Pragya is an international federation of locally registered non-government organisations working to address poverty and hunger through socially and environmentally sustainable development, with a particular focus on underserved and marginalised communities.
We, at the Foundry, form the UK branch of Pragya.
Pragya enables sustainable development in some of the most fragile ecosystems in the world. In this journey, we walk closely with the impacted communities, conduct policy research, and facilitate project development.
Guided by our core value of “empowerment for enabling choices”, we work in partnership with marginalised groups in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Kenya. Carried out by over 200 interdisciplinary staff, our work has benefitted more than 700,000 people across our four countries of operations.
With headquarters in New Delhi, the team in London is interconnected with a global network of non-profits, researchers, and consultancies. The team in London contributes with resource generation and project development & management.
Of late, we have focussed on enhancing transborder intervention and advocacy with communities impacted by climate change in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin, involving Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. As signatories of the Paris Climate Agreement, the governments of these countries are required to develop policies which mitigate the worst effects of climate change, yet research suggests that we are miles away from developing the necessary transborder interventions informed by the experiences and insights of the regions 630 million residents i.e. 8% of humanity.
Given recent spurts in climate induced disasters and vulnerabilities, Pragya has intensified its interventions in the Himalayas, with a special focus on skilling and safe migration awareness in Nepal to minimise Human Trafficking. In Kenya, Pragya’s award winning Medicinal Aromatic Plants programme with farmers’ cooperatives is being expanded, enabling small farm holders to take advantage of the booming Kenyan domestic market in a manner that prevents wild foraging and promotes biodiversity conservation. We are now aiming to scale up this programme to other parts of Kakamega forest in Kenya, and beyond.
Making an Impact - is a series of blog posts introducing organisations based at the Social Justice and Human Rights Centre, commonly known as The Foundry, in the heart of Vauxhall.