Devastated By The Pandemic, Millions Are In Need Of Employment, Reach Them With Goonj

Recent reports indicate that over 4.6 crore Indians have fallen into extreme poverty due to the pandemic, and the need for livelihood initiatives is larger than ever. To support the dire situation  Goonj is implementing  a sustainable solution that uses  urban underutilised or discarded cloth to provide employment opportunities to vulnerable communities.

One man's discard can be used to generate  another man’s livelihood - here’s how Goonj is making a difference

India generates around 1 million tonnes of textile waste every year,, costing billions of rupees for disposal.  Goonj uses this discarded cloth to give way to livelihood to the most missed-out and vulnerable communities in urban and rural areas generating lakhs of man days of employment.  

Today with 84% of Indian households reported a decline in income due to the pandemic these initiatives help to circulate value. 

Goonj contributes to dignified and sustainable cloth-based livelihood for people in rural areas and migrated populations in urban cities. Through Goonj’s collection camps, dropping and processing centers 9000+ tonnes of material gets collected and processed annually into cloth based products like aasans (sitting mat), cloth sanitary napkins, daris and rugs, sujini (quilt/mattress).  

“After my husband’s death, I had no way of supporting my family. I began making Sujnis for Goonj and saved enough money to open a small shop in my village. My shop has been open a month and I am proud to be supporting my three children with my business” - Baby Devi, who has been working with Goonj.  

Here’s how you can help make a change  

Baby’s story is not a unique one. Hundreds have benefitted from Goonj’s efforts - they have helped make women self-reliant and confident enough to take care of their families and support them in their hour of need. 

Not only that, the products created in these centers are channelized to rural areas as rewards and used as a tool to trigger large-scale development work in the most backward and remote pockets of India. 

“Now I don’t feel cold because of the blankets and sujnis. I can sleep through the night”- Rogahi Mahto, an 81-year-old village elder from West Champaran who received Goonj’s family kits containing blankets and sujini in exchange for his efforts to improve his community.

Formed in 1999 by Anshu Gupta, Goonj highlights cloth as a metaphor for the basic but ignored needs of economically weaker people. Anshu started Goonj to bring clothing into the development agenda.

Goonj works to address basic but neglected issues of the poor by involving them in evolving their own solutions with dignity and with urban material as a reward.  

You can contribute these handmade blankets, dari, jhola etc to provide employment and reach communities in need.

About the NGO: 

GOONJ is a 23 year old organization that is turning urban discarded & underutilized material into tools that bring ignored issues to light & convert it into a resource for rural development.