Tribal Welfare NGOs in India

Aadivasi Welfare Foundation

Afforestation, water-body revival and tribal livelihoods across eight Indian states

over 8 million trees planted

ACCORD (Action for Community Organisation, Rehabilitation and Development)

Tribal land rights and livelihoods resource centre in the Gudalur valley, Nilgiris

Works with four tribal communities (Paniyas, Kattunayakans, Bettakurumbas, Mullukurumbas) spread across 320 vi

Adivasi Lives Matter

Prayog's media platform training Adivasi youth to tell their own digital stories.

500+ Adivasi Creators

Adivasi Socio Education and Cultural Association (ASECA)

Preserving Santali language and literature through the Ol Chiki script

Agragamee

Tribal development and food security in Odisha's Rayagada district

12,500 villages using the RTI Act for crucial development information

Akhil Bharatiya Samaj Sewa Sansthan

Land rights, water conservation and education for Kol tribals in Bundelkhand.

By the end of 1997, 2,500 poor Kol families of Mau and Manikpur had acquired possession of 10,000 acres of lan

Ambassadors Service Society

Health, education and vocational training for tribal and Dalit communities in West Bengal since 1995

ANANDI

Ahmedabad-based collective building rural Gujarati women's leadership and land, livelihood and governance rights

Active across 4 districts of Gujarat (Panchmahals, Dahod, Morbi, Bhavnagar), having nurtured 7 independent gra

ANTODAYA

Tribal land rights and rural development work in Kalahandi district.

249 women's SHGs

Anubhuti

Youth-led justice work with nomadic and denotified tribes in Maharashtra

Anubhuti Charitable Trust reached 48,583 people directly (extensive engagement) and 30,000 indirectly in 2021-

AROEHAN (Action Related to the Organization of Education, Health and Nutrition)

Tribal development organisation working on nutrition, water and livelihoods in Palghar district.

Working with 150+ gram panchayats reaching out to approx. 700000 population

Arulagam

Nature, people, prosperity — bringing vultures back to Tamil Nadu's skies

25 years of work protecting biodiversity, conserving endangered vultures and empowering indigenous communities

Aseema Charitable Trust

Quality education for children of Mumbai's streets and slums

Reaches out to over 9,000 children annually

Ashraya Balikasadanam

Residential care home in Wayanad educating and protecting underprivileged and tribal girls

ASHWINI — Association for Health Welfare in the Nilgiris

Nilgiris hospital and disability-care network running a sickle-cell centre, vocational training, and a rural health fellowship for tribal communities.

Program addresses the needs of more than 20,000 Adivasis spread over 320 hamlets in the Gudalur Valley of the

Association for the Rural Development (ARD)

Tribal, Dalit and fisherfolk empowerment on Andhra Pradesh's coast since 2001

11,152 families got Antyodaya ration cards (35kg rice)

Astha Sansthan

Education, health and dignity for tribal communities in southern Rajasthan

54,394 women linked under MGNREGA

Ayang Trust

Community libraries and women's livelihoods for Mising tribal communities on Majuli Island, Assam

39 community libraries reaching 2,000+ young readers, part of Ayang Trust's work on Majuli island

Badlao Foundation

Rural development and tribal community work in the Santhal Pargana region.

Works across 10 districts, 15 blocks, 156 panchayats and 748 villages of Jharkhand, reaching 1,06,598 househol

Bakdil

Life, livelihood and liberation in the Garo Hills

Works across 22 blocks with close to 20,000 farmers and their families

Balipara Foundation

Assam foundation restoring Eastern Himalayan forests through community-led Naturenomics.

6.72 million trees planted across 5,537 hectares by 2024

Bharat Sevashram Sangha

Monastic order serving India since 1917

5,000+ students in free residential education

Bhartiya Jan Kalyan Seva Sansthan

Shrawasti society on the Indo-Nepal border running education, health and disaster-response programmes for tribal, Dalit and minority communities.

A total of 147 youth trained.

Bhasha Research and Publication Centre

Documenting and conserving India's marginal tribal languages since 1996

128+ Bhasha eBooks published online, promoting accessibility to knowledge

BIRSA (Bindrai Institute For Research Study & Action)

Defending Adivasi forest and land rights across Jharkhand

Blind Welfare Council, Dahod

Gujarat trust founded by visually impaired activists running Gujarat's first residential school for hearing-impaired children plus disability day care and aids distribution.

