07/05/2026
Last month, the whole Yuwa team packed up and headed to Shantiniketan for the organisation's first ever staff retreat.
The town felt fitting — it's where Tagore founded his open-air university, where education was always meant to feel rooted in the world around it. We visited a local Santhali school, reflected on our culture as a team using the Gallup Survey, and spent time understanding each other's individual strengths.
But the retreat was also toto rides through the village lanes, watching jugnoo flicker in the dark, a noisy train journey that started the bonding before anyone had even arrived, and dinner table laughter that continued long after the meal had ended.
"Yuwa is a place where everyone finds courage and support," said Seema, one of our primary teachers. "People learn from each other, teach each other, and respect each other's work. For us, it's a second home."
A team that speaks about their workplace this way is not an accident. It is the result of years of intentional culture-building — and a reminder that the work we do for Yuwa's girls begins with the people who show up for them every day.