NGO Vishakha

As told before, Vishakha is all about women empowerment. Like everyone knows, we still have a long way to a world or society where everyone is treated the same way. But Vishakha shares a vision. This vision is to facilitate a discrimination free society founded on the principles of equity and justice. The NGO strives for this vision by concentrating on the rights of women and improving their status in the society by empowering them.

Vishakha has worked since 1991 when it was formalised as a registered society and the work has continued without stopping since then. The organisation is perhaps the most well known for the so called Vishakha Guidelines that were laid down in the 1997 in the aftermath of a Supreme Court case Vishakha and others v the State of Rajasthan. These guidelines defined what can be classified as a sexual harassment and they are to be followed when dealing with complaints about sexual harassment. The guidelines' definition of sexual harassment has been used in many cases, for example in the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act enacted in 2013.

While the women are the point of concentration for Vishakha's, the aims of Vishakha are not only about empowering them alone. The empowering work should cover all the marginalised sections of the society and their specific perspectives should be integrated into state-level politics.

The women empowering practically means that Vishakha is developing women's capacities so that they have the means to build their own identities instead of the society or the family completely moulding their role. This means not only work with the women and girls but also working with men and whole communities and contesting and collaborating with the state in order to improve the status of women in the society. This contesting and cooperation includes topics such as education, health community development and violence against women. Especially the latest topic, the battle against violence towards women is one of Vishakha's key programme areas.

Vishakha's Block Coordinators working at the Salumbar office