1,473 children with disabilities supported through the IEDSS inclusive education programme in 2024-25 (237 vis

Bridges of Sports Foundation

Building India's first sprint capital with tribal and rural athletes

10,000+ children supported with athletics training

Bro Siga Animation Centre

North Chennai organisation since 1984 running education, vocational training and tribal-welfare programmes for slum and rural-poor communities in Vyasarpadi.

Caring Hands

Ahmednagar voluntary organisation working with Fase Paradhi, Bhilla and other denotified and nomadic tribal communities across Maharashtra.

250 children rehabilitated

Centre for People's Forestry (CPF)

Advancing forest rights and sustainable resource management for forest communities

10,531 total farmers reached across 609 villages, 164 Gram Panchayats and 11 districts in 4 states (Andhra Pra

Centre for Tribal and Rural Development (CTRD) Trust

Serving seven indigenous tribal communities of the Nilgiris since 1988

130 villages covered

Chaupal

Community-led development for Adivasi communities in northern Chhattisgarh

Secured ~2,200 Individual and Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights for 262 Gram Sabhas in Surguja district

Chotanagpur Kalyan Niketan

Women-led organisation working with women, children and adolescents in Simdega.

650+ People Linked in Social Security Camp By CKN

Christian Hospital Bissamcuttack

200-bed faith-based community hospital in tribal southern Odisha since 1954

A 200-bedded faith-based community hospital serving southern and western Odisha since 1954 through cost-effect

Disha Foundation

Supporting migrant and tribal communities across health, livelihood and legal empowerment

800,000+ migrant workers reached till 2023

DivyaJyoti Trust

Restoring sight in the tribal heartland of south Gujarat

Community-based rehabilitation covers nearly 2 lakh people across 133 villages of Mandvi taluka

Donyi Polo Cultural & Charitable Trust

Preserving Arunachal Pradesh's indigenous cultures through education

5,000+ families reached through the Community Outreach Program

Ekjut

Improving maternal, newborn and child health among tribal and marginalised communities in Jharkhand and Odisha

115,787+ villages across 92+ districts in 10+ states

Ekta Parishad

Gandhian land-rights movement securing land for landless families since 1989

Active membership of 250,000 landless poor

Esther Learning Foundation

Helps Dalit and Adivasi young women in Telangana access careers and challenge caste and gender norms

Friends of Tribals Society (Ekal)

One teacher, one village — education at tribal doorsteps

45,635 one-teacher schools (Ekal Vidyalayas) run in tribal villages

Friends' Association for Rural Reconstruction

Rural reconstruction organisation serving tribal and Dalit communities in Odisha.

Covers more than 300 villages in Odisha through its livelihood, watershed, agriculture and women's empowerment

Future Star Sports Academy (FSSA)

Uses grassroots sports to keep tribal and rural youth in school across Odisha's Mayurbhanj district

1500+ Children Trained

Gram Arogya Ghati

Empowers tribal communities in Gadchiroli through forest rights, water conservation and livelihoods

Supported 16 tribal villages in the backward regions of Vidarbha, Maharashtra, to develop community forest res

Grassroot

Indigenous rights and gender-focused community organising in Meghalaya since 2007

12 Completed Projects and 6 Ongoing Projects

Harsha Trust

Livelihood security and women's self-help institutions in tribal Odisha.

Strengthened over 33,228 WSHGs

Jan Swasthya Sahyog

Low-cost healthcare for rural Chhattisgarh

Runs a community health programme across 53 tribal villages in the Kota and Lormi blocks of Bilaspur district

Jatan Sansthan

Health and education for tribal communities in southern Rajasthan

218K+ children reached

Jaya Organic Yojana

Trains tribal and smallholder farmers in organic and regenerative farming through vermiculture.

