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About Ayang
The formal work of Ayang Trust was preceded by the establishment of The Hummingbird School in January 2017 as a joint effort of 19 villages of the Missing tribe in Majuli Island, Assam along with Bipin, then a volunteer teacher in another school in Majuli. Majuli is a flood and erosion affected island district in Assam. Once the school started working, Bipin was joined by Dharamjeet and Aswathy. The school with its deep connection with the community was involved in activities beyond its walls – supporting over 2000 families in flood relief and resilience in 2017, helping families in medical emergencies etc. With the realization that the issues affecting the island communities were multi-fold and complex, and needed concerted purposeful interventions in education, livelihood and community development, Ayang Trust was formally registered by the trio in November 2017.
The problems holding back the rural, tribal communities of northeast India from living a purposeful and dignified life of their choice are many, 2 key issues that we see as elemental are:
1) Quality educational access and achievement in the region has been dismal which equates to a lack of skilled workforce, and active citizenry.
2) While women are the key labor force in agriculture, weaving and other crafts, traditionally their participation in social and political arenas have never been encouraged. Consequently they have not been able to collectivise, and gain economically and socially from their skills and knowledge.
Our
Mission, Vision and Values
Mission
Bridging developmental gaps in Assam by co-creating solutions with the adversity-affected communities towards improving primary school education through teacher capacity building and enhanced community involvement, and skilling and empowering women artisans and farmers towards economic independence and agency.
Vision
A world where everyone has a choice to live a life of love, dignity, and purpose irrespective of conditions at birth
Values
- Love - We promise that our actions and intent come from a place of care and love
- Equity - We will ensure that our actions will be fair and impartial. We commit to ensuring equity for all people.
- Excellence - We strive towards excellence in our everyday practice through open dialogue, meticulous research, and reflection
- Integrity - We promise to do the right thing, even when it is unacknowledged by others or is not convenient for us.
- Collaboration - We recognize that the work we do becomes better when we work together and ensure collaboration in our everyday actions.
About Team
Meet our Team that made
this possible
Aswathy Preetha Jayakumar
An engineer turned educator with an MA in Peace Education, and a TFI Fellow alumna who leads the education vertical in the organisation.
Bipin Dhane
An IIT B.Tech|M.Tech graduate who moved to social sector after a 3 year corporate stint in Singapore anchors the organization as the Executive Director.
Dharamjeet Kumar
An MA Development alumnus of Azim Premji University and a Clinton Fellow who leads the organization's livelihood vertical.