Goonj receives Indian NGO of the year award

The Asian Age, New Delhi, 12 Mar 2008

For its constant endeavour to lessen the agony of the poor and marginalised, especially in terms of providing material resource, Goonj, a Delhi-based non-profit organisation, has been awarded the Indian NGO of the Year award.

Anshu Gupta, founder and director of Goonj, said with the award, clothing has finally been recognised as a development issue.

“This award is an acknowledgement of the ignored basic need of clothing as a development issue. This is what Goonj has been continually working on. “ said Gupta.

Union finance minister P. Chidambaram, N.R. Narayanmurthy, CEO and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies, gave away the award to Gupta in a glittering ceremony in the capital last week.

What started as an endeavour to clothe the needy with a basketful of 67 clothes, nine years ago, has now grown into a full-fledged organisation which functions in 20 states.

It aims at channelling thousands of kilos of clothes and other unused materials from urban areas to the remote villages of the country. Another of its initiatives highlights the ignored need of sanitary napkins as a major health issue for marginalised women. In this programme, the organisation converts unused cotton cloth into clean cloth napkins, which women can use during their menstrual cycle.

The Indian NGO of the year award was instituted in 2006 by Resource Alliance and Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation.