24/7

Helpline

Jan Sahas Helpline
for Girls and Women

If you face any kind of violence call us

1800 3000 2852

Jan Sahas
Majdoor Helpline

If you face any kind of violence call us

1800 2000 211

About Us
Vision, Mission & Values

Who we are

Jan Sahas is a community and survivor centric not-for-profit organisation. Jan Sahas works with an aim to eliminate sexual violence and forced labour with a focus on the most excluded social groups through a comprehensive approach of- Prevention, Response, Rehabilitation and Systemic Reform.

Keeping this approach at the core of our work, we have developed strategies to address sexual violence and forced labour through- legal and social support, land and property rights, skill development and livelihood promotion, Mental health, and Early Childhood Care and Education. The organization is working in multiple states across India and carries out concentrated capacity building and advocacy efforts with the state and civil society organisations, thus having a national and regional footprint.

Our History

Jan Sahas started functioning in the year 2000 when it took up the issue of death of one child labour and two dalit labours in an illegal unit of firecrackers in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. A group of volunteers decided to come together as an organization to seek justice, and Jan Sahas was born.
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Initially focused on building awareness and community empowerment to end manual scavenging, today we strive to eliminate sexual violence and forced labour, and empower survivors of such injustices. We are particularly focused on the most excluded social groups, including those facing gender and caste based violence.

2000

Launched Jan Sahas with program on forced labour, particularly manual scavenging

2003

Registered as a Nonprofit

2005

Initiated work on land rights, Atrocities and first cases on sexual violence

2005

First dignity march; led by Dalits across 5 states

2007

Started program on sexual violence against women

2010

Dignity march led by survivors across 18 states

2010

Forced labour theme expanded to bonded labour; Sexual violence theme expanded to commercial trafficking and caste bases prostitution

2018

Dignity March / Garima Yatra reached 24 states; engaged 25K survivors, 2K stakeholders, 200 policymakers, and 2K lawyers.

Conversion of complaint to FIRs is 86% and conviction rate is 59% in MP against a national conviction rate of 24.2%

16,250+

survivors of rape and sexual violence are gaining support for access to justice and rehabilitation

₹4.3 C

compensation received by survivors from the government

722

survivors and their families receiving livelihoods support

6,200

girls enabled to leave caste-based commercial sexual exploitation, and helped prevent 5,400 girls from entering into sex-slavery

46,000+

women enabled to leave the inhuman practice of manual scavenging

6,800

women enabled to break free from bonded labour and provided rehabilitation support

66,000

migrant labours of Bundelkhand are being tracked to under safe migration project

Our APPROACH

Putting survivors and communities first

We prioritise survivors’ needs and agency in all our work. The social groups that we work with are an important part of agenda creation, taking leadership positions in planning and executing transformative strategies. Additionally, 90% of our staff belong to communities that we serve. This helps us ensure that no action is detached from its context.

Focusing on long term, systemic impact

We work towards creating a measurable impact. The focus is on low cost, replicable solutions that can be adapted by state and non-state actors. The approach is holistic and comprehensive, from prevention to rehabilitation, using a combination of development and rights-based approaches depending on the demands of the situation.

Collaborating with all key stakeholders

We leverage, support, and develop the capacity of state actors to enable them to better execute their constitutional duties. Beyond the state, we seek to partner and build alliances with actors ranging from community-based organizations, nonprofits, cultural groups, and solidarity networks.

Putting survivors and communities first

We prioritise survivors’ needs and agency in all our work. The social groups that we work with are an important part of agenda creation, taking leadership positions in planning and executing transformative strategies. Additionally, 90% of our staff belong to communities that we serve. This helps us ensure that no action is detached from its context.

Focusing on long term, systemic impact

We work towards creating a measurable impact. The focus is on low cost, replicable solutions that can be adapted by state and non-state actors. The approach is holistic and comprehensive, from prevention to rehabilitation, using a combination of development and rights-based approaches depending on the demands of the situation.

Collaborating with all key stakeholders

We leverage, support, and develop the capacity of state actors to enable them to better execute their constitutional duties. Beyond the state, we seek to partner and build alliances with actors ranging from community-based organizations, nonprofits, cultural groups, and solidarity networks.

our values

We embody five key values in our work as well as our interactions with people, internal and external alike:
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equity

We aim to break hierarchies in society and within our organization through inclusive approaches. We pay special attention to the needs of the excluded to enable an equitable culture.

Dignity

We recognize the agency and value of each individual. People we serve are some of the most excluded; however, we also recognize them for their labour and leadership in the struggle against violence and inequity. We espouse respect even when dealing with conflicts.

Transformative leadership

Jan Sahas means ‘people’s courage’. Through our work we aim to cultivate this courage, and transform the people we work with and those we work with to become changemakers and leaders.

Co-creation

We intensively engage with and draw participation from communities and survivors we work with, as well as our team members from the field staff to advisors. This enables us to innovate, strengthen our strategies, and build capacity for change.

Integrity

We bear accountability to the community, survivors, and our partners. We share our results, challenges, successes and failures alike. This enables us to introspect and learn from our experience as well as from others.

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