About Gharda Foundation

The Gharda Foundation was created in 1996 as a non-profit philanthropic organization dedicated to Rural Development in India. The foundation is a private NGO,administered by a Board of Five Trustees and works extensively in Maharashtra.

The foundation is well established with a staff of approximately 50 full time and part time workers. We also run a fully staffed 20 bed rural hospital that are also engaged in public health outreach into inaccessible areas.

Our over riding philosophy is one of participative development. We strive to make villagers self reliant and feel ownership of projects that are implemented. No project is undertaken if we cannot secure equal participation and contribution from villagers. Despite our size we are also committed to holistic development. We believe that we cannot realize rural development if we focus on any one issue to the exclusion of others. For example it is meaningless to talk about developing hygiene and sanitation if villagers have insufficient drinking water!

We have concentrated our efforts on health education & Microfinance ralated activities with focus on women.