Astha is a Hindi word, which means “deep faith or conviction”. We have “faith in the people” -- faith that people have abilities, strengths and knowledge to solve the problems they face. Poor people are marginalized, exploited, deprived, and usually do not recognize their strength – but Astha does!
The Mission of Astha is to help People to organize, expand their capacities and equip themselves for the struggles they must wage to overcome the various deprivations under which they live.

The Approach of Astha

1. An Organizational Approach – we help those living under economic marginalization, feudal traditions, gener stereotypes and inequalities, environmental degradation, etc. to get organized into community and issue-oriented groups and networks, and to support those already formed. Unorganized, nothing will happen.
2. A Rights Based Approach – we work with the people to claim, and re-claim, their human rights. The right to life, to work, to a life with dignity, to food, to land and livelihood.
3. An Educational Approach – in which “praxis” (action-reflection-action), learning from experience, learning from analysis, learning from each other, training events, awareness raising camps / exposure visits and tours, learning from “people’s knowledge”, all play major roles.
4. A Developmental Approach – in which we attempt to initiate processes, make linkages, set in motion problem solving actions…and yet an approach which questions the dominant paradigm of “Development”. We, with The People, are in search of a new definition of “Development” which would respect and take seriously sustainable lifestyles for sustainable development, indigenous people’s social and survival patterns, people’s knowledge, and so on.

Astha works for Structural Change

• Bringing into being new structures of the poor (organized and aware), which changes the “structure of society” – before, there was no organization of the poor that society had to deal with, now there is.
• Bringing changes in some of the laws and policies, rules and regulations, that form part of the root causes of injustice, deprivation, exploitation and marginalization. And so Astha’s work includes research, documentation and networking to prepare for the advocacy work it does, along with others, to bring changes in those laws and policies in need of change

Issues on which Astha Works

Livelihood – Land, Water, Forest. Migrant Labour,
Right to Work, Employment Guarantee Scheme
Water and Drought
Food Security
Globalized Economic Policies
Displacement from Land and Livelihood
Local Self-Governance – Panchayati Raj Institutions, PESA -- Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act),
Budget Analysis – Analysis of the Rajasthan Budget, micro-studies to check what is on the ground, training programmes for civil society organizations on the use of Budget in advocacy, some publications.
Women’s Organization and Empowerment – particularly amongst tribal women, low-income widows and separated women, women working on atrocities on women.
Non-Timber Forest Produce – a Support Society for forest produce Cooperatives and other groups and Associations working with the poor on forest rights and forest produce issues.Credit including problems with Banks, Cooperatives and Money-Lenders. A small amount of work with Self-Help Groups.
Tribal Policy and Tribal Issues
Urban Environmental Sanitation, Vermiculture
Communal Harmony
Soil and Water Conservation – Watershed Development Work

Astha does not parallel the Government, does not do what the government should be doing. Astha’s role is to help the poor, marginalized, deprived and exploited to access government schemes and resources, to make use of government laws intended to help the poor. This is part of the work of helping the poor to become organized and aware, and to work effectively on the problems they face.