Navjyoti India Foundation

Navjyoti India Foundation is a non-profit that works to prevent crime through social development. Dr. Kiran Bedi, India's first woman IPS officer, set it up in 1987 with 15 other police officials, and it was registered in 1988. It grew out of a campaign against drug abuse in North Delhi and now works with children, youth and women in urban resettlement colonies of North West Delhi and in villages of Sohna Block, Gurugram.

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Its stated vision is to challenge socio-economic inequality and help vulnerable communities become self-reliant. It describes its approach as bottom-up, inclusive and sustainable development, built on grassroots engagement, knowledge partnerships and work with funding partners.

Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi, India

Major Areas of Work

• Child Education: Keeps vulnerable and out-of-school children in learning through a "3S" model of Shiksha (education), Sanskaar (values) and Skills.

• Skill Development: Teaches youth and adults employable digital and vocational skills under a "4C" model of competence, compassion, conscientiousness and changemaking.

• Women Empowerment: Builds vocational, entrepreneurial, financial and digital skills among rural women and adolescent girls, with family counselling and legal awareness.

• Environment: Covers watershed development, groundwater recharge, pond revival, water, sanitation and hygiene in schools, solid waste management and solar energy.

• Community Development: Runs community-led projects on child rights, waste management and digital literacy in the neighbourhoods where the foundation works.

Major Initiatives and Programmes

• Remedial Education Program: Started in 2007 for out-of-school and street children in Bawana, North West Delhi, with remedial classes, skill readiness sessions and personality development classes such as art and music.

• Bal Gurukul Early Leadership Program: Trains children from the remedial centres as "Bal Gurus" who teach younger children in their community and run departments covering academics, sports, yoga, IT, gender and the environment, including a children's news show, Gurukul Times.

• Navjyoti Skills Academy: The skilling centre at the head office runs courses for 18 to 30 year olds with Class 12, such as Digital Marketing, Data Entry, Tally Prime and Stitching & Tailoring (3 to 4 months, 85 to 128 hours), as well as free computer basics courses for ages 12 and up and online workshops.

• Project TechConnect: Launched in 2021 as Project Kaushal and later renamed, it gives marginalised learners digital literacy, IT, coding, AI and robotics training and career guidance, and it has opened digital skill and AI hubs across Delhi NCR.

• Unnati (Women Empowerment Program): Began in 1996 as a sewing unit and family counselling centre in Bhondsi village and now trains rural women in Sohna Block in stitching, embroidery and enterprise. Women in the programme make handcrafted products from export-house textile waste and sell them under the Unnati brand.

Impact

The foundation's own site says that since 1988 it has touched more than 500,000 lives, educated more than 100,000 children and youth, and helped more than 300,000 people become financially independent. It gives two different groundwater figures: 36,12,63,955 litres of groundwater potential created on its impact page and 500 kilolitres on its About page. Its environment page says the Abheypur watershed project, 83 recharge wells in government schools and police stations, and related structures percolate more than 50,000 kilolitres a year, and that 5,370 students, teachers, panchayat members and others have been trained in water management. Its course certification partners are Dell Technologies and STMicroelectronics Foundation, and it also partners with Brainywood and Vivaan Music School.

Leadership

• Dr. Kiran Bedi, Founder and Mentor

• Chandni Bedi, Coordinating Director

• Ujala Bedi Choudhary, Director, Coalitions and Collaboration

• Neetu Sharma, Director, Urban Programs

Navjyoti offers hands-on community work in Delhi's resettlement colonies and Haryana villages, across education, skilling, women's livelihoods and water conservation. Its staff of more than 100 runs centres directly, so roles involve close contact with children, young people and women rather than desk-based grant management. It suits people who want field experience in community development, education or vocational training, and those interested in how crime prevention connects with social development.