PANI

India's 80th Independence Day, and 40 Years of People's Action ! Today the nation celebrates its freedom, and we mark a milestone of our own 40 years. Independence gave us the right to build. Four decades later, we are still building, with you. For us, freedom is a responsibility we carry into communities every single day. On this day, PANI salutes the courage of those who won us this freedom, and renews its commitment to serving the community with the same spirit. Wishing you and your family a proud and joyful Independence Day. Jai Hind! #PANIinAction #40YearsOfPeoplesAction #HappyIndependenceDay #Freedom #80thIndependence #Day

𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁𝘀. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. That is the UN's theme for International Youth Day this year, and in rural Uttar Pradesh it describes something we see every single day. A girl in a village wants what any young person wants. To finish school. To be heard. To move freely. To earn. To not feel alone inside her own head. The aspiration is never the problem. The distance to the door is. That distance is built over time. A school too far and a road not safe. A decision made about her before she is old enough to be in the room. A skill she was never told she could learn. A heaviness no one around her has a name for. PANI works in that distance. We bring adolescent girls into collectives of their own and watch them become those one who speak to the Panchayat. We train young women from these villages to become development professionals in their own right, not beneficiaries of someone else's plan. And we work on youth mental health, because distress does not skip a village for being far from a city; what villages lack is someone trained to notice. Young people here were never short on ambition. They were short on a room to speak in, someone to listen, and a door that opened when they pushed. #PANIinAction #40YearsOfPeoplesAction #InternationalYouthDay2026 #Youth #Aspirations #Rural #Context #Development

Some meaningful partnerships are measured in trust. Yesterday, on August 7, we had the privilege of hosting the Hindustan Unilever Foundation leadership – Dr Shraman Jha (CEO), Ms. Geetu Gidwani Verma (NAC Member) and Mr. kumud joshi (Programme Manager) – in Jhanjhari block of Gonda district in Eastern Uttar Prades PANI and Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF) have worked together for 12 years now. What started as an effort to help farmers use water more wisely has grown into something wider – women's collectives, farmer resource centres, soil testing, better market access and a lot of steady, on-the-ground work. During the visit, farmers spoke about the changes they have made on their own fields. Women from the Mahila Kisan Sangathan talked about the decisions they now take regarding farm activities and cropping systems. At the Abhayam Krishi Kendra, an award winning model, our team showed how services like soil testing and farm inputs are now available close to the village, making both knowledge and inputs easily accessible to women farmers. As agriculture moves toward greater technological integration, one principle we all agreed upon is that technology must be embedded within trusted human systems. Thank you to the #HUF team for visiting, and for walking this road with us. Deo Datt Singh Anoop Kumar Avinash Singh #JalAajAurKal #PANIinAction #40YearsOfPeoplesAction #WaterSecurity #ClimateResilience #SustainableAgriculture #Women #Farmers

On August 5, PANI observed #PeoplesActionDay across teams remembering the life, values and enduring legacy of our founder, Late Shri Paras Bhai Ji. At Paras Bhai Vyaktitva Vikas Academy, Chachikpur, this remembrance became a living expression of his faith in people’s power. Shri Paras Bhai Ji taught us that meaningful change begins with compassion, integrity, hard work and an unwavering commitment to those most often left unheard. Rooted in Gandhian thought, his vision of Gram Swaraj continues to guide PANI’s work towards dignity, equity and self-reliant communities. The occasion also marked a significant CCM milestone: the convocation of the 5th #CommunityChangemakers batch and the welcoming of the 6th batch. As young rural women and youth begin their leadership journeys, they inherit a responsibility to learn deeply, serve sincerely and act collectively. Through its Community Changemakers Programme, PANI carries forward Paras Bhai’s belief that when ordinary people recognise their own agency, communities can transform from within. #PANIinAction #40YearsOfPeoplesAction #GramSwaraj #Rural #Communities #Leadership

On this Guru Purnima, we honour our Gurujan whose thought became the compass by which PANI has walked for forty years. Our work began as one conviction: Shri Paras Bhai's belief that villages can govern themselves, and that no eye should be left with a tear. He carried forward those who came before him – Shri Mahatma Gandhi, who taught that the means must be as pure as the ends, and that freedom means release from poverty and inequality; Shri Vinoba Bhave, who walked thousands of miles so the landless might have land; Shri Dhirendra Mazumdar, who turned self-reliance into a craft a village could learn; and Shri Jayaprakash Narayan, who trusted ordinary people to be the authors of their own change. Four decades on, their teachings are methods carried into every community we walk beside. To our Gurujan, of yesterday and today, our deepest gratitude. #PANIinAction #40YearsOfPeoplesAction #GuruPurnima #Rural #Development #Community #Villages #Farmers

We are delighted to share the fourth episode, Vistaar, of PANI's 40th Year podcast series. This episode turns to the decade between 2000 and 2010 - the years in which the organisation extended its reach across Uttar Pradesh and deepened its work on child rights, livelihoods, health and governance. In conversation with Deo Datt Singh, Jagdish Giri reflects on how leadership, strategy and grassroots partnership shaped that expansion, and on the harder question beneath it: how an institution grows in scale while keeping the community at its centre. We hope this reflection speaks to our fellow practitioners in the development sector. Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gH3uns7C #PANIinAction #40YearsOfPeoplesAction #PodcastSeries #Vistaar #Leadership #Strategy #Partnership #Expansion #Story

