In the remote tribal areas, a harrowing incident unfolded that would redefine one woman’s purpose. Dr. Rashmi Om Tiwary, then an executive director in the corporate sector at American Chamber of Commerce in India (AMCHAM) witnessed a father attempting to sell his own daughter during a social work trip. Overnight, she resolved to abandon her high-flying career and dedicate herself to rescuing girls from such dire fates.
This pivotal moment, years before the official launch, ignited the spark for Aahan Foundation, formally established in 2013. Aahan, meaning “new dawn” or “first ray of light” in Sanskrit, symbolizes hope and awakening for tribal girls long denied opportunity in eastern India’s shadowed regions. The name embodies Dr. Rashmi Om Tiwary’s vision: igniting each girl’s inner fire to transform her life and community, defying the irony of a sun that rises first yet leaves its daughters in darkness.
Origins and Founding Vision
Dr. Rashmi’s journey began informally in Jharkhand’s tribal belts. Emerging from her own troubled background, she channeled personal resilience into a mission focused on girls enduring violence, silence, and neglect. The foundation’s philosophy prioritizes depth over scale through a structured four-stage progression: Taare, Kirans, Urjaas, and Suryas, where each girl receives age- and development-appropriate support spanning up to a decade. According to Dr. Rashmi Om Tiwary, “Mental healing is the most important; nothing comes before that,” underscoring how counseling and therapy form the bedrock across all stages.
Aahan Foundation’s 8-phase journey began in the tribal forests of Jharkhand, where trust was built in the simplest, most human ways, through shared samosas, gulab jamuns, and long conversations rooted in deep listening with mothers, elders, and girls.
In communities shaped by fear and silence, these small moments of connection became the first step toward lasting change.
Phases 2 and 3 introduced Udaan fellowships, Mentoring Walks, village surveys, and storytelling to spark aspirations and build confidence. At the same time, Aahan focused on creating safe spaces by transforming familiar local spaces such as Aanganwadi centres and community centres into dedicated learning hubs that welcomed non-tribal girls and boys as allies.
Government school partnerships expanded Aahan’s reach through life-skills workshops, while Phase 7 replicated the model in Gejha village, Noida, working with migrant and underserved communities. Here, girls who were once ragpickers or employed as live-in domestic workers are now accessing quality education, strong values, and holistic support at Aahan’s Learning and Empowerment Centre. A significant development has been Aahan’s work with young boys who had already stepped onto the wrong path, spending their days loitering at local nukkads and getting involved in harmful activities. Today, they have transformed into Nukkad Nayaks, gender equality champions who are actively shaping a safer and more hopeful future for their communities.
Phase 8’s flagship IRise, powered by IIT Kanpur as the Knowledge Partner, now transforms select teens from underprivileged, migrant and tribal communities into Youth Leaders.
Taare to Surya: Aahan’s Four-Stage Transformation Journey
Aahan’s structured progression begins with the Taare stage, where children are onboarded, baseline levels are assessed, and they are introduced to Aahan’s value system along with foundational language and numeracy skills. At this stage, they are called Taare, like the stars in the sky, each one holding quiet potential, waiting to shine brighter with the right support and guidance.
Kiran, the second stage of Aahan’s journey, helps girls recognise their inner light through intensive counselling and trauma healing. It encourages them to open up, express themselves freely, and explore new interests such as arts, sports, poetry, and dance, while also beginning to take on small responsibilities through community service.
Urjaa, the next stage, strengthens each girl’s agency by helping her set goals, build confidence, and further sharpen her capabilities. With career mapping, exposure visits, business mentors, and formal ownership of community events, girls begin to actively shape their own direction. Surya, the following stage, develops them into visible leaders and role models with a strong pay-it-forward attitude, enabling them to earn fellowships and lead meaningful community projects. As Dr. Rashmi explains, “For us, before we actually even started arts or sports or anything, our main focus was that we should be able to help these girls come out of the silence,” reinforcing that healing is the foundation of this entire journey.
