SOPs.
Bridge4Change is a non-profit established in 2021 aimed at professionally contributing towards a just society by using Mindful Consumption as a tool. Their strategy includes associating with academic institutions engaging students primarily at the undergraduate level- to bring behavior shift in their lifestyle. Seniors in Seva is helping Bridge4Chang develop a strong positioning platform to get a strong buy in from decision makers of institutions to invest in their concept and offerings
Child Rights and You (CRY) is one of India’s leading organizations supporting underprivileged children, with a special focus on child rights. In the last four decades CRY has impacted 4.7 million children. Seniors in Seva is supporting CRY by providing them the expertise of an educationist with international experience. Our Senior is mentoring CRY volunteers to conduct ‘effective classroom sessions’ with target children through a series of online ‘train the trainer’ workshops.
Forum of Enterprises for Equitable Development (“FEED”) is a non-profit created to help improve marginal farmer incomes in India. It is a first ever organisation formed to advocate and build new narrative around marginal farmers and their advocacy through seminars, policy briefs and research papers. FEED connects marginal farmers, farmer organizations and other farmer beneficiary establishments with the private sector.
Seniors in Seva’s volunteer is partnering with FEED to publish a data-led research paper collating successful interventions of high value crops across India that can serve as best practices to inform marginal farmers and help boost their farm-based incomes.
ShelterSquare Foundation (SSF) is a non-profit company registered in August 2023 under Section 8 of The Companies Act of India, 2013. Its mission is to promote equitable and dignified housing for migrant workers in the unorganized and informal sectors.
The SiS volunteer is supporting the SSF team in making its first workers’ hostel in Surat a viable enterprise so that the same become a template for other such interventions. This includes work on marketing strategies as well as improving operational efficiencies.
Astytva was set up with the vision of unlocking the potential of every child to lead a life of dignity. It does so through creating safe spaces where children are allowed to fail and nurtured to succeed! Working with children of migrant families employed in the ancillary auto industry of Pune, Astytva has placed them with some of the leading universities in the country, including Krea University, Azim Premji University and others.
The SiS volunteer is mentoring some of the Astytva children, especially in the areas of finance.
Shram Sarathi is the first dedicated financial services institution in the country that offers wealth solutions to vulnerable migrant workers and their households. Started in 2007, Shram Sarathi’s financial services work is situated within a larger ecosystem of migration support and services offered by Aajeevika Bureau.
The SiS volunteer has been working with Shram Sarathi helping them explore possible pathways to strengthening their offerings.
Prabhat Education Foundation serves children and adults with special needs, helping them to achieve their full potential in and around Ahmedabad, India. The Prabhat Education Foundation reflects a journey that began in 2003 through the identification and nurturing of children with learning difficulties struggling in mainstream schools. In time, the widespread reality of physically and mentally challenged children in and around Ahmedabad became apparent, and Prabhat moved into serving special children, as well as their families affected by stigma, ignorance and denial.
The SIS volunteer will be supporting Prabhat in improving their skills in handling new-age communication platforms and reaching out to newer sets of supporters for its work.
Transformation of Rural India has the vision of rural revival by transforming opportunities for localities and communities at a systemic level for impact at scale. TRI galvanises the collaborative endeavour of communities, civil society, government, market players and donors to work towards the rapid and holistic transformation of villages into places of vibrant opportunities. TRI partnered with Seniors in Seva (SiS), to induct 10 volunteers as Independent Directors to the Boards of 10 Lighthouse FPOs spread across 10 districts in the state of Uttar Pradesh to support and guide them in governance, business development and compliance to make them vibrant business enterprises of farmers.
