Utthan

Utthan As of 2019, Utthan directly touches the lives of more than 1.4 million people of 412 villages in six districts of Gujarat.

Utthan is a non profit with a mission to initiate sustainable gender sensitive, grass root processes of empowerment among the most vulnerable communities; through a process of inclusion, building conscientiousness, & organising around their major issues. Utthan’s intense work for nearly 40 years has been in the drought-prone coastal districts of Ahmedabad, Amreli, Bhavnagar & Kutch and the poverty

-stricken tribal districts of Dahod, Panchmahal, and Mahisagar. Continuing its quest for exploration and sharing of learning’s, Utthan’s leadership and work has extended to neighbourhood districts and communities in Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and other States as well as to movements in South Asia and across the world. Some direct achievements in collaboration with various local institutions include;

 Establishment of Mahiti, an independent CBO, which in turn, has now initiated a number of local institutions
 Supported 20000+ women to access their right to resources- rightful land, property, social welfare & livelihood schemes and freedom from domestic and public violence
 Introduction of improved local and organic varieties of maize, pigeon pea, paddy, gram, fruits to promote biodiversity with nearly 7200 farmers
 Directly supported nearly 1 lakh persons through Integrated Water Resource development on 30000 hectares of land
 Facilitated building of resources to provide over 360,000 people with sustainable and equitable access to safe water
 Facilitated adoption of eco-sanitation toilets with more than 300 families & 225 toilets catering to people with disabilities. The process of replication, adaptation and movement building continues. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAszXbTswJXEQ0icOzeI6Dg?view_as=subscriber

When the winter shrinks, it isn't just a weather anomaly for a tribal woman farmer in Dahod - it is a direct threat to h...
03/06/2026

When the winter shrinks, it isn't just a weather anomaly for a tribal woman farmer in Dahod - it is a direct threat to her family’s food security.

When salinity creeps into the coastal soil of Bhavnagar , it multiplies the distance a woman must walk just to find clean fodder.

We are thrilled to share our latest research publication:
📢 "Localising Climate Knowledge & Strategies: Perspectives of Small and Marginal Women Farmers from Gujarat"

This report centres the lived experiences, generational knowledge, and resilience strategies of small and marginal women farmers from the coastal (Bhavnagar) and hilly (Dahod & Panchmahal) regions of Gujarat. Through their voices, the study reveals exactly how climate change intersects with gender, land rights, labour burdens, and food security.

💡 Key Insights from the Ground:

• Beyond Vulnerability: Women farmers are not just passive victims of climate change - they are active knowledge holders and agents of strategic adaptation.

• The Labour Burden: Climate stress is severely intensifying women’s paid and unpaid labour, even as their structural access to land, credit, and institutional decision-making remains heavily limited.

• The Policy Gap: Mainstream climate policies often remain gender-blind, completely missing the grounded solutions and strategic needs of women farmers.

• The Path Forward: Collective grassroots institutions, seed sovereignty, and agro-ecological practices offer the most powerful, tested pathways for building true climate resilience.

A heartfelt thank you to all the resilient women farmers who generously shared their stories, our dedicated Utthan team, the Krushi Sakhis, Nyay Sakhis, Krishi Vigyan Kendras.

Special appreciation to for making this feminist, deeply participatory research possible.

👥 Principal Investigators: ManishaPatel & Dr. Selvakumar Vellingiri.

✍️ Authors: Amrita Gupta, Neharika Mahajan, Manisha Patel & Dr. Selvakumar Vellingiri

We invite policymakers, practitioners, researchers and climate advocates to engage with these grassroots perspectives. True climate resilience must be rooted in the knowledge of those who feed us every day.

Let us move from gender-neutral to gender-just climate action.

👇 Read, download, and share the full report via the link in the first comment below. (Swipe through the carousel for a summary of the core findings).

Pallavi Sobti-Rajpal I I

6 years. 6 villages. In Valiya block (Bharuch, Gujarat), a collaborative Water, Sanitation and Health initiative between...
02/06/2026

6 years. 6 villages.

In Valiya block (Bharuch, Gujarat), a collaborative Water, Sanitation and Health initiative between , and is enabling true grassroots transformation

This journey has been about embedding permanent resilience into local governance in these villages. By investment in both social and technical infrastructure, the community has achieved:
☑️100% Open Defecation Free (ODF) status across all 6 villages
☑️70% increase in women's representation in Paani Samitis (Water Committees)
☑️48% reduction in family healthcare costs due to reduced water borne diseases
☑️95.81 Million Liters of greywater safely drained annually

🏆 This very initiative was recognized as the 'Best Community Project' at the 2025-26 in March 2026.

