Our mission
Jagriti Foundation is committed to gifting opportunities of personal rising up through care, education and community collaboration to empower women, girls and families to lead lives of hope with realised potential.
Our journey began in 2006
Jagriti is an old Sanskrit word that means to rise up, to gift hope. With a focus on women, girls and children in need, Jagriti Foundation aims to gift hope by wrapping around people’s needs to support rising up through love, care, and education.
Foundations in India
Jagriti Foundation’s roots began in 2006 as founder Selena Fox travelled to India for work to support early childhood teacher training. She returned to New Zealand but India stayed in her heart.
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In the years that followed, Selena worked closely alongside Delhi locals to support girls of unimaginable need, having experienced deeply traumatic early childhoods. Today, these girls have grown up and are safe, educated and loved.
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In 2015, the foundation’s work extended to support a remote rural village in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. A school was built to support 500 young children to move from child labour situations to schooling.
The school was also built to serve as an education centre for the entire community, supporting adults through education to develop their own microenterprise initiatives. An example of this was sewing classes, which supported women to learn sewing skills so they could establish their own self-sustainable income for their families.
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Other community initiatives included the set up of a library at the school, building of a community toilet facility, providing bikes for children to transport them to school and installing a water filtration system to provide clean water to 600 people a day.
Expanding into New Zealand
Jagriti Foundation’s reach continues to grow. In early 2019, the foundation’s support extended to New Zealand and donee status was awarded. After learning about the needs of individuals and communities, support initiatives were established in alignment with the foundation’s objects and purposes. These include education, healthcare, physical and emotional wellbeing, housing and shelter, community and family support, and a particular focus on personal pathways to healing for women who want to make a commitment to life-change.
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Work has been undertaken alongside girls and women in need, and in challenging situations, such as domestic violence, safety issues, addictions, and substance abuse issues. Support has been given to women personally to engage with grief and addiction counsellors, move to safe living environments, engage in parenting and strength building counselling, seek and support work initiatives and engage in training courses. The support has moved the women, and often their children, to realise a future of hope.
