ASHWINI (Association for Health Welfare in the Nilgiris) is a registered charitable society established in 1990. Our primary objective is to establish an accessible, effective and sustainable health system that is owned by the community. We believe that empowering communities through a participatory development process builds capacity and culminates in community owned and managed institutions. Ownership of institutions that cater to the mainstream population is a powerful tool in bringing about a change in social equations. The program addresses the needs of more than 20000 Adivasis spread over 314 hamlets in the Gudalur Valley of the Nilgiris hills in South India. The particularly vulnerable tribal communities in the area, having lost access to the forests and an entire way of life, were on the edge of being decimated by poverty, malnutrition and disease. The health program started with training health workers to address the critical health needs of the mothers and children. This has, over the years grown to a 50 bedded hospital, The Gudalur Adivasi Hospital, 8 Area-Centers and health volunteers in over 200 hamlets. The training programs also evolved and today we have a formal nursing school. Most importantly, most of the management of ASHWINI is in the hands of the tribal community.
