Swadhar was originally founded, way
back in the year 1983 in Mumbai, by late Prof. Meenakshitai
Apte (then Professor at Department for Family and Child
Welfare, in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and
pursuing doctoral research) and late Mrinaltai Gore (a noted
activist). Both of them had a similar concern about the lack
of safety of women living in Goregaon, a suburb of Mumbai.
They met the Commissioner of Police to put forward their ideas
about how the situation at hand could be improved, with a
little help from the police department. The Police
Commissioner in turn, suggested that a counseling center in
the area could provide guidance and help to women in distress.
This idea led to existence of Swadhar as an organisation and
its very first initiative - a Counseling Center for women,
which continues to function even now, in Goregaon.
In the year 1995, Prof. Meenakshi Apte or Meenakshitai as she
is fondly known, retired from her work in TISS and moved to
Pune. Along with Mrs. Sulabha Joshi and Mrs. Suchitra Date,
she started a Pune chapter of Swadhar, and started counseling
aggrieved women. They primarily worked towards becoming a body
where women in distress could come for help; and they would be
guided to overcome their difficulties and emerge as empowered
individuals who are self-dependant, conscious of their rights
and fully equipped to lead dignified lives. Swadhar is
registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860, as well as
under Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950.
However, soon after the inception in Pune, it became evident
that working with women alone was not enough. With an
increasing number of serious issues threatening the well-being
of their children, only addressing to their problems in
isolation, was an incomplete job. Thus Swadhar broadened its
scope, now to include the development of underprivileged
children too. It thus became Swadhar IDWC (Institute for
Development of Women and Children).
Swadhar in Pune was founded by a group of three professionally
qualified women who volunteered to create an organization,
which would bring about some change in the lives of people
they touched. Over the years a team of professionally
qualified women, have volunteered to develop Swadhar into
becoming a much bigger organization, so it could reach out and
benefit more and more number of people. These volunteers are
assisted by an impressive team of salaried staff members, who
are in turn qualified and experienced in their respective
fields. They together carry out the day to day functioning of
the organization.
