Our Story
Akam Foundation – Towards Equality is a registered not-for-profit organization under Section 8 of the Company Act, 2013, registered in 2022. Akam means equality in the Missing language, spoken by the second largest tribal group in Assam. Equality & justice are the core values that drive Akam Foundation’s activities, which are largely in 2 focused initiatives:
Project Kitape Katha Koi: Founded in April 2020, it emerged from the journey of our founder Rituparna as a storytelling & community library platform. This initiative envisions about right to read for all by enabling free community library space. Project Kitape Katha Koi Community Library located in Ahatguri Village of Jorhat District started in August 2021.
Drishti: A Queer Collective: Started through a community meet-up at Jorhat in April 2021. The collective envisions bringing gender justice in Assam focusing LGBTQIA+ community, particularly from rural Assam, small towns with an intersectional feminist approach. Drishti A Queer Collective is governed by an executive council of 15 youth members as core group members from different parts of Assam.
Chandraprabha Saikiani Feminist Library and Resource Centre: Inaugurated in March 2023, a Feminist Library and Resource Centre was set up in Dibrugarh which also functions as a Safe Space for the LGBTQIA+ Community and aims to enhance the community’s political awareness.
As the work progressed, people involved in both initiatives came together and gave birth to the Akam Foundation.
Our Approach
A just & equal society where everyone has the right to read and gender rights for all
Community Mobilisation
Mobilising the community and bringing them together to understand their needs and necessities and making them identify their problem
Community Organisation
Formation of a collective within the community and organising them together and giving responsibilities to make them feel the sense of belongingness and accountability towards their work.
Leadership Development
Developing leaders within the community by building their capacity and strengthening the skill to make them independent to recognise their own problems and create solutions out of it.
Research & Advocacy
To work within the community it is good to understand their problems so as to deal with it. This includes the research of their needs and problems which help in depth realisation of the community. Therefore this can be used as a tool for advocacy in the larger context.
Social Institution Building
With the help of advocacy and mobilising the community, building a strong social institution within the community will help in the sustainability of their solution which can further take forward the responsibility and the sense of belongingness to their generational leaders.
Its Time to Take Action
Our mission is to enable feminist spaces by co-creating free community library with the community and to enable feminist leaders from the LGBTQIA+ community to work for gender justice..
Guiding Principles & Values
- Feminist Principles
- Intersectionality
- Love
- Equity
Our People
Our Board of Advisor
Prof. Polly Vauquline, Professor, Department of Women’s Studies, Gauhati University
Prof. Vauquline has been a prominent contributor to the feminist movement in northeast India for over two decades. As an academic, her work in the women’s rights movement is widely appreciated. She has also served as an expert member of ICC with the Airport Authority of India, Guwahati Airport, and as a Former Governing Board Member with North East Network.
Dr. Sathyashree Goswami, Development Professional, SRHR Advocate:
Dr. Sathyashree is a senior development professional from Assam currently based out of Bangalore. She was a co-founder of the Rural Volunteer Centre in Assam during the early 2000s and has worked with organizations such as the National Foundation for India and CRY. She has been working with youth, women, and sex workers on SRHR for a long time.
Sadam Hanjabam, Founder & Director, Ya All Manipur:
Sadam is a queer rights activist based in Imphal, Manipur. He is recognized for his work on mental health within the queer community and for promoting transgender inclusion in sports. He has represented India at international platforms, including the United Nations, advocating for the queer community in northeastern India.
Governing Board
Dr. Amrita Pritam Gogoi, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Dibrugarh University, Member, Governing Board, Akam Foundation:
Dr. Amrita is an indigenous woman with a PhD from TISS, Guwahati. She specializes in ecology, gender, and conflict within academic spaces and is actively involved in the feminist and queer rights movements in Assam, particularly in Upper Assam
Mayuri Deka, Queer Rights Activist, Poet, PhD Scholar, State University of New York, Member, Governing Board, Akam Foundation:
Mayuri Deka, a queer rights activist and poet from Assam, has revolutionized Assamese literature with her queer poetry. She is actively involved in promoting feminist ideals in Assam.
Purnima Rao, Free Library Activist, Director, Free Libraries Network, Member, Governing Board, Akam Foundation:
Purnima Rao is a documentary filmmaker and free library activist. She started volunteering with The Community Library Project in Delhi in 2015 and now serves as the Director of Free Libraries Network, India.
Our Team
Twenty-nine-year-old Rituparna Neog, a trans leader and educator, has created a vibrant queer movement in rural Assam and made sure every child in her village has access to books
