Headstreams: towards fullness of life, home

About Headstreams

Creating livelihood pathways for those who have been left out.

Headstreams is a Bengaluru-based NGO, working since 2008 to improve learning and livelihood outcomes for adolescents and youth from vulnerable and marginalised contexts. We design and run programmes that foster self-expression, build practical skills and enable economic empowerment.

Vision

A world free of poverty and exploitation, where young people who are out of education have the creative skills, collective power and freedom to build dignified, self-determined livelihoods and lasting well-being.

Mission

We make creative livelihoods possible for young people from vulnerable and marginalised contexts through craft and design education, connecting them to collective enterprise, and preparing the next generation through play and learning.

Values

Joy · Dignity · Empowerment · Forgiveness · Full potential

At the heart of our work

Living on purpose.

Everything we do comes back to one hope: that every young person lives a purposeful, intentional life. That means making conscious, everyday choices that reflect their own values, beliefs and goals, and taking ownership of the direction their life takes.

Across seven areas of life, participants reflect on what has been and what is, then choose what they would like it to be, and work towards it. Real choice needs real exposure, so our programmes introduce young people to skills, places, people and ways to give back.

Within one

Interests
what draws one in
Skills
what one can do
Attitudes
how one meets the world
Values
what matters most

Around one

Experiences
what one has lived and wants to try
Relationships
the people one walks with
The Greater Good
what one gives to the world

What it brings: clarity, grit, confident decisions, agency over one's own life, stronger relationships, greater well-being, and a purpose that reaches beyond oneself.

Broader goals we contribute to

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  • SDG 4

    Quality Education

    Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

    Target 4.4: Increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.

  • SDG 8

    Decent Work and Economic Growth

    Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

    Target 8.6: Reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training.

  • SDG 10

    Reduced Inequalities

    Promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of gender, race, religious beliefs or economic status.

    Target 10.1: Achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average.

Our Story: 2008-Today

We began in 2008. As social workers (many of us alumni of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences), educationists and psychotherapists, we came together to create livelihood opportunities for unemployed youth in Bengaluru's marketplaces. Our first initiative was to set up 40+ women's SHGs in Bengaluru and catalyse 100+ livelihood units. From 2012, play became our signature, reaching more than 25,000 children. Today, these two areas of focus work hand in hand as we build creative livelihoods for young people aged 15 to 29, especially young women who have survived violence, abuse, trafficking or abandonment.

  1. 2008Registered in Bengaluru. Aalamba Skills Training and women's Self-Help Groups begin.
  2. 2014LEGO Foundation and Ashoka name us a Pioneer in Learning through Play.
  3. 2017NASSCOM Foundation Social Innovation Award in Education.
  4. 2018Arivu-Disha reaches 3,500+ children in 43 schools. B.Voc with TISS begins.
  5. 2020HOLA keeps 4,500+ children learning through lockdown. GuideStar Transparency Key.
  6. 2021Aalamba Women's Livelihood Programme in Kolar. Anu Akka's Tackle Programme begins.
  7. 2022Asmishilp welcomes its first young care leaver women.
  8. 2026Build, Connect, Prepare. Yuva Shilpi. Pottery On Wheels. CII Compendium.
Read the 18-year report

Team & board

  • Portrait of CheriyanCheriyanCo-founder, President
  • Portrait of MahalakshmiMahalakshmiCo-founder, Vice President
  • Portrait of NaveenNaveenCo-founder, Secretary
  • Portrait of NityaNityaCo-founder, Treasurer
  • Portrait of SelenaSelenaCo-founder, EC Member, Content & Reporting Lead
  • ShaileshCo-founder, EC Member
  • JeanCo-founder, EC Member
  • Portrait of ShilpyShilpyCreative Skills Training & Ceramic Design Lead
  • Portrait of AnneAnneHR & Admin
  • CatherineDocumentation
  • Portrait of ElizabethElizabethInternal Audit & Compliance
  • Portrait of GowriGowriYouth Internship Programme
  • Portrait of JyothiJyothiAalamba Livelihood Collective
  • Portrait of LeenaLeenaAsmishilp Trainer & Continuing Education
  • Portrait of LokeshLokeshHeadstreams Malur Centre Manager
  • Portrait of MunirajMunirajPrototyping & Livelihood
  • NehaMarketing
  • PoojaCeramics Skills Training
  • Portrait of PriyaPriyaResource Mobilisation
  • SangeethaStock & Housekeeping
  • SheelaAccounts
  • Portrait of ShinyShinyAsmishilp Training & Anu Akka Tackle Caravan

Our approach

Our model draws on purpose-aligned, intentional living, Amartya Sen's capabilities approach, self-determination theory (autonomy, competence and relatedness), design thinking, the multiple intelligences framework and creative livelihoods theory. Together they mean we don't decide a young woman's path for her. We widen what she can see, build what she can do, and support the choices she makes.

How we measure: every programme is read across three levels, and earns the next question by passing the one before.

  1. 1. Model clarity: do we know the work? The content, roadmap and assessment are written down, so the programme runs without depending on any one person.
  2. 2. Delivery: are we running it well? Sessions happen on time, on budget and to standard, with good attendance and clean records.
  3. 3. Impact: is it changing lives? Participants gain skills, well-being and livelihoods, make their own choices with growing confidence, and go on to enable others.

Recognition

  • 2026 CII Foundation Compendium on Rural Development
  • 2021 NSRCEL, IIMB incubation as part of the Women Startup Program 3.0
  • 2020 GuideStar India Transparency Key
  • 2020 TISS Centre of Excellence in CSR empanelment
  • 2017 NASSCOM Foundation Social Innovation Award in Education
  • 2015 TCS recognition, Affirmative Action Programme
  • 2014 LEGO Foundation & Ashoka, Pioneer in Learning through Play
  • 2012 Mahindra Spark the Rise