As an individual coming from a compromised and marginalised background, deprivation of
education or lack of exposure could emerge as a barrier to thriving in the real world. Education
gives us exposure, expands our understanding of the world and helps us take better and more
informed life decisions. It is the fastest, sure-shot tool for self-empowerment. Headway Foundation
has been supporting the delivery of quality education to the aspiring students of Tanda through
various free individual centric initiatives. Till now nearly 150 students have been admitted to central
universities and more than 70 have been placed in reputed companies and organisations across
India.
Remedial Classes: The classes are situated and run within the closest proximity to the community.
the classes have been supporting students from classes 6th to 10th in understanding concepts of
maths, science other subjects to achieve better marks. Additionally, these classes have played a
contributing role in reducing the dropout rate, especially for girl students from the community.
Career Guidance: Most students do not have avenues to get proper guidance on career
opportunities. The foundation organises frequent career fairs and counselling sessions with the
youth of the community to help them be aware of different opportunities they can pursue.
Preparatory coaching: Once the students have decided upon an academic path, the foundation
helps them prepare for the entrance exams. Many of our students are graduates and even postgraduates. They take the help of the foundation run competitive coaching classes to prepare for the
competitive exams like Civil, Judge, Bank, SSC etc.
Community Library for Preparatory Studies: To provide quality study resources and a healthy
environment to study, the foundation runs a community library set up with the support of
community members.
Financial assistance: On occasions of acute financial barriers, the foundation has been helping
students with micro financial assistance in form of travelling support to exam centres or for college
counselling.
Tanda is a town situated in the Ambedkarnagar district. It is mainly known for its textile business. The
noise of powerloom can be heard in every corner of the city. Almost all the houses in the city have
powerloom. The small weavers here are highly skilled and hardworking, yet they hardly get the fruits of
their workmanship and hard work. These small weavers are left behind due to a lack of capital, market
connections and technical know-how.
Considering these factors, Headway Foundation brought together weavers who had good skills but did
not have a good source of income. After much discussion and training, a cooperative society was
established with 33 such weavers. The Modern Powerloom Bunkar Sahkari Samiti limited was
registered in 2019.
Through this initiative, 33 weaver families have been provided opportunities for livelihood. The
members of the society have been made aware of the benefits of operating as a cooperative instead
of as a lone weaver. With the training and support in place, the members of the cooperative have been
trained on procurement, management, sales, and market linkage. They are now selling their finished
goods in every corner of the country.
Today, these weavers have come together to move beyond weaving skills and enter the market
collectively as business people and sell to the end customer directly through the cooperative. It is
helping them make 4x revenue on the same products as what they used to earn as just a weaver.
Being a registered cooperative enterprise, today the capital/financial market is much accessible to
them than ever before. Headway Foundation wants to assist this budding business by helping them
avail benefits of government schemes and policies designed especially for groups and individuals like
them.
Since its inception in 2019, the cooperative society has been able to generate a revenue of more than
sixty lakh rupees and is continuously growing in its reach and profitability.
The tanda community is mainly dominated by marginalised communities. Within these
marginalised communities are the women, who are even more marginalised with their gender
identity. Headway Foundation believes that for holistic development of the society, all sections of
society irrespective of their gender, cultural, religious or any other identity should have the means
to exercise their power to become empowered.
The foundation has been working with various women groups, mainly SHGs established across the
district by different non-profits and under various government initiatives. The foundation organises
community events and get-togethers. These meetings are a safe-spaces where the community
women can come together, have conversations on critical matters concerning their lives and
support each other through peer group support. Owing to the awareness sessions, motivation and
peer support we have witnessed that many girls who were earlier on the verge of being school
dropouts have been reinstated and enrolled in schools.
In addition, the foundation has been organisting awareness sessions on important issue
concerning women like that of Mensral hygiene, nutrition, financial inclusion and independence.