Kriti team turns 21 - June 1, 2020

Today, Kriti: a development praxis and communication team turns 21! If you have been touched by our work in any way do leave us a birthday present in the form of your comments, photos or any other form on our social media page.

This journey has been possible due to the love and dedication of many many people who became team members from day 1 to today, as paid workers, volunteers, unpaid and paid interns, advisors, trustees within; and so many others-community members across India, friends, peoples movement groups and collectives, filmmakers, , civil society partners, students and audience to our diverse activities over the years.

Thank you to EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU for making the journey creative, insightful and meaningful in small and big ways.

Thank you also to our families who have been by the side through the ups and downs, and bearing with us.

It’s time now for strengthening, expansion and taking forward what we have created and we need your support.

We took a decision at our genesis to not be an organisation with our own projects, but infact to be a service giving, support group by sharing our research, process documentation, capacity building and communication skills on a range of critical social, development and human rights issues.

Simultaneously, we began creating spaces and activities that we believed lacked in the civil society space, and if so, would grow based on their demand....

*Our Diary* to document and demystify peoples movements for all those joining the social sector and building solidarity with struggles for rights

*Kriti Film Club* and *Kriti Information Place* as a hub for screening and discussing documentaries and accessing print and visual resources from the social sector and “alternate producers”.

*Public education initiatives* around women’s day, environment day, peace day, human rights day, etc. through performing arts to build a social and rights consciousness among students and citizens alike.

*Gestures*, a community livelihoods supporting platform to guide design and offer marketing of handmade products by resource poor women and youth (at a time when there were barely any such social enterprises)

We experimented with many other initiatives in these years, some whose time hadn’t come and done we just couldn’t take ahead without funds.

None of these “in-house initiatives” was ever funded (except some events), but the demands kept our madness going at great financial and personal costs too. When we lost paid team members, we gained many many amazing volunteers and interns and the last ten years we could only exist because of them.

In the last two and half months of the lockdown, we have learnt to not give up what we believe in once more...we have kriti film club recommendations happening for 72 days now with old and new volunteers managing them; we have taken up Covid19 Relief in Dehradun and responded to appeals from Delhi and Faridabad. We have finally decided to take the work of Astitva- For Women ahead, as Kriti teams’ community programme - a response that is essential in today’s times and going forward.

At 21, we take the decision to access funding for the decades of work we still can and want to do! Connect with us, collaborate with us and consider funding us...we have the power for enabling change!