Cause: A unique resource mobilization initiative providing clothes and other basic amenities to millions in the far-flung areas. Goonj turns one’s wastage into a resource for another. The aim is to highlight the importance of cloth as a basic need like food and shelter. Initiated in 1998 with just 67 clothes, Goonj now sends out over 20,000 kgs of material every month in 20 states. A force of over 300 volunteers, Goonj.. has built up a network of over 100 grassroot organisations, panchayats, Ashoka fellows, social activists & units of Indian army in rural India. Goonj has recently been awarded the 'Indian NGO of the year' award for its governance and practices.

Profile: Goonj was started by Anshu Gupta in 1998 to create a nationwide movement in India for channelising vital resources lying in excess in urban and middle-class households to far flung rural areas, thus addressing some of the very basic needs of millions of poor people. His efforts involving multiple stakeholders goes beyond the realm of ‘charity’ and plays a crucial role in the development process having economic implications.

Goonj started with the distribution of recycled clothes as an entry point into the movement. Apart from being one of the basic needs of mankind, Anshu has witnessed cases where a few pieces of clothing has freed up meager resources of the poor for more pressing needs and families being saved from a debt cycle for borrowing to buy clothes before a festival or even as a dire necessity. Efforts at distributing clothes has been at best a ‘charitable’ deed, but Anshu sees it playing a far greater part, where the necessity for such an outlet lies as much with the donors as with the beneficiaries. His idea tends to bridge the gap between the supply that exists due to the urban phenomena like space constraints and rising consumerism on one hand and demands for basic commodities that exists with millions in the country. His aim is to ultimately make large-scale resource mobilization a reality and to further apply his model with clothing to other critical resources like medicines, books.

Initiatives:Below is a partial list of activities through which Goonj is trying to make a difference,

• ‘VASTRA-DAAN’- a nationwide movement.. Goonj is working towards making clothing a matter of concern like the other two basic needs. As an issue it’s only highlighted during disasters though most of India doesn’t need a disaster to be helped. VASTRA-DAAN channelises vital resources lying underutilized in urban households, to rural India.
• ‘CLOTH FOR WORK‘- Old clothes as wages for village development.. Villagers get clothes for working for the betterment of their own village-means clothes not as charity but as an earning. In the remote villages of Assam, West Bengal, Kashmir & Maharashtra, many village roads are being repaired, school boundary walls are coming up and plantation drives are being initiated.
• ‘SCHOOL to SCHOOL’ (S2S) –Winner of Ashoka’s Changemakers Innovation Award.. S2S supports thousands of rural and slum schools by turning the wastage of urban school children into a resource for them. The idea is to sensitise urban students and their parents about the needs of their less fortunate counterparts. The target is to support 30,000 children in the initial phase itself by channelising material like old books, uniforms, shoes, school bags, etc. Pratibimb, our annual interface event, brings together urban - rural children and teachers, from across the country.
• ‘NOT JUST A PIECE OF CLOTH‘- Winner of World Bank’s DM Award.. Countless women in villages use dirty, useless cloth during 5 days of menses, leading to many infections and diseases. A woman used a piece of blouse and died of tetanus due to the hook inside. Goonj.. is providing clean cloth napkins to rural/slum women and is actively campaigning in rural & urban India to generate awareness on this taboo issue.
• ‘RAHAT‘– relief efforts for the disaster hit people.. known for its need-based and systematic relief work, Goonj.. has been active in relief operations during all the major disasters since the Chamoli earthquake in 1999. The emphasis is on the most neglected disasters like people dying of cold in winters & annual floods in Assam, Bihar & West Bengal. GOONJ.. has won the prestigious Changemakers Award for this initiative.

Arpan's Participation:

• Initial target is to provide steady stream of funds on monthly basis.
• Arpan is, and will continue to be in touch with Goonj and finalize the details of the second phase.
• Encourage all the contributors of ARPAN to visit any facility in India. The trip can be planned in advance from USA.

For more details about Goonj, please Click here.