Registration no: 219/2002

Auditor: S R Batliboi & Associates, Chennai

Hand in Hand is a Public Charitable Trust registered in the year 2002 with an initial focus on child labour elimination, education, and the empowerment of women. The organisation has been in operation since 1988 in Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu, India. With time, our activities have expanded as per the demands from the rural communities in which we are working, and have come to include poverty reduction interventions among rural, poor families in a big way. We envisage an integrated strategy to address the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment. It aims at building self-reliance of disadvantaged groups by alleviating poverty through sustained income generating programmes.

Our Integrated Community Development Project
Hand in Hand India operates through the two pillars of SHGs & Microfinance and Child Labour Elimination Programme (CLEP) in keeping with its focus on child labour elimination, education, and the empowerment of women.

Hand in Hand India and Socio Economic and Education Development Trust (SEED) are two trusts that share the same vision and mission. From an operational point of view, it is one organisation that focuses on implementing an Integrated Community Development Project for poverty reduction. Providing livelihood opportunities as well as enhancing existing ones is a constant endeavour through these interventions. However, the two pillars of SHGs & Microfinance and CLEP are under Hand in Hand India and the other three pillars, namely Citizens' Centre Enterprise, Health, and Environment are under the SEED Trust.

Hand in Hand is currently active in 17 districts in Tamil Nadu, six districts in Madhya Pradesh, three districts in Karnataka, three districts in Maharashtra, two in Orissa and in the Union Territory of Puducherry. We are in the process of expanding our operations to Haryana and Gujarat.

With the expansion of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and the increasing demand for microcredit and related services, three organisations have been set up: the Socio Economic and Education Development (SEED) Trust, Hand in Hand Micro Finance Ltd and lately the non-banking finance company, Belstar.

Trustees

Mr. S.Chinnappan
With long experience in gender, microfinance and self-help groups issues, Mr. Chinnappan founded the Tamil Nadu-based NGO Kalvi Kendra in 1982. He also edits Muttram, a government-sponsored monthly magazine for self-help groups. He has worked in the policy-making team for Dutch development organization Cordaid and conducted numerous courses on gender sensitisation, self-help movement and microfinance.

Dr. Mangala Ayre
Dr. Mangala Ayre is an educationist with over 30 years of experience, specializing in kindergarten and pre-school teaching. In 1988, Dr. Mangala Ayre established Inner Harmony Holistic Learning Centre for children in the 2-5 age group. She is a frequent lecturer and counsellor for teachers and parents and has developed various alternative teaching methods using music, storytelling and dance.

Mr. Venkat Reddy
Head of MV Foundation, Mr Venkat Reddy is famous for his advocacy of child rights. His organization has built alliances with NGOs and government officials in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Assam, as well as in Nepal and Morocco. MV Foundation today works in more than 6,000 villages. More than 300,000 children have been enrolled into schools under his leadership.

Mr. P.Kottaisamy
P.Kottaisamy is a graduate in Electrical Engineering and post graduate in Business Administration specializing in Finance. He has over 15 years of experience in development work, financial services and business consulting. He is currently working as a process consultant in HCL Technologies Ltd. As part of this role, he has supported various global financial services firms in US, United Kingdom and Singapore in their transformation journey, as part of their enterprise transformation and change management programs. He has specialized in process transformation, business architecture, offerings development and governance of not-for-profit development programs. He worked earlier in various capacities with DHAN Foundation, Axis Bank, Aviva Life Insurance India and Ramco Systems. He was instrumental in promoting Kurinji Vattara Kalanjiam, a federation of Women Self Help Groups during his association with DHAN Foundation.

Dr. Kalpana Sankar
Dr. Kalpana Sankar has been involved in the women’s self-help movement for the last 16 years and has been a consultant on gender and microfinance issues to UNDP, UNOPS, Christian-Aid and Wetlands International. A double doctorate in physical sciences and women’s studies, Dr Kalpana Sankar worked as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). She is a recipient of INSEAD Business School scholarship to attend INSEAD’s Social Entrepreneurship Programme and HBS–ACCION scholarship training on strategic leadership for microfinance. She has been felicitated by the US Congress as one of the leading Women Social Entrepreneurs in the world in recognition of her role in providing leadership and fostering economic growth in local communities. She is currently the Managing Trustee and CEO of Hand in Hand India.

Mr. Amuthasekaran Nachiappan
At present, COO (Environment) at Hand in Hand, Mr. Nachiappan is a postgraduate in Sociology. He started his career with the Indian social-service organisation Vivekananda Kendra. His experience spans grassroots action, education, monitoring and evaluation. He has worked on watershed management, renewable energy for rural areas and rural development issues.

Advisory Trustees

Mr. K.N.Krishnamurthy
Mr. Krishnamurthy is a former general manager and special director in automotives major Ashok Leyland. With over 38 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, Mr. Krishnamurthy has also served with Confederation of India Industries (CII) in various capacities. He won the Mother Teresa Award for outstanding contribution to society, given by the Institute of Economic Progress.

Mr. N.Srinivasan
Formerly Chief General Manager of NABARD, Mr.Srinivasan is an expert in microfinance and livelihood development. He has worked with World Bank, IFAD and UNOPS on various projects. Mr. Srinivasan is founder-member of Alliance for Fair Microfinance, and chief author of the State of the Sector Report 2008 on microfinance.

Mr. M.S.Sundararajan
Mr. Sundararajan is an Indian banking consultant, economist and was previously the head of the Indian Bank. His core expertise is in investment banking, project finance, corporate restructuring and capital market. Mr.Sundararajan won the Golden Peacock Award on behalf of the Indian Bank in October 2009.He has been part of several key strategic initiatives at the Indian Bank including launching of initial IPO, introduction of Biometric ATM and introduction of touch screen kiosk across various Indian bank branches in India. On 31 May 2010, Mr.Sundararajan was appointed as a member to look into customer service for banks by the Reserve Bank of India.