DISHA

Disha is a mass-based organization in Gujarat that started in 1985 with the aim of altering societal power relationships in favor of the poor to produce social change. Disha believes that only through altering the power balance among different communities may our current society be transformed into a more equitable one.

Our work espouses the ideal of self-determination ñ all individuals are entitled to control the natural, economic, political and other resources necessary for them to determine the course of their own lives. In reality, however, the vast majority of people are deprived of the ability to choose for themselves ñ instead, economic hardship makes choices for them. The founder of Disha, M.D. Mistry recognized this and was inspired to fight for economic justice in order to work towards social justice.

Since its inception, Disha has worked alongside socially marginalized communities ñ primarily tribal societies and other landless labourers ñ to support organized action from within the community against the social structures promoting an unjust distribution of wealth and power. Disha is issue based, rather than geographically based or project based. Disha has several components, each of which is designed to reinforce the concept of holistic and integrated development of rural Gujarat. Rather than simply treating the symptoms of a dysfunctional public sector and poor governance, Disha has evolved to work on broad-scale works that address the underdevelopment of the aforementioned.