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Compassion and Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the United Nations to be achieved by 2030. Today, SDGs are at serious risk of attainment.
We believe Compassion is the cohesive force that will strengthen the four pillars of SDGs – People, Planet, Prosperity and Peace and will help accelerate their progress.
The need for Compassion
Wars, armed conflicts, inequalities, injustices, extremism, and the climate crisis are all on the rise, leading to profound human suffering. There is an alarming increase in feelings of disconnectedness, loneliness, apathy and fear.
We need to seriously rethink, redefine, and reconstruct our approach to life and society. Compassion is the most powerful way to enable
peaceful co-existence, human fraternity and a sustainable future for all.
Our Vision
To globalise compassion to restore justice, peace, equity and sustainability in the world.
Our Mission
To define, evaluate and enhance Compassion Quotient in individuals, institutions and communities.
Compassion is the feeling of the suffering of others as our own suffering with a strong drive to take action to alleviate that suffering.
In simple words, compassion is mindful and selfless problem-solving.
Compassion Quotient (CQ) is the measure of an individual’s ability for Compassion. CQ can be evaluated and its level can be increased.
Our Objectives
Catalyse
compassion in action and compassionate leadership across sectors including business, civil society, academia, politics, faith, healthcare, judiciary, law enforcement to foster systemic change.
Include
the most marginalised transcending gender, race, caste, religion and other barriers, end discrimination and create a compassionate society to ensure social inclusion for all.
Learn
and create knowledge rooted in experience and research, delivering evidence-based insights and real-life examples of compassion in action and compassionate leadership for transformative impact.
Empower
young change-makers through targeted programs, to promote and amplify compassion in action and expand circles of compassion.
Harness
the power of self-compassion and compassion in action to combat loneliness, isolation and depression.
Power of Democratic Participation
Bal Panchayat is an exemplary model of democratic child and youth participation for social change. This is a council of elected leaders that works with the local government to highlight and resolve crucial issues being faced by the community.
There have been 18113 Bal Panchayat leaders since 2001.
Bringing Together Those Left Behind
Our interventions with nomadic communities of India involve complex systemic transformation. These communities have always faced discrimination by mainstream society and labelled ‘criminals’.
We work to ensure community members get identification documents, access to social protection and voting rights, helping prevent constant migration.
Our focus is on education which helps create firstgeneration learners and empowering women and youth leaders to become agents of change.
We work in 15 Nomadic Communities since 2008
Bal Ashram, the Compassion Lab
In the Aravali hills of India, there exists a place where Compassion is a way of life.
Here, children and youth from marginalised communities who have been rescued from the worst forms of abuse, exploitation and slavery, overcome their deep trauma. They learn to trust themselves and others, rediscover their childhood, and learn to dream. All through the power of compassion in action.
Hundreds of these children and youth have become leaders and change makers themselves, fighting for the rights and freedom of the most marginalised. Some have become doctors, teachers, lawyers, engineers
and entrepreneurs.
Many of our learning programmes, dialogues and events are held at Bal
Ashram, which continues to be a deep source of inspiration in our journey to globalise compassion.
Champions of Change
Payal Jangid
Payal Jangid stopped her own child marriage when she was 10 years old. Through her advocacy and activism, Payal has been a champion for change and a fearless voice against the exploitation of children.
For her courage and compassionate leadership, she received the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers Global Goals Award at the age of 17, in 2019.
Devli
When Devli asked a group of world leaders at the United Nations’ General Assembly, “if a small girl like me can take a vow to enrol all children in school, then I am sure all of
you dignitaries together can surely eradicate child labour and educate all children of the world.”
Queen Rania of Jordan and Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister came and hugged Devli. As a result of her act of bravery, 450 million dollars was announced to educate children globally.
Compassionate Learning
Experiential Learning
Our Experiential Learning Program is a transformative journey
involving deep self-reflection, interactive problem solving and
immersive community-based learning.
Participants witness grassroots change and learn from real-life acts
of compassion in action.
Research and Knowledge
We conduct global research on compassion and its constituent elements, employing evidence-based methodologies and field research. We examine real-world models and transformational examples of compassion in action to create evidence-based knowledge of compassion as a tool for social transformation
Circles of Compassion
We facilitate the formation of ‘Circles of Compassion’ to encourage individuals to come together and drive social change within their communities. Through coexistence in peace and harmony with one another and the planet, these circles offer direction, motivation, innovative tools for problem-solving, fostering enduring and sustainable solutions.
Compassionate Dialogues and Partnerships
We curate conferences, events and dialogues to bring together global changemakers including youth advocates, thought-leaders and domain experts across sectors.
