Overview
Vision statement
Create a dynamic collective of Dalit women leaders who are agents of change working towards a new equitable society that brings power, stability, security, and happiness to all women.
The All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM) is a platform for women from Dalit communities in India to escalate our voices for justice. We cultivate Dalit women activists, who are the leaders of a movement for Dalit self-respect and dignity. Our work spans four major areas: survivor support, grassroots activism, leadership development and international advocacy.
AIDMAM aims to have built a critical mass movement lead by Dalit Women Leaders; working to create community-based movements that have specific frameworks in place to effectively challenge, tackle, and solve caste-based violence and discrimination; and the culture of impunity.
Areas of Work
Most of the survivors are living with extremely limited financial resources. Incidents of violence
often put them in dire economic situations, where the threat of losing financial stability
predetermines the families’ decision-making process. The need for legal fees, travel costs and
medical care is high. Our advocacy efforts are aimed at ensuring justice and compensation from
the government while providing much-needed economic and psychological services for families.
AIDMAM aims to mobilize communities towards larger structural change. For this, local efforts
for advocacy supporting community concerns like access to water and housing, amongst others,
is essential.
The strategy to embody an intersectional movement addressing the urgent needs of the people
speaks to AIDMAM’s larger principle of understanding violence as a socio-economic and
political structure. Dalit women leaders, including village leaders, are trained in skills such as
budget tracking and organizational management.
AIDMAM is laying the groundwork for systemic change by providing a learning space for Dalit
women to acquire the necessary skills to bring long-term socio-political change.
Identifying, nurturing and training Dalit women leaders is a key component of our work. In
building these women leaders, we aim to impart skills that will help them annihilate Caste, break
patriarchy and put an end to state impunity.
The trainings include: human rights monitoring with focus on Dalit-specific legislation like the
Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act (SC/ST PoA Act), self-defense
trainings, fact-finding investigations and legislative advocacy training.
Trainings are organized regularly to professionalize the writing, communications, and social
media skills of the Dalit leaders.
Where We Work
- Haryana,
- Uttar Pradesh,
- Madhya Pradesh,
- Bihar,
- Odisha and
- Rajasthan
