See our recommended NGOs

Prime Educational and Social Trust was established to support poor and vulnerable women and children. Its mission is to bring about social transformation through empowering the rural and the urban poor which enables them to become self-reliant. It runs several programmes, covering different requirements for the members of the local communities from women of Self-Help Groups (SHG) to students at remedial schools.

Some of their projects were:

• Vocational Training for Women Empowerment:  Women are given training in mat weaving (150 beneficiaries) at their mat weaving unit and in tailoring (300 beneficiaries). The NGO facilitates the formation of SHGs throughout Pondicherry. These SHGs act as intermediaries between the banks and women, help the women open saving accounts and encourage the banks to agree on a low interest loan. The intention of these micro-finance loans is to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit within the groups, so that their members can collectively establish their own small businesses.
• Helping and Educating Children: Prime Trust runs remedial schools that provide free education to bridge the gap in learning between the expected proficiency and the actual learning level of the children. Special care is given to children from vulnerable backgrounds. It also gives computer application courses to children. In FY15, free education was given to 10 children. The NGO started a Day Care Centre in FY15 for improving English skills of visually impaired children. It runs two Evening Schools supporting more than 100 children, for improving their English writing and communication skills. Children’s Sangam Programme was started in FY15 to help children develop leadership qualities and know their basic rights for prevention of child labour and domestic violence.
• Janani Home: It is a Home for Girls and was started with an objective of social safety for orphaned and semi-orphaned girl children. This centre offers education and security for the children (currently 7 children).
• Awareness Seminars: Prime Trust conducts weekly awareness seminars for the SHGs that cover a range of topics like HIV/AIDS, cancer, health, personal hygiene and saving the environment. Women are regularly checked for signs of violence and given counselling, and legal aid to improve their safety. In FY15, nearly 1,200 people participated in these seminars.