In 1990, when Dr. Dharam Anand, Sakshi’s founder, returned to India after working abroad for many years in the area of public health, he found that millions of displaced farmers and rural poor had migrated to urban areas like Delhi in search of better opportunities and were living in abject poverty in unauthorized settlements which lacked basic facilities like water, sanitation, electricity, shelter etc.

Uneducated and poor, they were at best able to scrape a day to day existence as manual labor. They could not afford medical care or proper nutrition for themselves or their children who faced much adversity growing up and without access to education, as adults followed in their parent/s footsteps as day labor or ragpickers. Generations were stuck in this vicious cycle of urban poverty. It was a heart-breaking situation.  

Uniquely placed to help by virtue of his global experience and connections in public health and education, Dr. Anand founded Sakshi to help these forgotten and marginalized children and communities.
Stage 1: Health & Hygiene
Sakshi first began work in the area of Heath & Hygiene wherein, supported by the United Nations and World Health Organization, Sakshi began to build toilets at MCD schools in the slums and educate children and communities about Preventive Medicine and Hygiene.

This was critical to reducing the incidence of diseases and water-borne epidemics that frequently afflicted these settlements and resulted in high rates of child, maternal and overall mortality.

Stage 2: Elementary Education
Working in the MCD schools, Sakshi staff noticed the high drop-out rate of slum children. One reason for this was to care for pre-school age siblings.

Sakshi believes that education is vital for the development of a child, enlarging her vision of the world and herself, instilling curiosity, awareness, values and a belief and ability to chart her own destiny.

Thus, in a natural evolution, supported by Government agencies, Sakshi began work in the area of Elementary Education, running Early Education Centers to care for the health and education of pre-school children and Non-Formal Education Centers and Remedial Classes to track down, motivate and equip drop-outs to rejoin the mainstream.

Stage 3: Vocational Training - Full Empowerment
In 2005, Mr. Satish Tandon, a successful CEO of a multinational corporation, assumed leadership of Sakshi. He realized that though health and elementary education are necessary first steps in the upliftment and development of slum children, something further is needed to make them employable and able to earn a regular and decent livelihood.

Mr. Tandon then initiated the vital Vocational Training project which today equips low-literate youth with marketable skills like computer training, beauty culture, proficiency in English etc that allows them to find jobs which double their previous combined family income and have growth potential. 

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