Academic Excellence and Digital Transformation
Navchetna Sarvagya Gurukul blends flexible NIOS schooling with project-based learning inspired by the U.S. curriculum, enabling underprivileged girls to choose subjects aligned with their interests and learn in a way that builds critical thinking and creativity. With a strong focus on 21st-century skills like digital literacy, problem-solving, communication, and collaboration, the program also strengthens life skills and leadership, helping girls become confident change-makers. This holistic model supports school dropouts in reconnecting with mainstream education and expands their pathways to higher opportunities, including fellowships and career growth.
One of the Suryas, received fellowship from Reliance Foundation and Vital Voices USA for the work she is doing at the grassroots level in tribal areas of Jharkhand. Dr. Rashmi shares, “Our gradual responsibility-release model is built on a simple idea: when one girl is empowered and trained, she becomes a mentor who passes the baton forward and uplifts many more.”crediting peer teaching for dramatic learning gains.
Arts, Sports, and Cultural Preservation
Art and performing arts provide children with a powerful medium to express themselves, process emotions, and heal from lived experiences. Through movement, music, theatre, and visual arts, girls begin to find their voice and develop awareness about social practices that are unfair, discriminatory, or harmful.
In the early days, participation in sports and arts was met with ridicule and resistance from the community. Girls playing football in shorts often faced village scorn. Over time, these very spaces became sources of strength, resilience, and self confidence.
Today, girls from Aahan have represented India at international football championships, including a tournament in Oslo, Norway. Aahan runs a football club affiliated with the All India Football Federation (AIFF), and girls actively participate in marathons, calisthenics, and chess. In parallel, young artists are preserving the endangered tribal Sohrai art form using natural mud colors, keeping cultural heritage alive while building pride in their identity.
Art and sports play a vital role in nurturing essential life and leadership skills such as teamwork, discipline, courage, and empathy. As Dr. Rashmi Om Tiwary shared with The Logical Indian, “We are not here to change the story of one girl. We are here to change the history of a people. Because when a tribal girl finds her voice, she doesn’t just speak- she leads.”
Leadership and Skill Development
Aahan’s skill-building integrates 21st-century competencies through strategic partnerships that complement the four-stage journey, most notably the flagship IRise Leadership Program. This transformative 10-day residential initiative, powered by IIT Kanpur’s Startup Incubation Centre, features drone technology workshops by ASATRobo CEO Vikram Bansal, entrepreneurship sessions with Dr. Sanchita Chaudhary igniting startup dreams, cyber security and Shark Tank-style innovation challenges at Deloitte where students pitch real products, Madhubani art workshop with Google India’s women leaders, Sports-based life lessons sessions were led by renowned sports journalist G. Rajaraman, while mental health strategies were facilitated by researcher Kriti Sinha, and life skills training was delivered by Vidhi Sinha.
The girls engaged in impactful conversations with former IAF Sqn. Leader Dimple Rawat, learnt about quarterly goal-setting with CSR leader Runa Pathak , and attended energetic sessions with Yashna Jhamb and Vineet V. George, where they explored purpose and possibilities, discovering that masculinity can embody equality and respect, while feminine leadership shines as strong, empathetic, and bold. Gayatri- an expert in branding discussed girl child empowerment, while youth leaders like Aarushi Arora and faculties and students from Vedica Scholars held engaging workshops on breaking stereotypes and gender equality.
Digital Productivity training via NIIT certified courses, alongside 21st century skills by Genpact volunteers prepares them for the modern world.Vocational training leads to real-world placements as project managers and graphic designers. This “skill-deep” model ensures long-term engagement with stage-specific partners, creating sustainable pathways from healing to professional success over a decade-long commitment.
IRise doesn’t just teach skills, it awakens unbreakable spirits. “I will rise and with me my family, my society,” declares one participant, capturing the transformative power of this program.
Transformative Success Stories
Arti Munda overcame parental resistance in a child marriage-prone village to pursue art through Aahan’s Urjaa Fellowship, mastering Madhubani painting, leadership, and digital literacy under national artists. She now conducts workshops for corporates, schools, and delegations, using her art to combat trafficking, child marriage, and GBV while reviving Sohrai art; Aahan helped her launch a Jonha training center, and library buzzing with children for studies, painting, reading, and play.
