Welcome to TARA TRUST

TARA TRUST is a non-profit organization with the mission to educate, empower and enable the underprivileged, especially women and children, to improve their lives. We are a registered, non-profit charitable organization in India.

Over a quarter of a billion people in India live on less than a dollar per day. The government has failed them and their suffering is in general ignored. With your help we provide care, love and development. As an umbrella organization we are networking with other NGOs, that are personally known to the founder of Tara Trust, Dr. Katharina Poggendorf-Kakar. We are supporting efficient and financially transparent projects within India, making an impact on the lives of families trapped in poverty. We ensure that the donations entrusted to us will reach 100% at the receiving end. We work with people on the margins of society - street children, low-caste and tribal people and families with little hope - to help them build and sustain their individual and community livelihoods.

What do we do?

Tara Trust is organizing creative arts workshops for deprived children in Goa and elsewhere. We further organize intercultural activities to motivate marginalized children and to help building their self-esteem. Click here to get some visual impressions. Tara Trust is fundraising for the Jamyang-School in Leh/Ladakh. We organize sponsorships for the education of the children in the Jamyang School. Click here to know more about this extraordinary project. Tara Trust is fundraising for the Shalini Fellowship Program of the organization Udayan Care. This fellowship sponsors the higher education of underprivileged girls in Delhi. Click here for more information. Tara Trust cooperates with the orphanage Care and Compassion in Panjim/Goa and fundraises for sponsorships for its children. Click here for more information.

In India, there are more than 40 million children who live on the streets or work as child laborers. They work as garbage collectors, street vendors, in restaurants, even in prostitution and provide on average 25% of the family's income. Education is the key to break that cycle of deprivation, but in India nearly 20% of the children age 6-14 years, have no access to primary education.Poverty is not gender-neutral: women are routinely discriminated against, although they play a vital role in changing the futures of their families, if they are given a chance. Tara Trust's primary target is the education and empowerment of children and women. We network closely with people from all walks of life. Being located in India, we are in a position to closely connect to projects we cooperate with and ensure their effectiveness in accomplishing their goals.Tara Trust supports charity projects that work without any discrimination based on caste, religion, political affiliation or language. We are networking with other NGOs and believe that the local community should be engaged as part of the solution. We support projects which reflect that approach and fit in with our mission and vision. With our engagement we are trying to maximize the impact of every contribution, no matter how big or small. Furthermore, we want to create interest and opportunity. As fundraisers we link the donors with the cause and provide communication between the two. Our goal is to support and make such projects widely known, which work with credibility, enthusiasm and dedication to help the less privileged in India.

Why focus on children?

We believe that education is the key to unlocking the potential of children and for breaking the vicious cycle of poverty. More than 42 Million children in India do not have the opportunity to go to school. Children are sent to work by compulsion and not by choice, mostly by parents. Poor families often “sell” their children in the hope of lucrative jobs in the cities, but the children end up being exploited in brothels, hotels, and as domestic help. Many run away and find a life on the streets. Large numbers of children work simply because there is no alternative - since they do not have access to good quality schools.

Why focus on women?

Of the 12 million girls born in India every year, 3 million do not see their fifteenth birthday, and a million of them are unable to survive even their first birthday. Every sixth girl child’s death is due to gender discrimination. Poverty is not gender-neutral: women enjoy less access to and control over land, credit, technology, education, healthcare and skilled work. Despite being routinely discriminated against, studies have shown that it is women who play a vital role in changing the futures of their families and the communities around them, if they are given a chance. Women, once empowered by working together in self-help and micro-credit groups, have shown they can slowly but surely break free from economic dependence, feed their families, gain respect and voice their opinions.