Swayam is a feminist organisation committed to advancing women's rights and ending discrimination and violence against women and girls. 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 works to end discrimination and violence against women, advance women's rights and facilitate women's empowerment.
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
Quality and Excellence
Transparency
Accountability
Integrity
Equality
Partnership and Collaboration
Participatory Approach
Secularism
Non-discrimination
Our Board
Trust Board: Anuradha Kapoor (Founder & Managing Trustee of Swayam), Jael Silliman (Trust Board Chair, Independent Consultant , Scholar & Writer), Kamla Bhasin Trustee (Founder Member of Jagori, New Delhi &Advisor at Sangat) and Abhijit Datta (Trustee and Lawyer)
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.
The music performances facilitate discussions of difficult issues that our women survivors and the community may be reluctant to discuss under other circumstances.
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.
