Who are we?

CORO INDIA, a Mumbai-based organization with a 35-year legacy, is dedicated to empowering individuals facing marginalisation on the basis of gender, caste, region, or religion. Our vision is to forge a society rooted in equality and justice, transcending discrimination in various forms.

Founded in 1989 as the Committee of Resource Organisations, CORO initially focused on propagating adult literacy in urban low-income communities. Initially led by people coming from outside the communities it worked with, over time, CORO has transformed into a community-led organization, with leadership teams from marginalized communities, particularly women. This inclusive approach, a paradigm shift in the development sector, ensures the relevance and feasibility of our interventions, fostering sustainable and regenerative impact.

By 1995, CORO with its close connect with the community, started working with the community women around issues of their empowerment and safety. CORO’s These women leaders came together to form the Mahila Mandal (Women’s group) Federation, which is today an independent local women led organisation, with more than 10000 members

Between 1996 and 2008, CORO become a resource organisation with strong grassroots connect, mainly on and around gender & violence and community development. During this period CORO worked with international and national partners on research intervention work with young men, and later with young women. This resulted in a school-based intervention called Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS), adopted by the Maharashtra Government in their flagship programme, Meena Raju Manch supported by UNICEF, with CORO as the resource partner.

Coro’s Achievements

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Three CORO members actively contribute to committees formed by the Maharashtra State Election Commission and the Women & Child Development Department.
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218 leaders, including 68 from the Single Women Campaign in Marathwada, emerged victorious in Gram Panchayat elections.
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Engaged in an ongoing collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra and UNICEF as a resource organization for a school-based gender sensitization program spanning 25,000 schools.

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Established a women-led credit cooperative society in Osmanabad.
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Three CORO members actively contribute to committees formed by the Maharashtra State Election Commission and the Women & Child Development Department.
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Established a proven Grassroots Leadership Development Model, producing over 1300 leaders.

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Through joint property rights campaigns, empowered 6922 women to secure joint property rights.

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Facilitated a network of 300+ organizations (NGOs/CBOs) in Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
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Successfully conducted campaigns on Community Forest Rights and MREGS in Vidarbha, resulting in 7 villages obtaining community forest rights titles on 995.1 hectares of forest land.
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Holds Platinum Certification from Guidestar India for transparency and statutory compliances.

Awards and Recognitions for Team CORO

Awards for the Ekal Mahila Team and NT/DNT women further underscore our commitment to excellence.

Our work with Single Women in Marathwada District, supported by EdelGive Foundation, received the FICCI Award on Women Empowerment in 2016.

CORO received the “BEST VOTER FRIEND’ AWARD” from the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra on National Polling Day.

Bhagyashri Randive from our Single Women Campaign in Marathwada received the Max Woman Award from the Maharashtra Women’s Commission and Max Maharashtra.

Sujata Lawhande and the RTP campaign are recipients of the Nari Shakti award by Maharashtra Times.

Our Women Leaders, Anjum Shaikh, Laxmi Waghmare (2020), Mahananda Chavan, and Durga Karadi (2021), were finalists for the Woman Exemplar award organized by CII Foundation.

Mumtaz Shaikh received the DEVI Award from The Indian Express in 2017 and is a member of the Health Ministry’s steering committee.

Shahjahan Mirza won the C. Subramaniam award in 2020 by the National Foundation of India.