Chirag is a rural development organization based in the Kumaun region of Uttarakhand in India. Founded in 1986 by Late Shri Kanai Lall, our goal is to improve the quality of life of the families residing in the Central Himalayan region with special emphasis on women, children and the disadvantaged. We believe that there is no “stand alone” or single intervention that can improve the lives of the people in this region. Therefore, we recognize the need for an integrated approach to development.

Given the extent of dependency on local resources, our approach is to connect our various interventions so that the community can develop and progress in a holistic fashion. Consequently, our activities are diverse. We work on issues related to education, health, natural resource management and livelihood programs. Chirag also provides technical support to other organizations in the region and to the government, which allows us to expand our impact beyond the villages we directly work in.

We constantly seek to learn from the people we work with and focus on developing strong community based institutions to ensure the sustainable management and use of natural resources in the region.