Ibtada was established in 1997 with a non-profit motive to build and strengthen people's institutions and enable these to address the issues of their concern.The NGO is currently operating in the MEWAT region of Rajasthan.The inspiration to start the initiative called IBTADA,an urdu word meaning the beginning, came from the existing backwardness of women in this region.
Ibtada envisions a society where poor and deprived social groups are economically,socially and politically empowered to take part in development processes and have equal rights and access to resources, that abridges poverty,deprivation and discrimination. In order to achieve this vision, Ibtada's mission is 'Incapacitate communities especially women to play an influential role to reduce social and economic poverty and inequality."The core strategies adopted by Ibtada are: Augment community capacity and promote self reliant community institutions: Put women and girl child in forefront; Collabrations with Govt. for innovations and effective outreach; and Build alliances with civil society and CBOs on issues of common concern.
In terms of concrete activities,Ibtada promotes
- Women's institutions around issues of microfinance. Such institutions are self-help groups, cluster level Mahila sabhas and block level fedrations.Apart from micro credit, these institutions indulge in village level issues, girl child education and women's health.The overall approach leads towards women's empowerment.
- Girl child education: Running alternative schools for girl child called Taleemshalas.
- Livelihoods: Enhancing livelihoods through existing resources of land and livestock.
Dear IBTADA, Your stated mission uses the wrong word. 'Incapacitate' means 'to disable'. It is the opposite of what you are trying to say. What you mean is 'capacitate' or 'build the capacities of'. I am not trying to criticize, only help. Good luck with your important work!
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