Women's Interlink Foundation

Women's Interlink Foundation is a non-governmental organisation set up in 1990, working towards integrated women, child, and community development in and around Kolkata. WIF is registered in India under the Charitable Trusts Act. It provides need based interventions, including literacy support for women and children, prevention of violence against vulnerable groups, and the rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration of trafficking victims. WIF's work spans direct service delivery, including shelter homes and vocational skilling, alongside advocacy and government collaboration on child protection and anti-trafficking.

Major Areas of Work

• Anti-Trafficking: Rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration of women and children trafficked for sexual exploitation, including cross border trafficking prevention.
• Child Protection and Education: Education and support for street children, child labourers, and children living in slums and red light areas.
• Shelter Homes: Running residential shelter homes for vulnerable girls and women, providing nutrition, health, education, and mental health support.
• Women's Empowerment and Livelihoods: Vocational skill development and income generation programmes for women and adolescent girls, including tailoring, handblock printing, and food processing.
• Elderly Care: Support and shelter for elderly women, including those exiting prostitution and elderly individuals more broadly.
• Community Development: Rural community development, including work with tribal communities.

Major Initiatives & Programmes

• Nabadisha: An education project for street and working children run in association with Kolkata Police, operating across 11 centres in Kolkata reaching 335 children.
• Nijoloy Homes (Madhyamgram and Jalpaiguri): Shelter homes providing services under the Government's Mission Vatsalya and Shakti Sadan schemes for girls and women in need of care and protection.
• Child Care Home, Salt Lake: A residential care home for girls under the Mission Vatsalya scheme.
• Key to Freedom Project: Initiated in 2012 following a visit by the Duke of York, connecting garments made by women skilled through WIF's vocational programmes to international retail markets.
• HelpAge India Elderly Sex Worker Support Project: A joint project supporting elderly women in prostitution in Kolkata's Sonagachi and Kalighat red light areas.
• Aloka Centre, Bolpur: A two storied rural community development centre near Santiniketan, completed in 2025, running skill development and micro-entrepreneurship training.

Impact

• Nabadisha's 11 centres currently serve 335 children, with 16 of 17 students clearing their Madhyamik exams and all 8 students clearing Higher Secondary exams in the latest cycle.
• The three Nijoloy and Child Care Home shelters together supported 903 girls and women in the past year under the Government's Mission Vatsalya and Shakti Sadan schemes, alongside after-care and rehabilitation support for several others.
• Vocational skill development programmes across WIF's shelter homes engaged over 200 women and adolescents in the past year, in trades including tailoring, handblock printing, tie and dye, and food processing, with more than 130 of them going on to earn an income from their work.
• The HelpAge India partnership supported 50 elderly women in prostitution across two of Kolkata's red light areas.
• WIF has been operating continuously since 1990, giving it over three decades of grassroots experience in anti-trafficking and child protection work.

Partners

• Government of India / Government of West Bengal (Mission Vatsalya, Shakti Sadan schemes)
• Kolkata Police (Nabadisha project, Damini Football Project)
• HelpAge India
• The Duke and Duchess of York / Key to Freedom Project
• Topshop (UK retail partner for Key to Freedom garments)

WIF suits people who want direct, frontline social work experience, including shelter home operations, survivor rehabilitation, and community based child protection, rather than research or policy focused roles. It appeals to people motivated by long term, hands on commitment to some of the most vulnerable groups in the social sector, including trafficking survivors, street children, and elderly women in extreme poverty, and to those interested in an organisation with over three decades of grassroots experience and a mix of direct services, government partnership, and international collaboration.