In the coastal hamlet of Washihaveli Koliwada, nestled in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, a profound transformation unfolded. Once shunned by neighbors due to the pervasive stench of fishing waste that marked its identity and led to social exclusion, this community refused to remain defined by stigma. Through collective resolve and partnership with Swades Foundation, villagers rolled up their sleeves, cleaned their surroundings, and elevated their home to Swades Dream Village status. Today, it stands as one of the cleanest in the neighborhood, having clinched a prestigious ₹10 lakh grant under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Visitors now arrive not with wrinkled noses, but with admiration for its spotless streets, united spirit, and inspiring journey from ostracism to exemplar.
This story exemplifies Swades Foundation’s philosophy: true change blooms from within, nurtured by opportunity and ownership. What began as a battle against waste became a beacon, drawing others to witness how rural communities can rewrite their destinies.
Origins of Swades Foundation
Swades Foundation stands as a beacon of community-led rural empowerment, guided by its powerful motto: “Swa Se Bane Des”—you make your country. This mantra underscores the belief that every individual holds the potential to transform themselves, their communities, and the nation. The foundation traces its roots to around 2011, evolving from SHARE, the CSR arm of UTV, before formalizing as an independent non-profit in 2013 under the visionary leadership of Ronnie Screwvala and Zarina Screwvala. From its inception, Swades set an audacious goal: to lift one million rural lives out of poverty every five years. This isn’t mere philanthropy; it’s a structured crusade against generational deprivation, blending corporate discipline with grassroots empathy.
Headquartered in Mumbai, Swades has grown into a robust organization with over 270 staff members—95% of whom hail from the very rural areas they serve, and more than 11,000 trained community volunteers acting as on-ground partners. Currently, it spans 17 blocks across five key districts in Maharashtra: Raigad, Nashik, Palghar, Thane, and Nandurbar. At the heart of its approach lies the innovative 4E model, a blueprint for sustainable impact. It begins with Engage, forging genuine trust and bonds from day one to turn villagers into true partners. This progresses to Empower, equipping communities with essential skills, knowledge, and structures. In the Execute phase, local leaders dive hands-on, co-driving projects across critical domains. Finally, the Exit stage ensures robust ecosystems of empowered custodians who track progress, solve challenges, and sustain resilience independently for generations.
This model drives holistic interventions in four pillars: Water and Sanitation, Health, Education, and Livelihoods. By addressing interconnected needs, Swades creates multiplier effects that ripple through every aspect of village life.
In conversation with The Logical Indian, CEO and Board Member Mangesh Wange shares, “All our skilling and education interventions reflect a common reality about rural communities, when opportunity is presented and aspiration is nurtured, girls prosper. Many of them are inherently talented and capable, and flourish when their potential is channelized.”
Anatomy of Dream Villages
The Swades Dream Village concept emerged directly from asking communities themselves: What does your ideal village look like? What qualities should it embody? What role will you play? Their near-unanimous vision crystallized into the 6 Ss—cornerstones that define excellence and self-reliance. Swacch ensures every household boasts its own toilet, functional drainage, mindful waste segregation, and open defecation-free status, with clean drinking water flowing through household taps to end daily treks. Sundar brings well-maintained internal roads and ample solar street lighting that foster a clean, safe environment where residents move freely after dark. Swasth promotes health-seeking behavior backed by trained community health volunteers, institutional deliveries, and awareness of timely vaccinations. Sakshar guarantees every child under 16 accesses joyful, quality learning in schools equipped with water and sanitation facilities, preventing dropouts, especially among girls. Samruddh elevates households to dignified annual incomes of at least ₹2 lakhs through diversified on-farm, off-farm, and non-farm livelihoods. Shristi embraces climate-conscious living through integrated water and waste management, solar energy adoption, soil restoration, regenerative farming, and tree plantations.
To date, 250 villages have celebrated Dream Village status, a testament to collective grit. Swades has signed a Letter of Intent with the Government of Maharashtra to scale this to 1,000 over the next decade, amplifying impact exponentially.
Sustainability hinges on local institutions like Village Development Committees that ensure 50% women’s participation alongside youth and elders, anchoring all development plans. Water Committees handle repairs and maintenance of water schemes. Shasan Mitras master government scheme linkages to avail benefits. Swades Mitras deliver primary healthcare and bridge communities to PHCs or partner hospitals. Gyan Mitras become certified trainers in areas like livestock care, waste management, and financial literacy. These ecosystem players embody Swades’ core philosophy of building custodians from within the community itself.
Integrated Change in Action
Swades recognizes water as the foundational ripple that touches everything else. Without reliable access at home, the eldest daughters drop out of school to fetch it, while women endure hours walking long distances under harsh suns, compromising their health, safety, and ability to earn. The absence of toilets further exposes communities—especially women—to safety risks and water-borne diseases. Thus, water always marks the starting point, laying groundwork upon which sanitation, education, and livelihoods can meaningfully grow.