The goal is to create awareness and understanding of compassion in action and compassionate leadership across the world.
We partner with like-minded governments, organisations, institutions and worldwide to amplify our collective efforts to globalise compassion.
Our Legacy
Chronicling the legacy and history of the formation of the Satyarthi Movement for Global Compassion.
The photographs are a testimony to the relentless struggle, courage and sacrifice of millions of people around the world who fought for the freedom and fundamental rights of the most marginalised and invisible people.
A HISTORIC FIRST
The rescue of 15-year-old Sabo and 34 other bonded labourers from a brick kiln in Sirhind, Punjab, by Kailash Satyarthi in 1981 is the first ever documented civil society led rescue initiative in India.
COMPASSION SOOTHES BURNS
Eight-year-old Ashraf used to work at the home of a government official. Accusing him of having food meant for his children, the official burnt him with hot iron rods. He was rescued by Kailash Satyarthi and reunited with his family.
INCEPTION OF BAL ASHRAM
An incredible moment during the Canadian Labour Congress in 1996 when Asmita Satyarthi’s powerful speech led to the creation of Bal Ashram.
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize on Kailash Satyarthi in recognition of his struggle against the suppression of children and young people on December 10, 2014, was the defining moment for globalizing compassion. He dedicated his Nobel Prize to the nation.
LIGHT OF A BETTER TOMORROW
Pained by the suffering of millions of young girls who are married off early, Kailash Satyarthi and Sumedha Kailash launched a pan-India ‘Child Marriage Free India’ campaign which saw spirited participation of 76,000 women across India. Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee was also present on the occasion.
QUESTIONING UNTOUCHABILITY
Doors of the 400-year-old Nathdwara Temple near Udaipur in Rajasthan were firmly shut for people belonging to lower castes for decades. All this however changed on October 2, 1988, when Kailash Satyarthi entered the temple along with people who were so far labelled as “untouchables”.
NO CHILD’S PLAY THIS!
Despite a brutal attack on Kailash Satyarthi and his associates, a daring operation to rescue exploited Nepalese girls employed in a circus was carried out in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh in 2004. Following this, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Indian Circus Industry to stop employment and exploitation of children in the circus.
EDUCATION FOR ALL
A nationwide ‘Shiksha Yatra’ (Education March) was launched in Kanyakumari in 2001 demanding free and compulsory education. This culminated in Delhi and paved the way for education being made a fundamental right in India.
100 MILLION FOR 100 MILLION
Honourable President of India Pranab Mukherjee launched ‘100 Million for 100 Million’ campaign at Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi. This global effort was aimed at mobilizing 100 million youth for shaping a better future of 100 million children who are less privileged.
REST IN POWER
Dhoom Das, Adarsh Kishore and Kalu Kumar are martyrs of our movement for globalizing compassion. They lost their lives in their struggle for rescuing children from slavery and gifting them the joys of freedom.
FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM
The picture on the left depicts children who were rescued from bondage in 1985. 35 years later, as is shown in the picture on the right, they came down to meet Kailash Satyarthi and Sumedha Kailash and shared their vision for the life ahead.
GLOBAL MARCH AGAINST CHILD LABOUR
Bringing the largely ignored issue of child labour on the global map, Kailash Satyarthi undertook 80,000 km global walk across 103 countries which culminated on June 6, 1998, at the UN headquarters in Geneva. When 36 children, who had once been child labourers, from different parts of the world entered the corridors of the UN headquarters shouting slogans, ‘Child Labour, Down, Down’ it was a watershed moment that led to the universally ratified ILO Convention 182.
INDIA MARCHES AGAINST CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
Over 800,000 people marched across India in 2017 under the leadership of Kailash Satyarthi traversing 11,000 km in 35 days with a clarion call to ‘Make India Safe’ for its children. More than around 250,000 educational institutions and 500 corporate houses also joined in.
LAUREATES & LEADERS JOIN HANDS
Kailash Satyarthi launched Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit in 2016 at Rashtrapati Bhawan, hosted by the Honourable President of India Pranab Mukherjee.
GLOBALISING COMPASSION
Born out of four decades of Kailash Satyarthi’s revolutionary life and path-breaking endeavors as a social reformer, Satyarthi Movement for Global Compassion is a global movement aimed at igniting Compassion in Action in the world.
ABOUT US
Satyarthi Movement for Global Compassion enhances compassion in individuals, institutions and societies, to achieve justice, equality, peace and sustainability for all.
CONNECT WITH US
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L-6, 3rd Floor, Kalkaji
New Delhi 110019 - 011 – 47511111
- contact@satyarthimovement.org
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