About Us
Swayam is a feminist organisation committed to ending discrimination and violence against women, and has been working toward women’s empowerment and gender equality since 1995. On the one hand we facilitate the empowerment of women survivors of violence and enable them to become self-confident, self-sufficient and self-reliant. On the other, we generate discussion, debate and action in society to challenge social norms, values and systems that deem discrimination and violence against women and girls acceptable.
Swayam works with a 48 member team including 7 consultants and field staff working out of three Centres located in Deodar Street and Metiabruz in Kolkata and in Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal.
Swayam was established and registered as a public charitable trust in Kolkata, India in 1995. Since then the organisation and the women it supports have grown from strength to strength and Swayam is now one of the leading organisations of its kind in India.
Our Vision – Mission – Strategy – Values
Our Vision
Swayam envisions a non-discriminatory, violence-free and gender-equal society.
Our Mission
Swayam aims to end discrimination and violence against women, facilitate women’s empowerment and advance gender equality.
Our Strategy
Swayam’s comprehensive strategy includes:
- Reinforcing women’s belief in themselves and facilitating their empowerment
- Challenging and changing societal norms and values that deem violence against women acceptable.
- Mobilising, developing and empowering communities to promote women’s rights and to address discrimination and violence against women.
- Holding the State and society accountable to prevent discrimination and violence against women and establish women’s rights.
- Working in a collective manner and in solidarity with organisations, networks and movements to bring about systemic change.
Our Values
- Mutual respect and equality
- Transparency and accountability
- Integrity
- Partnership and collaboration
- Equity and respect
- Confidentiality
- Inclusion and diversity
- Non-discrimination and non-violence
- Empathy and self-care
- Quality and excellence
Our Board
- Trust Board:
- Anuradha Kapoor, Founder and Managing Trustee
- Jael Miriam Silliman, Board Chair/Trustee
- Abhijit Dutta, Trustee
- Kalpana Viswanath Basu, Trustee
- Atul Gupta, Trustee
- Advisory Board:
- Arvind Agrawal, Advocate, Direct Tax law
- Kavita Panjabi, Professor
- Mentors:
- Sandhi Mukherjee (IPS - retired)
- Aparna Sen (Filmmaker)
Our Team:
- Executive Director:
| Amrita Dasgupta |
- HR/Administrative Officer:
| Sandip Das |
- Direct Support Services Team:
| Gargee Guha |
| Surama Ghosh |
| Sriya Satuluri |
| Sumana Bhattacharya |
| Swati Pramanik |
| Ipshita Mukherjee |
| Eshika Rana Dutta |
| Anita Pal |
| Shayori Banerjee |
- Preventive Strategy Team:
| Soumi Jana |
| Triparna Nandy |
| Poulami Nandy |
| Debayani Sen |
| Rajasree Das |
- Metiabruz Community Team:
| Dulari Khatoon |
| Rehana Khatoon (Debnath) |
| Rahool Goswami |
| Amrita Kumari Yadav |
| Mosaddek Molla |
| Saheda Begum |
| Ruby Khatoon |
- Diamond Harbour Community Team:
| Nargis Ara |
| Mridul Molla |
| Md. Shamim Iqbal |
| Somnath Paul |
| Sagir Ahmed Purkait |
| Sabina Bibi |
| Rinku Khatun |
| Pronati Ghosh |
| Momotaj Bibi |
- Accounts & HR:
| Bijaya Ghosh (Chakrabarty) |
| Ananda Mohan Dey |
| Kalosona Sardar Rigdish Mandal |
- Support Staff:
| Ganesh Das |
| Dilip Das |
| Manoj Mallick |
| Pijus Purkait |
| Prodip Tarafdar |
| Netai Ghosh |
| Sanjib Bera |
- Consultants:
| Programme |
| Seema Sreeniwas (Srivastava) |
| Swati Sanyal |
| Legal |
| Abhijit Datta |
| Amales Kanti Ghosal |
| Tapas Roy |
| Mental Health |
| Chandana Baksi |
| Srabasti Majumdar |
| Paromita Chowdhury |
| Debasmita Sinha Das |
| Suparna Rudra |
| Theatre Group |
| Bela Adak Bagchi |
| Music Group |
| Susmita Sinha |
| Dance Group |
| Monami Nandy |
| Librarian |
| Sukla Dev (Mitra) |
- Funding Partners:
Annual Reports & Financials
Annual Reports
Swayam Report 2005-2010- https://swayam.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Swayam-Report-2005-2010.pdf
Swayam 3 Years Report 2014-2017- https://swayam.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Swayam-3-year-report-1.pdf
Swayam 3 Years Report 2014-2017- https://swayam.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Swayam-3-year-report-1.pdf
Swayam Annual Report 2022-2023- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NFX4YSH6LD7hEHwRmCofRUqvg_PyLfjF/view?usp=sharing
FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) Reports - https://swayam.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FCRA-receipts-Accounts-31.3.2021.pdf
Need Help?
+91 9830079448
+91 9830204393
+91 9830204322
+91 9830747030
+91 9830737030
+91 9073916030
+91 9073917030
+91 9073910040
+91 9073910060
+91 9073922267-
Using technology like mobile phones, social media, messaging applications or the internet to harm, silence or control. In simple terms, it is a modern form of abuse.
Swayam Theater group
Theatre encourages and promotes self-expression, co-operation and teamwork. We could see that much of what we were trying to achieve in the support groups could be addressed through the process of theatre itself.
Music
The music performances facilitate discussions of difficult issues that our women survivors and the community may be reluctant to discuss under other circumstances.
Prayas
Prayas is a quarterly magazine that is written and edited by survivors themselves. It contains poetry and prose primarily in Bengali with occasional pieces in Hindi and English.