Educating and empowering rural Indian girls and women
About Veerni
Veerni was founded in 1993 to educate and empower women and girls in the remote rural areas around Jodhpur by providing healthcare and education. Since its inception the project has been funded by the Global Foundation for Humanity. In addition Veerni is funded by the Association du Projet Veerni based in Switzerland since 2011. The Rajdadiji Badan Kanwar Medical Trust, a locally based trust, administers the project. The Global Foundation for Humanity is deeply appreciative of the committed support of the Trust in overseeing the running of the project.
Veerni's mission is to educate and empower girls and women of rural Rajasthan so they can lead healthy and productive lives free from poverty, coercion and disease.
To this end Veerni focuses on adolescent girls in the desert areas around Jodhpur. The project provides secondary education opportunities as well as medical programs to bring about change in their communities.
The Veerni team consists of experts in the field of education and healthcare. Operating from the office in Jodhpur they run the Veerni Institute and organize health camps in rural areas, focusing on maternal healthcare and malnutrition cases.
The Veerni Institute was set up in 2005 in Jodhpur. It grew out of the challenge Veerni faced to get village girls to attend local schools and education centers. Household chores, traditions and the old custom where girls are married off at young age and serve their in-laws keep parents from sending their daughters to school. The Institute allows these girls uninterrupted education at a local secondary school.