Auroville Village Action Group

Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG), founded in 1983, is an NGO committed to grass roots and integrated community building with the villages surrounding Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India. Rather than addressing isolated development challenges, AVAG places the complex web of relationships between human beings, their behaviours, traditions and prejudices, at the foundation of its programmes and work with villagers. Therefore, an integrated and multifaceted educational programme, which promotes solidarity, cooperation and illuminates issues of gender and caste discrimination that underlie the traditional social and economic structures of the villages, is central to all AVAG activities. Through an expanding network of women’s and men’s Self Help Groups (SHG) and Federations of female and male leaders, AVAG offers a wide range of successful programmes and initiatives to meet the complex needs of villagers.