{
  "id": 12109313,
  "title": "Angels Of Pune: How Ashraya Initiative For Children Is Helping Break Intergenerational Poverty And Build Better Futures",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/angels-of-pune-how-ashraya-initiative-for-children-is-helping-break",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-05T08:28:09.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Press Journal",
    "slug": "free-press-journal",
    "url": "https://www.freepressjournal.in/pune/angels-of-pune-how-ashraya-initiative-for-children-is-helping-break-intergenerational-poverty-and-build-better-futures"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Pune: Tarun Joshi, the CEO of Ashraya Initiative for Children, posed a fundamental question: Should a child's destiny not be determined by their birth circumstances? This query has guided his decade-long work with marginalized children, women, and families. Initially focused on education, Ashraya's mission has expanded to encompass health, mental health, women's empowerment, skill development, and access to government schemes. The organization now spearheads efforts to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty affecting children, women, and vulnerable communities.\n\nAshraya's approach began with children out of school, dropping out, or as first-generation learners. However, the organization soon discovered that education is deeply intertwined with other family challenges. For instance, adolescent girls missing STEM and skilling classes were found to be limiting their water intake due to safety concerns about public toilets. This led Ashraya to address health, safety, and sanitation issues beyond the classroom.\n\nThe organization's long-term objective is to disrupt the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Over 15 years, Ashraya has worked in 12 communities, reaching over 20,000 beneficiaries through its community empowerment programs. In education, the organization has supported over 2,000 children and young people. In the covered communities, the enrollment rate among families with children in education has risen from 15% to 96%. In communities covered by Ashraya's impact data, 72% of families now have at least one graduate or skilled young person. Health and nutrition programs have also shown positive results, with BMI and haemoglobin levels improving over the past five years.\n\nOne of Ashraya's most impactful outcomes is seeing beneficiaries become leaders themselves. Bhagyashree, for example, returned to her community after completing her honours degree in Fashion Design to train marginalised women in stitching, tailoring, and embroidery. She has since established employment for 20 women and acts as an Ashraya student mentor. Joshi emphasizes the significance of beneficiaries rising to leadership roles, underscoring Ashraya's mission impact.\n\nLooking ahead, Ashraya plans to expand its community-based initiatives, incorporating 21st-century skilling programs in 10 government schools and eventually aiming to reach 100 schools. The organization also intends to broaden its maternal and child health work through Anganwadis and continue focusing on women's economic empowerment. For Joshi, growth is about empowering communities to carry the work forward and ultimately achieving a self-reliant community where children become first-generation graduates, women achieve financial independence, and young people return as leaders. For Ashraya, the ultimate measure of success lies in the transition from dependency to self-sufficiency within the communities they serve.",
  "summary": "Pune: For Tarun Joshi, the question that shaped Ashraya Initiative for Children was a simple one: Should a child’s future really be decided by the circumstances into which they are born? That question has grown into more than a decade of work with children, women and families from marginalised communities. What began with education has evolved into a wider effort covering health, mental health,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}