400 farmers skilled with 10 months of in-situ, on-location training in vermi technology in Karnataka

Jharkhand Education Empowerment Tribunal (JEET)

Free education and health support for tribal children in remote Jharkhand

Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS)

Free education for 30,000 tribal children

30,000 existing students at KISS Bhubaneswar plus 10,000 in satellite centres

Kalp Samaj Sevi Sanstha

Health, education and livelihoods for tribal communities in Chhattisgarh

784 farmers came together at its Community Seed Fair in Kasdol, Chhattisgarh to exchange indigenous seeds (Dec

Kalpana Mehta's Jumbish Society for Welfare

Works with denotified tribal communities through child and adolescent programmes.

Karra Society for Rural Action

Rural action on women's rights, livelihoods and local governance in Jharkhand.

524+ villages

Karuna Trust

Public health centres in India's remotest corners

1.8 million population served (cumulative)

Kenono Foundation

Community-led forest conservation and green enterprise across Nagaland

Works across 25 community-managed forest sites spanning approximately 30,000 hectares

Keystone Foundation

Reviving indigenous beekeeping and biodiversity conservation in the Nilgiris

356+ villages worked in

Khaangchu

Revives the traditional Khangchu learning spaces of the Rongmei Naga community in Manipur

Kohka Foundation

Works with tribal and marginalised communities around Pench National Park and in Mumbai

LIPICA (Lower Income People's Involvement for Community Action)

Participatory development with Odisha's tribal and disabled communities

Staff of over 70 dedicated professionals, including subject matter experts in NRM, gender and advocacy

Lok Astha Sewa Sansthan

Tribal-community development in Chhattisgarh's Gariyaband district since 2006

8,000+ community members reached

Lok Biradari Prakalp

The Amtes' hospital and school at Hemalkasa

Sadhana Vidyalaya at Jinjgaon (inaugurated 27 May 2019) has balwadi and first-standard classes with 54 admissi

MAHAN Trust

Tribal healthcare, child nutrition and de-addiction work in Melghat since 1997

10,00,000 people benefited

Mahashakti Foundation

Livelihoods and microfinance for underserved communities in Kalahandi

300,000 beneficiaries

Mahatma Gandhi Seva Ashram

Chambal-valley ashram that hosted the 1972 dacoit surrenders, now organising land rights for tribal and Dalit families

MGSA has set up more than 5000 community collectives all across Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharash

Mahila Samagra Utthan Samiti Daltonganj

Works since 1997 for women, children and marginal communities of Palamu, Jharkhand

Manav Jeevan Vikas Samiti

Rural development and tribal livelihoods work based in Katni district.

Provided humanitarian relief to 956 families across 16 villages of Dhimarkheda block, Katni district, Madhya P

Manbhum Ananda Ashram Nityananda Trust (MANT)

Works since 1960 on public health, education and tribal development in eastern India.

More than 3,000 students have been studying at its schools in Purulia

Mitraniketan

Rural education, technology and farm science in Kerala

An average of 200 children educated every year through its free residential school

Mrida Education and Welfare Society

Education, sports and livelihood programmes for tribal children in the Mahakaushal belt

1,000+ children reached through sports for development every year

N. M. Sadguru Water and Development Foundation

Water resource management and natural resource development for tribal communities in Gujarat

9.25 lakh acres and 6.83 lakh households covered under improved farming practices

Naya Sawera Vikas Kendra (NSVK)

Land rights, livelihood and women's empowerment for tribal and Dalit communities across Jharkhand since 1999

Operates people's rights, justice and development work across 180 villages in eight districts of Jharkhand

NeevJivan Foundation

Creates non-farm livelihood opportunities for tribal communities in rural Maharashtra to reduce migration to cities.

5,742 beneficiaries trained across 24 vocations

Nilgiris Wynaad Tribal Welfare Society

Free medical care, education and empowerment for hill tribes of the Nilgiris since 1978

PAJHRA

Promotion and Advancement of Justice, Harmony and Rights of Adivasis in Assam

Parijat Academy

Free school founded by Uttam Teron in a cowshed, now educating 400+ children near Guwahati.

Over 350 students from 10 tribal villages on the outskirts of Guwahati, Assam receive free or highly subsidise

Peermade Development Society

Tribal, farmer and women's development in Kerala's Idukki hills since 1980

Had promoted 1,994 self-help groups covering 27,958 families in Idukki, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts

People's Rural Education Movement (PREM)

Development organisation working with Adivasi, Dalit and fisherfolk communities across southern Odisha.

