CORO began with the aim to propagate adult literacy in the slums of Mumbai. It has grown into a grassroots organisation and managed by Scheduled Caste and Muslim women and men. They work for equality and justice, on issues such as women’s empowerment, defending the rights of the marginalised, improving livelihoods, accessing natural resources and holding the government to account.

What excites us about their work:

• Works in key areas of women’s empowerment: domestic violence, structural changes in infrastructure and education in gender equitable ways, and empowering single women who face great societal challenges.
• Expands idea of literacy to include social empowerment
• Trains individuals at the grassroots to make a change in inequality in society through community-based interventions through peer-learning, knowledge transfer and sustained support. A strong push to individual changemakers to help create transformation at the community level.
• Using the idea that sustainable social change is bottoms up and requires facilitating processes in which people from marginalised communities can think critically and take ownership of bringing about change.
• Empowers marginalised communities to lead and take action