"You are the first people who come to the village and are just like us: your interns are from remote villages too.
You sit on the bus next to us.
That gave us the confidence to believe we could achieve our goals."
Evaluation from Tar women
HEALTH Inc was founded in 1992 to undertake work in Tibetan refugee camps in restricted areas which receive little international aid. It now works mostly with indigenous peoples across the western Himalaya, focusing on the people of remote villages in Ladakh. We are a private, not-for-profit, non-government agency (NGO) partnered with registered charities in Austria, Canada, India, the UK and the USA.
HEALTH Inc is mandated to provide access to information, skills and networking that allows people to control their own development. We don't build a school: we build the skills and connections that help disempowered people create a sustainable education system in their village.
While our focus is mostly on issues of health, environment and literacy, our programs are designed and implemented by the beneficiaries themselves. If the people are concerned about disabled children, we design a program to fit this need.
We work in full partnership with Government of India departments – including the governing body of Ladakh (The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council) and its Departments of Agriculture, Education and Social Welfare. All our work is channeled through them. We may one day leave Ladakh, but the Government of India never will.
While we partner with the government, we are also an independent NGO. Our partnerships allow us to tap into the large resources of the Government, while our independence allows us to remain small, flexible, responsive and fast. We spend over 8 months each year out in the remote villages we serve.
We have a full time staff of just 4 (all field workers) yet have a reach of over 235,000 people. Each year we train 2 young Ladakhis from remote villages in the skills needed to undertake community development in the future. We help them complete their education and gain jobs within the Government, so our philosophy is shared with the entire region.
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