GOONJ..

Making clothing a matter of concern..

GOONJ..

Channelising
urban wastage as
a resource for
rural India...
Why Clothing?
 Three basic needs of mankind - roti, kapda aur makan (Food, cloth & shelter)
But most people/agencies work only on shelter & food.

 But what about clothing?

A basic need noticed only at the time of disaster..
Reality- more than half of this country doesn't need a disaster to be helped?

 A range of issues right from domestic violence to global warming for development
agencies BUT no mention of clothing? It has never been an issue - to work.. to
support.

 Figures for people dying in earthquakes, floods and other natural or man made
disasters..

 What about winters? - An annual and predictable disaster affecting life of

thousands of people every year. A warm cloth we hold in our cupboards (in search of
a real needy or waiting for a disaster) can help prevent these deaths ?

 What does a poor woman do during menses every month? Oblivious of the
health risk some are even forced to use sand or ash. Millions who don't have enough
cloth to cover themselves end up using the most useless & dirty cloth.
 GOONJ..

Vision: Making clothing a matter of concern as a basic need of the poor.

Mission: Re-positioning cloth beyond charity, adding dignity and turning

it into a big resource for development.

Objective: Spread awareness about the concept at a nationwide level so

that anytime an urban household thinks of disposing off reusable material
it should have a channel to reach it to the most needy.

Using clothing as an entry point, channelise a whole lot of underutilized

household material considered wastage in urban India, as resource to the
rural/slum India.
Our Initiatives
Vastrasamman- Channelising vital resources lying in excess in urban
households to rural India.
Cloth for Work - Villagers earn clothes as wages by initiating development
activities in their own area.
SCHOOL to SCHOOL- Sensitising urban schools to the educational needs
of their counterparts in remote village schools by building a long term
relationship among them.
Not Just a piece of cloth- Turning old cotton cloth into sanitary napkins.
Rahat- Supporting victims of natural and manmade disasters.
Recycling: a step ahead - Making notebooks, school bags, skipping ropes,
balls, sitting mats etc. from waste paper & cloth.
Photo exhibitions- “Imprints of wandering images: (exhibition for raising
resources) ” & “ Natural Disaster: Man made suffering “ (A disaster
awareness exhibition).
 Our Presence…

JALANDHAR

DELHI
GOONJ has its own offices in
seven cities, our major
SAHARSA
collection hubs where we have
KOLKATA our processing centres and
voluntary set-ups in Hyderabad
MUMBAI
PUNE
& Bangalore.

HYDERABAD
BANGALORE

CHENNAI
Implementation Partners
Jammu & Kashmir

Punjab Uttrakhand
Haryana Arunachal Pradesh
Delhi Uttar Pradesh Assam
Rajasthan
Bihar Our partners are spread
Madhya Pradesh
Jharkhand in over 21 states,
Gujarat West Bengal
Chhatisgarh working with over 150
Maharastra Orissa partner groups including
Andhra Pradesh Indian Army, Ashoka
Fellows, Social activists,
Karnataka Panchayats etc.
Tamilnadu
Kerala
VASTRASAMMAN

Need based sorting & Transportation &

packing dispatch

Awareness cum Implementation

collection camps
SOCIETY

URBAN RURAL
 Feedback System

 Our
comprehensive
feedback systems
ensures optimum
utilisation of
material, effective
and need based
distribution.
Cloth for Work
 Villagers identify a pressing issue that requires work in their village.
 Villagers work for the betterment of their villages with clothes as a
motivation.
 Cloth given with dignity, received with self respect.
 Addresses an ignored community issue & generates employment.
 Many partner organisations have initiated activities like road repair,
drainage cleaning, plantation etc. across the country.
Cloth for Work in action

Cleanliness drive, MP Plantation, Maharashtra

Desilting of a well
at chapra (Bihar)

School boundary wall making,

Maharashtra
Cloth for Work in action
Khandwa: an innovative case study
Khandwa: an innovative case study

Barren land Staircase developed by villagers..

Khandwa: an innovative case study

GOONJ proposed digging up of a well under the Cloth for Work

programme wherein people would get clothes and ration as a motivation
for their labor.
Making a school in Sitamarhi
(Bihar)
Without any monetary
transaction, through
Cloth for Work, the
villagers, local
Panchayat and the local
NGO partner came
together to build a much
needed school.
CHANGING FACE..

