The Nanhi Chhaan Foundation

The Nanhi Chhaan Foundation is an Indian nonprofit that works in villages and rural schools on the welfare of the girl child, sanitation, education and the environment. Its name means "little shade", and the organisation frames its work around two things it says are disappearing from India: the girl child and the tree. It runs a mix of direct village programmes and corporate-partnered projects, covering toilet construction, health camps, computer and English language training, vocational training for women, and sapling distribution. Much of its delivery happens through schools and through institutional partnerships rather than through standalone facilities of its own. It positions itself as a bridge between corporate CSR funding and on-the-ground rural implementation.

Major Areas of Work

• Girl child welfare: Campaigns and school-based programmes that promote the value and protection of the girl child.

• Sanitation and hygiene: Construction of household and school toilets in villages, alongside hygiene awareness work aimed at ending open defecation.

• Rural education and skills: Computer literacy and English language instruction for rural students, particularly girls.

• Women's livelihoods: Vocational training centres that equip rural women to earn an independent income.

• Environment and village infrastructure: Tree plantation through schools and institutions, plus infrastructure improvements that make villages more liveable.

Major Initiatives and Programmes

• Nanhi Chhaan Sanitation and Hygiene Project: Builds toilets for rural households and schools and runs the awareness work that goes with them.

• Nanhi Chhaan US Access Program: An English language programme for village students run in partnership with the US Government's Regional English Language Office, with a site at Qila Jiwan Singh village in Amritsar, Punjab.

• Village Development Program: An integrated package of infrastructure, health and welfare work delivered village by village.

• Nanhi Chhaan National School Essay Contest: An annual national contest for school students on saving the girl child, the environment and humanity, hosted each year at a partner school.

• IMPACT Tata Housing CSR Program: A corporate-funded rural development project delivered in Himachal Pradesh.

The essay contest is the foundation's most visible recurring initiative. It has run for more than a decade, moves to a different host school and state each year, and is used as the vehicle for carrying the girl child and environment message into schools across the country at scale.

Impact

The foundation states it has constructed more than 400 toilets and distributed more than 8 lakh saplings since 2008 through schools and institutional partnerships, and its own site cites thousands of beneficiaries from the Nanhi Chhaan and Fortis health camps held in villages and schools. It maintains partnerships with Fortis Healthcare, Godrej, CII, JCB, Lumax, DCM Shriram, PI Industries, Tata Housing, KPMG and the US Government's Regional English Language Office, and Fortis marks an annual Nanhi Chhaan Day across its hospitals to promote girl child welfare.

Leadership Harpal Singh, Chairman, Nanhi Chhaan Foundation, and Chairman Emeritus, Fortis Healthcare

Partners

Fortis Healthcare, Godrej, CII, JCB, Lumax, DCM Shriram, KPMG, Impact Projects

The Nanhi Chhaan Foundation suits people who want to work on grassroots social change that links gender and environmental causes, within an organisation with strong ties to industry, healthcare, and civil society institutions. It offers exposure to a wide range of community programmes, from sanitation and health camps to education and livelihood training, backed by more than a decade and a half of on ground presence across India. It appeals to people who want to contribute to a values driven, faith inclusive movement working directly with villages, schools, and families.