About us

Sakhi is a feminist, non-governmental, not for profit, right based organisation based in Trivandrum, Kerala, India. It was conceived as a ‘space’ for women and aims to see the world through women’s eye and experiences, advocating for change within institutions and structures to create gender just practices and programme. Sakhi believes in an integrated and participatory strategy and work towards a non-hierarchical society, where there is gender equity, ecological perspective and no caste or class based exploitation. All issues are women's issues. Our conviction is that women and the marginalized have to become active participants to create a truly democratic, participatory and egalitarian society. Sakhi attempts to act as a catalyst to achieve such a society and endeavours to act as a bridge, bringing knowledge from the national and international discourse related to women's human rights, gender, feminism and sustainable development paradigms to women's groups in Kerala  

Sakhi attempts to be a facilitating organisation, building leadership, supporting the formation of collectives and organisations and encouraging and supporting women who show leadership capabilities. Our special focus is on elected representatives in the local governments and on the youth. We facilitate them to bloom to their full potential and encourage them to be proactive both in the family and social spaces.

The name ‘Sakhi’ was chosen with the primary aim of creating a friendly, accessible, welcoming and accommodating space for women. The word Sakhi, in the regional language Malayalam, and most Indian languages, means “a female friend”

We work on the following broad thematic domains:

  • Engendering Governance
  • Empowerment of Women
  • Safety of Women
  • Capacity Building and Knowledge Dissemination
  • Life Skill Education Programme
  • Livelihood Enhancement
  • Gender and diversity inclusive post flood reconstruction