Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled is a national award winning NGO. Registered as a Trust in 1997, Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled has been working towards creating education and livelihood opportunities for the disabled and disadvantaged communities.  The larger vision of our organization is to work towards an inclusive society, free of discrimination, which provides equal opportunities for all. We have set ourselves a goal of touching 100,000 lives by year 2020. 

 

Project Punar, launched in the year 2014, is a woman empowerment project that provides livelihood opportunities to disabled and disadvantaged women in rural areas.  Women who have long been dependent on their husbands or families for survival can now rely on themselves.  This project uses dry waste, cloth and techniques of recycling and upcycling to make aesthetic handcrafted products. These products are exported and also marketed locally through our in-house store and stalls erected on special occasions at selectively chosen venues across the city. 

 

Project Punar encompasses three groups of women working in villages located near Kanakapura.  The first group, namely ` Kirana,' includes women from Kadahalli village, who make only paper products.  The second group,` Deepa,' work out of Halsuru village and are engaged in block printing on cloth.  The third group,' Ushe', involves women working in Achalu village who create bags and toys out of cloth.  

Zilpinz aims at helping Samarthanam and Project Punar in reaching out with their crafts.