Sakshi

Founded and Registered in 1992 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, Sakshi is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) / Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) headquartered in New Delhi, India. Owing to our name, which means, “Witness”, Sakshi has sought to be an active witness to sexual violence that plagues women and children; a role that initiated our intervention with systems that either promote or sustain the inequality that erupts from such violence. Through Research, Surveys, Campaigns, Publications, Advocacy, Life skills, Education, Diversity & Inclusion Audits, Gender Mainstreaming, Dialogue, Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Transformational Leadership, our effort has been to foster a sense of self for individuals, as well as work with different bodies at the level of organizations, institutions and policy to affect systemic change. A pioneer in working for Gender Equality & Responsible Sexuality in India, Sakshi was the force behind the first test-case litigation against Child Sexual Abuse in India and the force behind two landmark P***c Interest Litigations, Vishaka & Others Vs. Union of India which informed several gender-based laws, including POSH (Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace, Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal Act 2013) and POCSO (Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Amendment Act 2019). Following the formation of the laws, in order to address biases in interpretation by the Judiciary, Sakshi spearheaded the Asia Pacific Advisory Forum for Judicial Education on Gender Equality for the Judiciary of 5 countries of the Region; India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka. The Gender & Judges programme was eventually institutionalised and came to be recognized as a Best Practice Model by UNIFEM (UN Women). In the last decade, through its flagship programmes, The Rakshin Project & SBOX, Sakshi has been working to build access to justice by informing and educating the citizens about the law reforms and their rights. With a clear focus on attitudinal shifts for strengthening a culture of accountability, Sakshi has led several Campaigns, Social Art, Communication for Development (C4D) / Social & Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) Initiatives to mainstream difficult conversations and build empathetic communities.