Through a network partnership of over 150 independent voluntary and people’s organizations, PREM reaches more

Pragati Koraput

Farmer collectives and natural resource management in tribal Koraput

Operational across 14 blocks of Koraput district, South Odisha

Pragya

Grassroots development for India's most remote and marginalised Himalayan communities

700,000 people in 33 disadvantaged communities across 4 countries benefited

Rajasthan Bal Kalyan Samiti

Lasting social impact in tribal southern Rajasthan

From a rented school premise and 17 students to 53 institutions/centres and 25409 students

Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Morabadi, Ranchi

Ranchi branch of the Ramakrishna Mission running tribal agricultural training and rural relief since 1927

2,399 families given seed, fertiliser and training inputs across 142.37 acres of land under Ramakrishna Missio

Rights Education and Development Centre (READ)

Serves tribal, sanitary-worker and migrant communities in western Tamil Nadu since 2001

RIWATCH

Linking Culture with Prosperity

Runs a unique ethnographic museum since 2017, the only people's museum in Northeast India

ROSI Foundation

Tribal development, elder care and trafficking prevention in Pudukkottai district

Rushabh Foundation

Runs tribal education, health and environment initiatives from Mumbai and Talasari.

Saathi Samaj Sevi Sanstha

Craft livelihoods, health and education for communities in Bastar.

700 Villages we Work With

Sadaya Foundation

Bilingual schooling and health support for Korku tribal children

Samanta Foundation

Runs a Whole School Transformation programme for tribal, rural and forest communities in Uttarakhand and UP

4,000+ children (aged 3-14) reached across 30 schools and 11 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) in Uttarakhand

SAMARPIT - Centre for Poverty Alleviation & Social Research

Poverty alleviation and tribal welfare across Chhattisgarh since 1998

500 Women Self Help Groups built for financial independence and community strength

Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra

Bamboo-based livelihoods and craft training for tribal communities in Melghat.

Sampoorna Bamboo Kendra has provided bamboo handicraft and bamboo housing training to more than 10,000 youth (

SARTHI (Social Action for Rural and Tribal Inhabitants of India)

Health, natural resource management and women's empowerment for Bheel Adivasi communities in the Gujarat-Rajasthan-MP tri-junction

210 trained Dai (traditional birth attendants) under SARTHI's health program

Satkarma Shradhashray

Ashram near Panvel serving Adivasi communities with health camps and welfare work

Sauramandala Foundation

Builds last-mile delivery systems for remote and inaccessible communities in Northeast India.

Through its Centre for Accelerated Development it works with 300000+ households across 3000+ villages in 17+ d

SEARCH

Arogya Swaraj — people's health in people's hands

1,50,000+ patient treatments annually

Servants of India Society

Gokhale's 1905 mission of nation-building through service

Operates 14 primary schools for tribal children in Uttarakhand

SEWA Rural

100-bed rural hospital and community health programme in tribal south Gujarat

27 lakh patients, mostly from poor tribal families, have received high quality treatment for free or at a disc

Shanti Maitree

Kandhamal social development group serving tribal and Dalit communities since 1989

Shanti Maitree has already achieved goal of covering 500 acres of WADI field through Plantation of High Yield

Shiksharth Trust

Trauma-informed schooling for children in conflict-affected Bastar, Chhattisgarh

serving over 15,000 children through pedagogy solutions, school support and community programmes in Sukma, Chh

Shivganga Samagra Gramvikas Parishad

Tribal-led water conservation and rural development in the Bhil belt of Jhabua.

900 VILLAGES

Shri K K Shah Sabarkantha Arogya Mandal, Vatrak

Runs Vatrak Hospital, serving tribal districts of Sabarkantha, Aravalli and Kheda in Gujarat

DIALYSIS CENTER (6 BEDED)

Sikshasandhan

Mother-tongue education for Odisha's tribal children

Reached more than 150,000 families across Odisha

Society for Peoples Action in Rural Service and Health (SPARSH) Gadchiroli

Works to empower tribal, Dalit, women and children in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra since 2007

89,750 individuals empowered across rural and tribal communities

Society for Promoting Rural Education and Development (SPREAD)

Rights-based development work with Adivasi and Dalit communities in Odisha's Koraput region.