Our BUNIYAAD team recently completed a six-day training on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) at QUEST's Training Centre in Sonale, Palghar, Maharashtra. The training responded to two questions from our field observations in Balrampur. 1. Which activities address the specific gaps we see in children's learning sessions, and how to reliably assess the skills of Anganwadi Workers and children.  2. Sessions covered read-aloud, Turn and Talk, language and mathematics activities, storytelling, play-based learning, planning for mixed-age groups, and the writing of feedback an Anganwadi Worker can act on. This is how BUNIYAAD is built over the past two years. PANI implements it, QUEST, our technical partner, keeps training our teams to make the implementation better every day. Working across 436 Anganwadi centres in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, in partnership with the district administration and with support from Tata Trusts, the project has so far developed 115 model centres, trained 564 frontline functionaries, built a 23-member trainer pool within PANI for cascade training, sensitised 6,600 parents and reached 13,870 children. ECCE outcomes take years and depend on the quality of ordinary days in ordinary centres. That is the work we set out to do, and to keep learning to do it better. #PANIinAction #40YearsOfPeoplesAction #ECCE #Buniyaad #Learning #Training #Partnership #Child #Education

The UN has named 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer. In the villages where we work, that recognition arrives for labour that has been happening all along - silently, daily, and largely unseen. Consider the soil itself. Two centimetres of it take a thousand years to form, and ninety-five per cent of our food depends on it. Yet nearly a third of India's farmland is already degraded. The women who kneel on this ground know its condition in a way no report captures - they read it across seasons, feed it, and depend on it entirely. Government schemes can direct and enable. But the decision to stop burning stubble, to test before sowing, to rebuild rather than deplete - that happens field by field and farmer by farmer. Across our project areas, women trained by PANI now collect soil samples scientifically, understand what their land actually holds, and carry that knowledge to their neighbours in a language that fits. This is what the Year of the Woman Farmer looks like on the ground - not a tribute to women who feed us, but a recognition of the work already in their hands, and the ground beneath their feet. UN Women FAO #IYWF2026 #PANIinAction #40YearsOfPeoplesAction #SoilHealth #WomenFarmers #InternationYearOfTheWomenfarmer #2026 #RegenerativeAgriculture #Agriculture

PANI is hiring! We are inviting applications for two full-time positions for professionals who are committed to strong field implementation, community-centred development, and meaningful social impact. We are currently hiring for the following roles:  1. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿, Fatehpur, Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, under the project Strengthening Water Infrastructure and Climate Adaptation for Smallholder Farmers. This role is suited for someone who can lead technical planning, site assessment, design, supervision, and quality assurance for water conservation, irrigation, and climate-resilient agriculture interventions. 2. 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝘂𝗺 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿, Lucknow, Avadh Region, under the Responsible Citizenship Fellowship. This role is meant for someone who can mentor fellows, strengthen grassroots implementation, support training and review systems, and ensure quality documentation, coordination, and reporting. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿: Diploma or B.E. in Civil Engineering, Agriculture Engineering, Water Resource Engineering, or a related technical field, with relevant experience in water conservation, watershed development, irrigation systems, rural infrastructure, construction supervision, or climate-resilient agriculture projects. 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝘂𝗺 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿: Graduate or Postgraduate degree in Social Work, Rural Development, Political Science, Sociology, Development Studies, Public Administration, Social Sciences, or a relevant discipline, with experience in fellowship programmes, civic engagement, youth leadership, community mobilization, governance, or social development work. 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗝𝗗𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗗: https://lnkd.in/g3WxEZDr ; Apply by 30th June 2026 (midnight as per IST). Salary - INR 50,000 per month. 𝗥𝗖𝗠 𝗝𝗗: https://lnkd.in/gWrthNSY ; 6th July 2026 (midnight as per IST). Salary - INR 40,000 per month. Apply with your CV and cover letter at info@paniindia.in #Hiring #SocialSector #Jobs #RuralDevelopment #ClimateAction #CommunityEngagement

Women's health is often the last thing to get attention, especially in rural communities. Household duties, limited mobility and the habit of putting family first mean preventive care is deferred - and non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes go undetected until they become hard to manage. Yoga offers a way in. Low-cost, accessible and recognised by the National Health Mission as a preventive strategy under the Ayushman Bharat framework, it asks for little more than time and a place to sit. Through our NIDAN Program Model Lab, two trained women in each of the targeted villages lead daily yoga sessions for the women around them, mentored by a qualified instructor. On the International Day of Yoga, we marked the occasion with women from across Mall Block, Lucknow to honour a practice that has already settled into their mornings. Swipe through to see how it works, and why we believe prevention is best led by the community itself. Neha Chaudhary #PANIinAction #40YearsOfpeoplesAction #PublicHealth #HealthForAll #YogaForLife #Women #Wellbeing #NonCommunicableDiseases #CommunityHealth