“We didn’t have a good infrastructure to conduct the school in our village. Now I am so happy to have this beautiful building. It enables our children to have a joyful learning.” – Lakshmi, Anganwadi Teacher

what we do

THE ANGANWADI PROJECT (TAP) DESIGNS AND BUILDS 'ANGANWADI' OR PRE-SCHOOLS IN Disadvantaged AREAS of gujarat and Andhra pradesh, INDIA.

What is an anganwadi

An “anganwadi” means a ‘courtyard shelter’ in India. The system of anganwadis was developed in 1975 by the Indian government to alleviate malnutrition in children. The anganwadis provide meals each day to the slum children under 6 years old but also provide lessons in health and hygiene and literacy in a nurturing preschool environment. 

Typical anganwadis are run for a few hours a day in local houses but are often overcrowded, sweltering in summer and have little or no light or ventilation, making it impossible for the children to learn.

Volunteers

TAP recruits and trains Australian design professionals who volunteer their time to live and work in India for 6 months to oversee the design and construction of these schools.  The volunteers support the philosophy of Re-Use, Re-Cycle and Reduce utilising local labour and largely recycled materials.

Partners

We work in partnership with local Indian NGO Manav Sadhna, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat (based in Mahatma Gandhi’s Ashram) and with the Rural Development Trust in rural Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.

HOW IT WAS FOUNDED

TAP was founded in 2006 by a chance meeting of the two co-founders, Jane Rothschild, a former director of Architects Without Frontiers and designer, Jodie Fried. From that meeting came the re-building of one small school and a partnership that led to the founding of The Anganwadi Project.

In 2011, the Anganwadi Project became an independently incorporated not-for-profit association, and appointed a Board of Directors.

Our projects

Since our start, TAP have built over 18 anganwadis and has positively affected the lives of more than 550 children. We have sent more than 35 volunteer architects and designers to India to work and oversee these projects.  However, TAP could not undertake this work without the collaboration of our Indian project partners, Manav Sadhna and Rural Development Trust.