SPREAD’s operational area covers 1381 villages of 60 Gram Panchayats in 4 blocks of Lamtaput, Boipariguda, Das

Society for the Promotion of Himalayan Indigenous Activities (SOPHIA)

Dehradun NGO securing forest rights and livelihoods for the nomadic Van Gujjar community since 1996

Of the Van Gujjars SOPHIA works with, 5,350 became registered to vote as of the end of 2014.

Spandan Samaj Seva Samiti

Grassroots action with the Korku tribe of Khandwa

997 children recovered from malnutrition at home through community-based care

Sri Sai Sarala Foundation

Sports, education and youth-development non-profit in Khordha, Odisha

We Completed 150+ Project

SRUTI (Society for Rural Urban and Tribal Initiative)

Fellowships for grassroots leaders since 1983

6.8 lakh families covered

Sunbird Trust

Peace through education — supporting schools in conflict-affected areas of Northeast India

4,93,261 lives impacted (as of 31 March 2026)

SURAAH

Alternative school for tribal children in the Dehradun hills, registered 2023

School in Katapatthar, Dehradun serves 75 students from the Jansaur Bawar scheduled-tribe community (Nursery t

Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement

Health, education and livelihoods for tribal and rural communities

70,000 people access better healthcare through SVYM's institution- and community-based programmes

Swasthya Swaraj

Community health movement for tribal Kalahandi, Odisha

Worked across 78 villages and hamlets drawn from 7 gram panchayats of Thuamul Rampur block, Kalahandi district

Torang Trust

Child rights, women's empowerment and land rights in Jharkhand

Identified 2,000 Tribal Herbal Practitioners and Forest Rights Activists under its JAWA initiative

Tribal Educational Rural Development Society

Andhra Pradesh society running a residential home for tribal orphan girls in Visakhapatnam district.

The Pratyusha Girls Home, giving shelter to tribal orphan girls since 2009, has grown from 36 to a current str

Tribal Health Initiative

Tribal hospital and community health programme in the Sittilingi valley of Tamil Nadu.

Tribal Health Initiative's base hospital is a 35-bedded unit admitting surgical, medical and obstetric patient

Tripura Swrwngnai Buthu (TSB)

Youth-led cultural preservation and educational advocacy for Tripura's tribal community

Unnati Institute for Social and Educational Change

Maharashtra organisation improving literacy access for tribal children through school and village libraries.

15,037 books borrowed by 1,595 readers across 23 villages and 8 schools in 2024-25

Upkram Educational Foundation

Foundation strengthening foundational literacy for children in Sonbhadra, one of Uttar Pradesh's most under-resourced districts.

20,000 students reached

VAAGDHARA

Tribal self-reliance through child rights, farming and governance

1,30,000 tribal families reached

Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram

Serving India's janjati (tribal) communities since 1952

22,101 service projects across 64,814 villages

Vardhishnu

Education and dignity for nomadic and denotified communities across Maharashtra

Vasundhara

Securing forest rights and natural-resource governance for Odisha's tribal communities

2,000+ Community Forest Rights claims submitted at the Sub-Divisional Level Committee

Vidhayak Sansad

Socio-economic empowerment of tribal communities in Palghar district since 1979

In Ekalvya residential school more than 400 tribal girls are taking formal and vocational education

Vidya Vanam

Free residential-style school teaching Irula tribal children near Coimbatore in their own language and culture

A unit of the Bhuvana Foundation, Vidya Vanam began with 40 children and four teachers. Today, there are close

Vikas Bharti Bishunpur

Tribal empowerment and rural development in Jharkhand

Operates across all 24 districts of Jharkhand with over 50 ongoing projects

Village Lab Foundation, Ladakh

Nubra Valley organisation building intergenerational, place-based learning models rooted in Ladakhi heritage.

Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra (VGKK)

Health, education and livelihood support for the Soliga tribal community of the BR Hills

This year the school has around 343 tribal children studying from I to X standard.

Vivekananda Kendra

Spiritually oriented service mission running schools and rural development work across India.

Vivekananda Kendra runs 80+ Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalayas providing education to approximately 32,000 tribal a

Wayanad Girijana Seva Trust

Community-rooted trust supporting Wayanad's tribal communities through education, healthcare and livelihoods