To mark , watch the blueprint behind this Award-Winning Impact!

Utthan is premiering ‘From Crisis to Dignity’, a short Impact film documenting this incredible 6-year journey.
📻 Tune in and see the power of collaborative philanthropy.

📅 June 5, 2026 ⌛7 pm 📍 Watch on YouTube
🔗 Link in bio to set your reminder!

What happens when an entire community decides to turn a chronic crisis into an opportunity for dignity, health, and clim...
30/05/2026

What happens when an entire community decides to turn a chronic crisis into an opportunity for dignity, health, and climate resilience? 💧✨

Across 6 underserved villages in Valiya Block (Bharuch, Gujarat), a remarkable transformation has been unfolding. For the past six years, women have stepped up as local climate actors - turning water, sanitation, and hygiene into a collective movement.

This , we invite you to the Virtual Premiere of our short film, "From Crisis to Dignity" in partnership with and .

🎬Save the Date:
🗓️ June 5, 2026 ⌛7 pm📍Watch on YouTube

🔗 Link in comments to set your reminder!

📣 We’re Hiring | Coordinator – CommunicationsDo you enjoy storytelling, content creation, field documentation, and commu...
19/05/2026

📣 We’re Hiring | Coordinator – Communications

Do you enjoy storytelling, content creation, field documentation, and communicating impact in meaningful ways?

🔍Utthan is looking for a Coordinator - Communications to help capture and communicate stories, learning, and impact from grassroots programmes across Gujarat.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys:
✨ Storytelling & documentation
✨ Social media & digital communication
✨ Content development (reports, stories, outreach materials)
✨ Working closely with field teams and communities
✨ Turning grassroots experiences into compelling narratives

📍 Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat
🧭 Travel: Exposure to field areas across east, south-east, and coastal Gujarat
🎯 Preference: Candidates with NGO/development sector experience

If this sounds like you, or someone in your network — we’d love to hear from you.

📄 Click for JD: https://tinyurl.com/vsxz9w9a
💼 Compensation: ₹30,000–₹35,000/month (based on experience)
📩 Apply here: https://forms.gle/2gvPrJroSzz13VtA8

🙏 Please share within your networks.

💡 Social impact is built by people who know how to bring people together.In the social sector, teams are constantly faci...
12/05/2026

💡 Social impact is built by people who know how to bring people together.

In the social sector, teams are constantly facilitating change - engaging with communities, community leaders, local governments, duty bearers and institutions to build trust, dialogue and collective action. Strong facilitation is therefore not a soft skill; it is a core skill for meaningful change.

To strengthen this practice, team members from across Utthan programmes participated in a 3-day Facilitation Skills Training with Shilpa Vasavada, reflecting deeply on their current facilitation practice, what to stop, what to strengthen, and what to start doing differently.

From creating participatory learning spaces and asking meaningful questions to guiding discussions, managing group dynamics, drawing out learning, and enabling outcome-oriented decisions- the focus was on becoming more thoughtful and effective facilitators.

And the learning did not stop in the training room.

One encouraging shift has already begun - team members are actively supporting one another through constructive, clear and relevant feedback on facilitation practices, showing up on our WhatsApp learning space.

At Utthan, we nurture learning through a 70:20:10 approach, where learning happens through doing in the field (70%), learning from peers and mentoring (20%), and structured inputs like trainings (10%) that strengthen everyday practice.

🌱 Because when teams grow, the quality of change they enable grows too.

📢 WE ARE HIRING!📍LOCATION: AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT 🔍Coordinator, Management Information System (MIS (01 position)💼 Compensati...
06/05/2026

📢 WE ARE HIRING!

📍LOCATION: AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT

🔍Coordinator, Management Information System (MIS (01 position)
💼 Compensation: ₹30,000–₹35,000/month (based on experience)
📄 Click for JD: https://bit.ly/4ux5DaB

🔍Coordinator, Communications (01 position)
💼 Compensation: ₹30,000–₹35,000/month (based on experience)
📄 Click for JD: https://bit.ly/48F8Tbx

📍LOCATION: SANTRAMPUR TOWN, MAHISAGAR, GUJARAT

🔍 Programme Manager cm Agriculture Expert (01 position)
💼 Compensation: ₹45,000–₹55,000/month (based on experience)
📄 Click for JD: https://bit.ly/4wdWrJN

📮Apply by 13th May 2026:👉 https://lnkd.in/ebnTPnzA


Advancing Evidence-Based Policy for Coastal ResilienceWe are proud to announce that Utthan has officially published a se...
02/05/2026

Advancing Evidence-Based Policy for Coastal Resilience

We are proud to announce that Utthan has officially published a series of three comprehensive needs assessment reports focusing on the small-scale fishing communities of the Bhavnagar district. Each report has been published with an ISBN, marking a significant step in our commitment to documenting the systemic realities of India’s coastal populations.

