Arrivals and Opening

Namaste! Arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) in New Delhi, where you will be met by a representative who will escort you through immigration and customs before connecting you with your driver.

Get settled into the hotel, then kick off the Study Tour with an Opening Session and Welcome Dinner.

Overnight: The Imperial New Delhi

Orientation and Partner Visit

After breakfast, you will have an orientation session at the hotel, led by AJWS President and CEO, Robert Bank, and local colleagues.

Enjoy lunch before departing for your first partner visit with Azad Foundation this afternoon.

Azad Foundation was founded in 2008 with a mission to equip resource-poor women to earn a livelihood with dignity. They do so by introducing women as professionals in jobs and markets that have traditionally been closed to them. Their flagship program is ‘Women on Wheels,’ which trains women from urban slums to become professional drivers, specifically for other women. These women work either as private chauffeurs or as commercial taxi drivers for a taxicab company that is run by Sakha Cabs, the commercial counterpart of Azad. Azad works with women from low-income families in the Indian cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Indore and Jaipur.

After returning from the partner visit, relax and come together for a group dinner this evening.

Overnight: The Imperial New Delhi

Partner Visits

After breakfast, meet with Nirantar Trust at the hotel.

Nirantar, based in New Delhi, was founded in 1993 with a goal of challenging structures that lead to inequality and injustice on grounds of gender, sexuality, caste, class and religion. Through efforts to develop empowering education, especially for girls and women from marginalized communities, Nirantar seeks to promote transformative formal and non-formal learning processes, which enable those marginalized to understand and address their realities. Nirantar is a key constituent of the Women’s Movement in India and has vocally raised the issue of sexuality and sexuality rights over the last two decades.

Enjoy lunch all together before setting out for this afternoon’s partner visit to the Institute of Social Studies Trust.

Founded in 1980, the Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST) is based in Delhi. They promote social justice and equity for the underprivileged through a three-pronged approach comprising of research, programming related to community action and documentation for learning and advocacy. They undertake research and documentation for social change and to inform policy, with a focus on livelihood, work, education, and the well-being of vulnerable communities from a gender perspective. ISST also undertakes evaluative studies seeking gender-transformative development. Community action is carried out through its community center called Saathi, located within a slum community of East Delhi, with the aim of empowering women, children, and adolescent youth from disadvantaged households through community mobilization, legal action, increasing their access to education, information, and other public services.

This evening, if time allows, participate in sightseeing throughout the city. Then enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

Overnight: The Imperial New Delhi

Travel to Udaipur

After breakfast this morning, enjoy your partner visit with Kislay.

Kislay was founded in 1992 to support informal migrant workers in Delhi to access their rights to dignified fair wages, suitable working conditions, housing, food, education and social security. They raise and respond to issues of caste, communalism, and other forms of social conflict. Kislay also provides a platform and support to various autonomous movements, activists, and researchers addressing natural resource issues, labor rights, women’s rights, and forest rights.

In the afternoon, after lunch, you will head to the airport for your domestic transfer from New Delhi (DEL) to Udaipur (UDR) on an IndiGo flight departing at 5:55 PM. and arriving at 7:20 PM. Details for the evening are still to come.

Overnight: Taj Fateh Prakash Palace

Partner Visit and Sunset Boat Ride

After breakfast, meet with Vikalp at the hotel.

Vikalp is based in Udaipur in Rajasthan, India. It was established in 2004 to create a platform
where youth can voice their opinions and integrate their voices in the process of social development. Their vision is to engage youth by creating participatory opportunities for them to meaningfully shape the development of their local communities and their society as a whole. The core of their work is to shift gender stereotypes and patriarchal power dynamics so girls and women have an improved sense of self-worth and have all the opportunities to live a full life. Vikalp’s work is focused in Udaipur city and the district.

Depending on time, you may also visit The Hunger Project at some point during your stay in Udaipur.

The Hunger Project (THP) was established in India in 1984 and currently works across seven
states. It is the only NGO in India working on the issue of gender and governance at the national
level. THP strengthens women’s political leadership in local governance so that they are effective elected women representatives (EWRs) for their constituencies, and are able to practice good governance, and advocate for social and gender justice. THP works exclusively with EWRs at the local administrative level (the Panchayat) through strategies and interventions to build the leadership of EWRs throughout each representative’s five-year tenure. The past four years have seen the scope of THP’s engagement with EWR broaden to include issues of adolescent girls in a significant manner.

In the afternoon, eat lunch before you set out for a private sunset boat ride on Lake Pichola.

Dinner will be at a local restaurant tonight.

Overnight: Taj Fateh Prakash Palace

Partner Visit and Walking Tour

After breakfast, visit with either Aajeevika Bureau or Rajsamand Jan Vikas Sansthan (RJVS).

Founded in 2004, Aajeevika Bureau enhances the dignity and wellbeing of families dependent on
seasonal and short-term migration as their primary source of livelihood. Through a network of
support centers located both in these migrants’ home communities (South Rajasthan) and in the
places where they migrate to (in Gujarat and Rajasthan), Aajeevika provides services, support
and security to migrant workers and their families. These services include getting them
government identification documents, skill training and job placement, legal aid, social security,
and financial services. A special unit “Centre for Migration and Labor Solutions” undertakes research and provides technical support and capacity building to other organizations to enable them to work with this underserved community. Aajeevika aims to mainstream the concerns of
vulnerable migrant communities into policy-making so that policies effectively address the
concerns of migrant communities.

Founded in 2003, Rajsamand Jan Vikas Sansthan (RJVS) emerged from a large collective of rural
women in Rajasamand district of Rajasthan. This collective of over 7,000 women from various
caste groups has successfully intervened in issues of domestic violence, caste violence and
community rights to access food and work. Over the past year, RJVS has helped in the formation
of twenty groups of young boys and girls, and are working with them to build a politicized
understanding of education, gender and sexuality, marriage, choice, consent and agency. This
politicized understanding helps young people address how and why these concepts are used to
control their choices and life trajectories.

In the afternoon, enjoy lunch and then embark on a walking tour of Udaipur’s markets. Find handmade crafts like Mughal miniatures, wall mural paintings, wood carvings, clay sculptures and metal embossing. As a fashion hub, the city delights you at every corner with colorful embroidered jootis and mojris (footwear), silver jewelry, mirror-worked skirts with matching blouses, and patchwork bedsheets and cushions.

Return to the hotel to refresh before this evening’s Shabbat dinner at the hotel’s Sunset Terrace, which skirts the palace and offers sweeping views of Udaipur’s skyline and the tranquil waters of Lake Pichola.

Overnight: Taj Fateh Prakash Palace

Sightseeing

Spend your last full day in India on a guided sightseeing tour of Udaipur. You will visit some of the city’s prominent landmarks while overlooking the Aravallis Mountains and breathing in the air surrounding Lake Pichola. The route will take you to the City Palace, the Monsoon Palace, and the Jagdish Temple.

After this morning’s walking tour, enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before visiting the temple at Eklingji and exploring the ruins at Nagda during sunset.

End your trip with a Closing Session and Farewell Dinner at the hotel’s Sunset Terrace.

Overnight: Taj Fateh Prakash Palace

Departure

Travel back to the airport for your international flight home or continue onward with your travels in India.

If you are interested in joining the Golden Triangle Extension, please see here.