Our History
The Journey of Ekakanya
From a discovery in 1996 to a foundation in 2015, Ekakanya has been rewriting what’s possible for rural girls in Rajasthan.
Where It All Began
In many parts of rural Rajasthan, girls often leave school early, marry as teenagers and take on adult responsibilities before they’ve had the chance to complete their education. This limits their opportunities for learning, personal growth, and economic independence.
In 1996, the founder saw this story playing out in village after village. A research study had just revealed the harsh truth: girls across rural Rajasthan were losing their childhoods, their education, their futures, not by choice, but because no one believed they deserved better.
That moment changed everything. The founder couldn’t unsee what she had seen. She couldn’t forget those girls whose potential was being buried before it could bloom.
The Long Journey to Change
That research shaped the founder’s work. It reinforced a simple idea: empower one girl and you improve the world around her.
She knew that real change takes time and that transforming centuries of tradition requires patience, respect, and trust. Most importantly, she understood that lasting change must come from within the community itself.
A Foundation is Born - 2015
In 2015, years of hope and planning finally took shape. Ekakanya Foundation was born in the very villages where the journey began.
The name says it all. Ekakanya means “The Girl Child” in Sanskrit. Because that’s where transformation starts with one girl who gets the chance to dream bigger, learn more, and become who she’s meant to be.
Ekakanya started small. Leadership training for young girls. Conversations with parents. Building trust, one family at a time. But small beginnings can create big changes, growing into something meaningful.
Today, Ekakanya reaches many villages in Rajasthan. Project Parinati prepares girls for university, often making them the first in their families to step onto a campus. The Rural KPO Centre provides young women with their first income and independence. And its 150 Change Leaders show that when girls are given a chance, they rise to it and carry others forward.
From 1996 to Today
What started as one woman’s determination to right a wrong has become a movement. A movement that believes every girl – no matter where she’s born or what others expect of her – deserves the chance to become extraordinary.
Along the way, Ekakanya has learned something powerful: when one daughter is invested in, it does not just change her life. It changes her family’s story. Her village’s future.
That’s the Ekakanya way – groups of girls, united by their dreams, building extraordinary futures together.