"Unity in Diversity: Fostering LGBTQ+ Empowerment"
About
Since 2007, Sambhali Trust has dedicated itself to empowering vulnerable communities in Rajasthan. Our programs support those facing social and economic barriers, helping them reclaim their rights and opportunities. From women's and girls empowerment, to LGBTQIA+ inclusion, Sambhali stands for equality, safety, and a future where everyone has a voice.
Need
Part of the Sambhali Samarth program, the Garima Project was founded in 2021 to address the unique struggles of LGBTQIA+ individuals in Rajasthan. Members of this community often face rejection, discrimination, and abuse, sometimes from their own families.
Long term impact
The Sambhali Cafe, a key initiative under the Garima Project, serves as both a livelihood hub and a symbol of dignity for LGBTQIA+ individuals in Rajasthan. While the cafe provides employment, visibility, and a safe space, the broader Garima Project extends far beyond offering counselling, legal aid, shelter, healthcare access, vocational training, documentation support, and active community-building through workshops and Pride events.
About the Organization
In Hindi, Sambhali means "strenghening of the deprived." Sambhali Trust is an NGO based in Jodhpur, focused on the development and empowerment of marginalized women and girls in Rajasthan. We believe in a grassroots model for lasting, community-driven empowerment fostering dignity and self-confidence--encouraging deprived Rajasthani women to reclaim their worth. We work througout Jodhpur and the surrounding Thar desert with women and children experiencing discrimination and violence on a daily basis due to their low economic, gender, and caste status. These women face extreme poverty and social exclusion, deprived of education, health, and legal resources. Many lack any autonomy in their domestic lives, and face severe verbal, physical, and sexual abuse within their communities. Sambhali aims to break this cycle of poverty and dependence by providing vocational training in our graduate sewing centers--teaching women valuable marketable skills to earn a living on their own. In our empowerment centres, we provide underprivileged women Rajasthani women and girls with an education in English, Hindi, and Maths. Through our scholarship program and boarding homes, we sponsor children from poverty-stricken families continue going to school. We provide counseling, health, and legal support when women are abused, abandoned, and blackmailed. Most importantly, we provide a space that is safe and free of discrimination--to uplift the hearts and voices of deprived Rajasthani women and nurture lasting networks of support.
GlobalGiving Categories:
- LGBTQIA+ Equality
Total Goal
Remaining Goal
What is a Project?
Domestic and international programs and services housed within organizations, addressing specific needs of community groups.