Led by Principal Investigators Dr. Selvakumar Vellingiri and Manisha Patel, these studies, including deep dives into Mahuva Light House, Katpar and Mahuva Bandar, explore the precarious balance between traditional livelihoods and mounting pressures from climate stress, economic instability, and institutional neglect.

This rigorous work was made possible through the dedicated field efforts of our research team, Jitendra Maru and Shilpa Bambaniya, whose work in community mobilization and stakeholder engagement ensured that the authentic voices of the fisherfolk were at the heart of this study.

These reports are more than just data; they are strategic frameworks designed to:
✅ Drive financial inclusion and insurance for fisherfolk.
✅ Promote gender-equitable governance in fisheries.
✅ Strengthen climate resilience and biodiversity protection.
✅ Bridge the gap between community needs and government planning.

We invite policymakers, researchers, and development practitioners to explore these findings and join us in transforming these vulnerabilities into sustainable empowerment.

Grateful to Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Foundation for supporting the initiative.

📖 Read the full reports here:https://www.utthangujarat.org/knowladgehub

On 1 May 1960, Gujarat was formed as a separate state.Rooted in a vision of bringing governance closer to people and str...
01/05/2026

On 1 May 1960, Gujarat was formed as a separate state.

Rooted in a vision of bringing governance closer to people and strengthening democracy, this day reminds us of what progress should stand for.

At Utthan, we believe Gujarat’s growth must translate into real equity - ensuring dignified opportunities, education and rights for Dalits, Adivasis, backward communities, women, LGBTQI++ communities and all those at the margins.

Today, we reaffirm our commitment to making development inclusive, where liberty, equality, and fraternity are not just ideals, but lived realities for everyone.

On April 24, 1993, India gave its villages a constitutional right. The right to plan. To govern. To build their own futu...
25/04/2026

On April 24, 1993, India gave its villages a constitutional right. The right to plan. To govern. To build their own futures.
Thirty-two years later, here is what that looks like on the ground through the work of Utthan and local leaders across 85 villages in Gujarat.

🪙₹1,61,41,220. That is what 12 Gram Panchayats in Bhavnagar district (9 in Ghoga block, 3 in Bhavnagar block) mobilized. By mastering the GPDP (Gram Panchayat Development Plan) process, they approached multiple government departments, MLAs, and MPs simultaneously.
The result? New roads, water pipelines, school walls, and rainwater harvesting structures. Not as grants handed down, but as rights exercised.

🧲Governance in Action: Farzanaben MohammadbhaiPathan An ASHA worker and Village Development Committee (VDC) member in Bhadra village (Mahuva Block, Bhavnagar), Farzanaben ensured her community’s infrastructure needs were no longer ignored. When she found citizens were being charged ₹80 for government forms that are legally free, she didn't just protest—she stopped the practice and organized a transparent alternative.

↗️Visionary Leadership: Laljibhai Bambhaniya As Sarpanch of Khared village (Mahuva Block, Bhavnagar), Laljibhai secured ₹90 lakh for a new school building, ₹17 lakh for a Panchayat office, and land rights for 61 residents. Today, a three-storey, 12-classroom primary school is a reality because a leader knew how to use the system.

🤝Commitment During Crisis When government functionaries went on strike for a month, the Sarpanchs and VDC members of Bhumbhali, Sarvadar, Kuda, Mota Khokhra, and Mamsa (Bhavnagar district) refused to let service delivery stop. They partnered with a local cyber cafés to continue processing widow pensions, ration cards, Ayushman cards, and welfare applications.

🌟 The Ripple Effect In Gadiya village (SantrampurBlock, Mahisagar district), the GPDP worked so well that leaders from neighboring villages Bhotva, Sooka Timba, Paadedi, Ador, and Prathampur visited specifically to learn how to replicate the model.
The 73rd Amendment gave India a framework. These leaders are giving it a heartbeat.

📹 Glimpse from the ground: https://lnkd.in/gwC_c9nb

On this hashtag , we salute every Sarpanch, VDC member, and woman leader turning constitutional promises into community reality.

💬What does local governance look like where you work? Share a story of grassroots impact below.

Address

36, Chitrakut Twins, Nehru Park, Nr. Management Enclave, Vastrapur
Ahmedabad
380015

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm

Telephone

+917926751023

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