Consider Borichibari in Peth, Nashik, where summers once brought acute scarcity. Women would climb down deep wells to collect water, often at great personal risk. Today, with farm ponds and zinc storage tanks in place, households enjoy reliable access to drinking water and irrigation. Farmers have shifted from solely rain-fed paddy to cultivating vegetables and diversifying crops. Seasonal migration has reduced significantly, bringing greater income stability and ensuring children no longer drop out of school when families move in search of work.
In Angrekond village in Mahad, Raigad, a household drinking water scheme introduced in 2017 transformed daily realities. Before, women spent 2–3 hours every day fetching water. The intervention not only reduced time and physical strain but revealed untapped resources: their spirit, freed time, and humble backyard plots. Using grey water from household taps, 30 women began kitchen gardening, supported by basic financial literacy training from Swades. Today, they collectively generate around ₹3 lakh annually from the sale of their kitchen garden produce, while also improving their families’ nutrition.
An independent assessment conducted by Dalberg underscores this synergy: Swades Foundation delivers a 21x Social Return on Investment—meaning every ₹1 invested generates ₹21 in social, environmental, and economic value. This multiplier effect proves that good giving doesn’t just meet a single need; it creates cascading benefits across community life.
Women Leading Transformation
Swades’ Raigad Vision Technician programme reveals rural girls’ boundless potential when given wings. By training them as ophthalmic assistants at premier institutions like Sankara Eye Hospital or Shantilal Shanghvi Eye Institute, it channels inherent talent into professional healthcare roles. Many venture beyond their villages for the first time, sometimes to another city or even state—gaining the confidence and independence to support their families or launch entrepreneurial ventures. Those who return pour back into their communities, ensuring no elderly person suffers undetected cataracts or vision loss, helping make entire villages cataract-free.
Wange tells The Logical Indian, “The programme reinforced for us that livelihood initiatives cannot stop at technical training or job placement. Skill alone is not enough if a girl is fighting social prejudices or self-doubt. Designing meaningful programmes means investing equally in mindset shift, aspiration building, and ecosystem support.” Mobilizing families proved critical—parents needed to trust their daughters could travel, train, and work safely in professional settings. Communities required proof these roles were respectable. Continuous dialogue, exposure visits, and visible role models built that essential trust.
Vidya Kule’s journey captures this magic. A widow who lost her husband to TB, she trained as a Swades Mitra in primary healthcare and chose to serve her community. She ensured TB cases were detected early and patients completed treatment, helping her village move towards TB-free status. Her leadership later earned her election as sarpanch—a proud milestone that turned initial family hesitation into deep respect and village-wide admiration.
Beyond Data: Mindset Revolutions
Quantitative metrics like assets created, funds spent, or incomes augmented matter greatly, but they capture only part of the transformation story. The most meaningful shifts—in confidence, safety, agency, and community ownership, manifest within communities in ways that standard monitoring often misses. Swades witnesses the profound alleviation of “mental poverty,” where generations trapped in hopelessness rediscover their ability to dream, aspire, and hope again.
In Jangamwadi, another Swades Dream Village in Mhasla, Raigad, this shows up beautifully. Well after the foundation’s initial involvement, the community began naming houses after women on their nameplates, a small but powerful step reflecting growing recognition of women’s identity and role in home and society.
Wange explains to The Logical Indian, “The biggest mindset shift that we observe in our communities is their ability to dream, aspire and hope again. It is what we call, the alleviation of ‘mental poverty’.” Over 11,000 trained community volunteers now serve as on-ground partners across all interventions, ensuring every programme becomes self-sustaining.
A pivotal lesson came from unlearning the “push” method of philanthropy—delivering built toilets, water systems, or livelihood opportunities externally. Such top-down approaches failed to create lasting ownership. “Real transformation can only be achieved when the community is driven to own it and co-create it,” Wange emphasizes. This shift to a collaborative “pull” model, where communities contribute time, resources, and voice, now defines Swades’ scalable approach.
Horizons of Self-Reliance
Looking five years ahead, meaningful success for Swades Foundation means villages that lead and sustain their own development without outward dependency. Active local institutions and ecosystem players will leverage government schemes proactively, solving problems independently. This year alone, Swades expanded to serve 17 blocks across five Maharashtra districts, with plans to cross state borders into neighboring regions in the coming years.
Wange envisions to The Logical Indian, “Five years down the line, meaningful success for Swades Foundation would mean villages that lead and sustain their development without looking outwardly for support. It would mean active local institutions and ecosystem players empowered to leverage govt. schemes and driven to find solutions to their problems.”
Ground stories from water enabling livelihoods, to women becoming visible change agents, to communities owning their progress, have reshaped Swades’ understanding: only community-driven change proves truly sustainable and scalable. This evolved “pull” model now positions the foundation to blueprint rural India’s renewal, one Dream Village at a time.
The Logical Indian
Swades Foundation proves rural transformation thrives on ownership, not handouts, delivering 21x social returns through communities that dream big. From water taps sparking ₹3 lakh kitchen gardens to widows rising as sarpanchs, this is development where every village becomes its own architect of hope. Real change, measured in nameplates on homes and cataract-free elders.
