AVARD, New Delhi
5 (FF) Institutional Area, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi, 110002 
avard@del3.vsnl.net.in

An association of voluntary organizations engaged in rural development.

Objective:To promote development, democracy and equality in society through voluntary action and active citizenship as a complement to public action by the State to achieve these objectives.

Areas of work:AVARD has a large number of professionals to help voluntary organizations plan and implement development works. AVARD shared the Gandhian view that constructive work must also provide the social and value base for genuine democracy.

National:Field work on participatory development, which has resulted in the Planning Commission using its village micro plans as models for the State agencies of development, at the local level, to emulate on a Nation wide scale. AVARD’s advocacy of democratic decentralization also resonates with both policy makers and people at large.

International: AVARD is in the board of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies, a worldwide association of NGOs, based in Geneva.  In the South Asian context, it is a founding member of ANGOC, a network of Asian NGOs involved in agrarian reform.  Through these networks and many others, AVARD promotes better understanding between NGOs of the South and the North.