PRADAN’s founders believed, ‘people with education and empathy must engage with the poorest. That India’s development cause is served better when educated Indians work directly with the poor, which is as important as working in industries and commercial sectors...’, is more relevant today than ever. India continues to be overwhelmingly rural even today with low level of human development in our villages. This calls for well-educated professionals with empathy and knowledge to work with poor communities to help them improve their lives. We work in the poorest regions of India to help vulnerable communities organize collectives that help people, especially women, earn a decent living and support their families. We also help them access government programs and other entitlements as citizens. We focus primarily on women because we believe that even people considered to be the most disadvantaged in society are capable of driving the change they need. To achieve this, we recruit well-educated young professionals to work alongside people in the poorest villages. They come from many fields – such as management, engineering, agriculture, and the social sciences - and they are chosen as much for their empathy as for their technical expertise.