Tribal Community Empowerment

Uttarakhand is home to five indigenous tribal communities: Raji, Bhotiya, Buksa, Tharu, and Jaunsari. Among them, the Raji, or Van Rawats, are classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) by the government.

ARPAN works extensively with both the Raji and Bhotiya communities, focusing on their empowerment and holistic development. These communities face significant challenges in accessing land, livelihoods, education and healthcare, which require urgent attention from both the government and civil society. Through our efforts, we have successfully increased government responsiveness, ensuring greater access to essential schemes and entitlements for these indigenous groups.

Our work with indigenous communities involves:

• Organising and building leadership capacities of Raji women to facilitate access to government schemes and entitlements
• Conducting action research to strengthen access to government services, particularly for livelihoods (National Rural Livelihood Mission), housing, land rights (Forest Rights Act), early childhood care, education and road infrastructure
• Promoting the leadership of Raji women in local panchayats
• Assisting Raji families during times of crisis or emergencies
• Developing leadership skills among Raji youth to strengthen community organisation