Rina Horo, he youngest Udaan Fellow, she honed chess (starting with stones), leadership, and career skills at Aahan, becoming her village’s first girl to pass intermediate exams in Science and Mathematics with first division post-10th. Today, she serves in the Border Security Force guarding India’s border, and performed her duties in Samba during Operation Sindoor. . In Noida’s slums, once-aggressive boys became Nukkad Nayaks (Street Heroes) through mentoring, now championing girls’ rights and gender equality as community advocates. For their work Aahan Foundation has received the award from Padma Vibhushan Dr. Mashelkar and Dr. Kelkar for being the “Most Socially Innovative Organisation” in the tribal category.
Door-to-Door Awareness and Stopping Gender Based Violence
Through door-to-door advocacy campaigns and government school outreach in Jharkhand’s Naxal-affected tribal villages, Aahan Foundation confronts child trafficking that traps vulnerable girls with a prevention-first approach. Drawing from Dr. Rashmi’s firsthand experiences, these rapid interventions at centers; not residential yet, provide Safe Space, Brave Space, and Lead Space, delivering immediate counseling, rights awareness, and self-protection training against traffickers.
By instilling strong value systems and community education on malpractices like child marriage, Aahan has prevented countless underage marriages and abuse cases, transforming at-risk minors into confident leaders who safeguard themselves and their sisters.
Navigating Complex Challenges Through SATHI Networks
When Dr. Rashmi began her work in the tribal regions of Jharkhand, she faced significant early-stage challenges, including deeply rooted gender-based violence, harmful social practices, and rigid norms that severely limited girls’ freedom, safety, and opportunities. Creating meaningful transformation required a sustained mindset shift across families and the wider community, not just interventions with individual girls. The work was further intensified by geographical isolation and difficult terrain, which made consistent outreach and engagement more demanding.
Aahan’s approach is rooted in the belief that real change happens when the entire ecosystem around a child evolves together. As Dr. Rashmi says:
“Girls don’t grow in isolation. They grow in ecosystems. You can’t just empower a girl and leave her in a broken system. You have to fix the world around her. When the community stands as her shield, she becomes unstoppable. Having the community stakeholders aligned with our vision has been our strength.”
At the heart of this approach is Aahan’s SATHI community network, a collective ecosystem of village stakeholders who support girls’ growth and transformation:
S: Sarpanch, members of local self-governance, schools, and self-help groups
A: Aanganwadi workers and administrative officials (such as BDOs and Panchayat representatives)
T: Tribal elders, traditional leaders, and teachers who shape cultural and educational norms
H: Households anchored by mothers and caregivers
I: Influential voices in the village, including fathers, youth leaders, respected elders, and other community influencers
This ecosystem ensures that every layer of society, from governance to families, actively contributes to girls’ empowerment and helps sustain Aahan’s long-term impact.
Impact and Strategic Expansion
Aahan has directly supported around 300 girls through Learning and Empowerment Centres while positively impacting the lives of 25,000+ children.
These numbers reflect a deliberate choice for quality over quantity, as girls remain in the program for 6 to 10 years to ensure lasting transformation. Surya alumni perpetuate the model as implementers of core values like dignity and happy childhoods. Future plans prioritize expanding Noida and Jharkhand facilities, particularly the Navchetna Gurukul campus, to accommodate growing demand before scaling to new states, focusing first on deeper impact within existing regions rather than widespread outreach.
In conversation with The Logical Indian, Dr. Rashmi Om Tiwary emphasized, “We do not chase numbers; we chase dreams,” prioritizing prevention of gender-based violence through this proven four-stage framework for enduring change.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
In the quiet tribal hamlets of Jharkhand and the bustling migrant slums of Noida, Aahan Foundation sparks hope where darkness once prevailed. From Arti Munda’s Madhubani workshops that build awareness on gender-based violence, to Rina Horo’s journey of strength and purpose that led her to serve in the BSF and protect the nation at the Line of Control, Aahan continues to nurture girls who rise beyond their circumstances.
These girls reflect the foundation’s promise: one healed heart can ignite a thousand dreams. As their voices break through intergenerational cycles of silence and violence, Aahan shows that real change is not measured in numbers, but in the fearless futures being built, dawn by dawn, girl by girl.
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