First sight of Giddha, a village in Bihar Villagers decided to clean up their

during chilly winters in Jan „07 surroundings as a part of cloth for Work

Recipients earned clothes as wages

CHANGING FACE
CHANGING FACE
 SCHOOL to SCHOOL
Awareness stalls in urban schools Beneficiary schools
 Providing basic
schooling facilities for
children in rural areas.
 Normally rural students
don‟t even have basics
like a pencil, notebook,
shoes.
 School bag, uniform,
water bottle etc are a
distant dream.
 On an average, an
urban school‟s
wastage can be a
resource for 3 - 4 small
village schools.
 Sensitising &
motivating urban
students through
pamphlets, posters,
photo exhibitions, PTA
meetings, lectures &
regular interaction.
We reach out to ...

 Remote village schools

 Slum schools in cities
 Non formal schools
 National Child Labour Project schools
 Child labourers engaged in bangle making, carpet weaving, prawn farming,
quarry work, agriculture, rope making etc
Khandwa: Changing Aaganwadies
PRATIBIMB: an annual interface event
Brings together urban and rural children from all over India
PRATIBIMB: an annual interface event
Brings together urban and rural children from all over India
A glimpse of the mis-match
after Tsunami
Tsunami wastage turned into a
resource
BEFORE AFTER

Setting up systems and sorting in Making products out of waste

the godown

More than 100 trucks of

clothing given during
Tsunami, lying unutilised in Turning cotton cloth into Sorted material sent to various
Tamil Nadu Govt. godown. sanitary napkins parts of the country
GOONJ’s relief work in Bihar
GOONJ’s relief work in Bihar
Chehak: a joyful space for children
Chehak: a joyful space for children
VAAPSI: aims to bring back livelihood
Vaapsi Haat
Making a bridge

A 240 ft x 6 ft bamboo bridge made on river suksar in village Sukhasan, dist

Madhepura. No money involved, the bridge made under cloth for work/ vaapsi by
the shramdaan from vaapsi recipients
Shramdaan by Vaapsi recipients

The bridge connects many villages and has motivated many other villages
to take the similar initiatives.
 Sujni: making use of waste cloth

GOONJ is developing centers to convert old waste cloth into Sujni. This is generating
a large scale employment in the region apart from protecting people from extreme cold.
It‟s a household product now….
Napkin making process

Measuring cloth Washing Drying Ironing to make it

moisture free

Folding The final product Packing of ready napkins

Educating masses
Our Recycling Centre

A separate workshop, employing 20 women trained on the job, convert the last shreds of
waste cloth into sitting mats, school bags, sanitary napkins, etc. One side used paper
collected from individuals, corporates & schools is turned into notebooks & writing pads.
Our Products
Form a Friends of GOONJ network
in your city

 Get a few like-minded people to form a group

 Meet periodically to identify and discuss ignored development issues

 Focus group discussions

 Talks/readings/film shows subscribe to the Goonj newsletter(free of

charge)

 Promote Goonj products

 Contribute to Goonj programmes on a monthly basis

 Spread the word online by blogging about your involvement with

GOONJ
Recognitions
 Nov‟09: „Cloth for Work‟ wins international Lien i3 Challenge Award

 June‟09: „Not just a piece of cloth‟ wins Changemaker’s Innovation Award

 March 2009: CNN IBN‟s ‘Real Heros’ award to Mr. Anshu Gupta in women

welfare segment.

 March 2008: GOONJ won the prestigious 'Indian NGO of the year' award. In

a nationwide search & selection by Resource Alliance.

 May 2007: GOONJ‟s sanitary napkin project „Not just a piece of cloth‟ wins

World Bank’s Global Development Market Place Award. Out of 2900 entries
from across the globe, only 22 projects won the award.

 July 2007: GOONJ‟s first initiative “VASTRA-SAMMAN” recognized as one of

„The Good Practices’ in Dubai International Awards.

Recognitions

 2006: Win the prestigious Changemaker’s Innovation Award, the second

time, for our disaster relief initiative „RAHAT‟.

 2004: Prestigious Ashoka Fellowship to Anshu Gupta, for his innovative idea

& its mass social impact.

 2004: GOONJ wins Changemaker’s Innovation Award for its “SCHOOL to

SCHOOL” initiative, addressing the educational needs of resource starved
village school by forging a long term relationship between urban & rural
schools.
The GOONJ team
Contact GOONJ..

Add:- J-93, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi- 76

Office:011- 26972351,41401216
mailgoonj@gmail.com

Visit us at
www.goonj.info