Across 150 villages in Jharkhand's tribal belt, Augustina Soreng is the person women call when they are in trouble. She has never looked away.
Augustina Soreng
's story
While teaching at a residential government school for girls, Augustina helped rescue five students from trafficking and domestic labour. She never went back to “just” teaching. Years spent with Jharkhand's Social Audit Unit exposed her to the full scale of violence that Adivasi women face. In 2022, she quit her job to serve women in her community full time. Over time, she also founded Sona Buru Jungle Producer Company and became a forest rights champion.
The work that
Augustina Soreng
puts in
Augustina equips Adivasi women with the knowledge and tools to fight for their rights and trains local officials to be more responsive in crises. For high-stakes cases, she gets involved directly: securing compensation for a harassment survivor, coordinating with Delhi Police to rescue a trafficked girl, and more. She documents her work on her YouTube channel reaching over 7,000 subscribers.
Impact of the work
Last year, Augustina told us she intervened in over a dozen cases of sexual violence, trafficking, and domestic abuse. She also reached 2,000 women across 150 villages through practical workshops on legal rights and crisis management. Additionally, her forest rights work helped 23 villages secure titles over one lakh acres and her co-op enables 1,100 Adivasi women access markets for their produce.
What your funds will unlock
Augustina’s work on women’s rights currently spans 4 blocks of Simdega district. Your support will help her expand across all 10 blocks, with a long-term goal of reaching all five districts of the South Chota Nagpur tribal belt. Her dream is to inspire and train bold young women to become a community leader like herself to secure the safety and rights of all women in the area.
Augustina makes sure no Adivasi woman faces her hardest moments alone. Will you help her reach more women?
Testimonials
"Trafficking, witchcraft aur sexual violence jaise mushkil muddon par kaam karna aasaan nahi — media, courts, police, politics — lekin voh peeche nahi hatthi.
"Bohot acha laga Augustina ke saath kaam karne mein — chunaautiyaan aati rehti hain, lekin logon se milna, gaon mein baithna, ek dusre se milna — yahi is kaam ki taakat hai."
