About Us | Pradeepan

Our Story

Pradeepan is a voluntary, non-profit, non-governmental organization founded in 1995 by local social activists in Betul district, Madhya Pradesh. Registered under the MP Societies Registration Act, 1973, the organization holds all necessary statutory compliances — 12A, 80G, FCRA, CSR-1, GST, and NITI Aayog DARPAN registration.

Pradeepan is a Dalit women-led and managed organization that works on the values of gender justice, social equality, and human rights. Headquartered in Betul district, it is active in more than 475 villages across Betul, Chhindwara, Dindori, and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh.

The organization began its journey in 10 remote villages of Bhimpur block, one of the most backward tribal-dominated areas of Madhya Pradesh. In its initial years, it focused on awareness-building and community organizing around human rights, leadership, and collective empowerment of tribal communities — especially women — with a feminist perspective.

Our Vision

To build a just, equitable, and sustainable society where women, adolescent girls, and marginalized communities live with dignity, free from exploitation, violence, and discrimination — where poverty and structural inequalities are eliminated through gender equality, social inclusion, and climate justice.

Our Mission

To adopt community-led and evidence-based best practices at the grassroots level
To strengthen leadership capacities, decision-making power, and access to resources for women, adolescent girls, and locally marginalized communities
To mainstream gender equality, social justice, and climate adaptation into the development process
To widely share knowledge, experiences, and innovations to promote inclusive and sustainable development

Core Values

Justice & Equity

Committed to social, economic, and gender justice, ensuring equal rights and opportunities for all.

Gender Equality

Feminist approach centering women's and girls' leadership, agency, and access to resources.

Community-Led Transformation

Sustainable change is community-driven; people are leaders, not beneficiaries.

Dignity & Human Rights

Respect for human dignity, safety, and rights is the foundation of all our work.

Inclusion & Diversity

Reject all forms of discrimination; promote inclusion and social cohesion.

Environmental Responsibility

Committed to protecting natural resources and advancing climate justice.

Innovation & Learning

Maximizing impact through continuous learning, innovation, and knowledge sharing.

Ethics & Governance

Pradeepan is guided by strong ethical values, feminist principles, and a rights-based, community-led approach to development. Our governance systems ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity in all our actions.

Justice, Equity & Dignity

We uphold social, economic, and gender justice for women, adolescents, tribal, Dalit, and marginalized communities, ensuring dignity and equal rights for all.

Feminist & Rights-Based Approach

We centre women’s and girls’ leadership, recognising communities as rights-holders and supporting them to claim their entitlements.

Community-Led Development

Communities are our partners and leaders in shaping their own sustainable change — not beneficiaries, but active agents of transformation.

Inclusion & Non-Discrimination

We reject all forms of discrimination based on caste, gender, age, ability, or identity, and actively promote inclusion and social cohesion.

Safeguarding & Zero Tolerance

We maintain zero tolerance toward violence, abuse, exploitation, or harassment in all our operations and partner relationships.

Transparency & Accountability

We are committed to financial transparency, institutional accountability, and open reporting to all stakeholders — communities, donors, and partners alike.

Registration & Compliance

Registration	Number	Date
Society Registration (MP Act 1973)	26653	28 March 1995
FCRA	063140011	12 July 2000
12A	AAAAP5345AE20008	29 July 2010
80G	AAAAP5345AF20212	12 March 2022
CSR-1	CSR00025430	23 March 2022
NITI Aayog DARPAN	MP/2017/0172144	—

Founder Profile

Rekha Gujre

Founder & Secretary, Pradeepan

Rekha Gujre is a Dalit woman from Borgaon village in Betul district, Madhya Pradesh. Her father passed away when she was just 3–4 years old, and her widowed mother raised the family through physical labour under conditions of poverty and hardship. She grew up in a village environment deeply marked by casteism, untouchability, and discrimination. Tribal communities lived on both sides of her birthplace, giving her a close understanding of adivasi poverty and social conditions from childhood. Despite these barriers, she completed her matriculation through a hostel and her graduation from a private institution.

Between 1981 and 1994, she spent 14 years working with reputed organisations across India — Lahar (Surguja, Chhattisgarh), PIDIT (New Delhi), Prerna Bharti (Madhupur, Bihar) — and was active in Assam, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Shahdol, and Madhya Pradesh on the issues of tribal rights, women’s empowerment, and child welfare. During this period she participated in numerous seminars, workshops, trainings, and meetings at the national level, built relationships with heads of major NGOs and donor agencies, and developed a strong foundation in feminist community organising.

In 1995, with a Mind Fellowship from Sahbhagi Shikshan Kendra, Lucknow, she founded Pradeepan in Betul district. Starting from 10 remote villages in Bhimpur block — one of the most backward tribal-dominated areas in Madhya Pradesh — she addressed the wide gaps visible in education, health, malnutrition, women’s and children’s rights, infant and maternal mortality, and access to government schemes. Since 1998, she has also championed innovative initiatives integrating climate resilience and environmental protection into livelihoods for poor, underprivileged, and tribal people. Gender equality and climate justice are now embedded across all of Pradeepan’s work.

Key programmes under her leadership have included: Swashakti (2000–2005), Action Aid/TDH (2012), CHILDLINE (12 years), Parivartan Abhiyan, VAW/Oxfam, The Nudge Foundation, Women Package/CASA, PACS/DFID, Women Fund Asia, KSCF (May 2023), Azim Premji Foundation (FRA), and PESA/Mandla (November 2024). Through tireless effort, she has grown Pradeepan from 10 villages to 475+ villages across four districts, with a full-time team of 40 staff and 100+ community volunteers. Since its registration in 1995, the organisation has worked continuously on women’s and girls’ rights, protection from violence, and gender equality with an unwavering feminist approach.

She is widely recognised as one of Madhya Pradesh’s foremost women organisers (Mahila Sanchalika) for her long-standing contributions to women’s rights, child protection, forest rights, and community self-governance.

In the Press

Awards & Recognition

Pradeepan's work and its founder Rekha Gujre have been recognised and covered by leading Hindi newspapers, including Dainik Bhaskar, for contributions to women's rights, child protection, and community empowerment in Madhya Pradesh.