Atijeevan Foundation: Transforming Scars into Strength

Atijeevan Foundation was founded in 2013 with a mission to rehabilitate and empower victims of acid attacks. The founder, who was a survivor of an acid attack herself, wanted to ensure that the past traumatic experiences of survivors did not impede their opportunity to make a place in society and lead a meaningful and dignified life. She learned about the challenges through interactions with the survivors she trained and helped find employment. Many of them reported incidents of harassment, bullying, discrimination, and insensitive behaviour from co-workers. The founder was contemplating how to help. Should she support and encourage survivors to independently manage their own workplace challenges at work, which would align with her philosophy of self-advocacy and resilience? Or should she ask the human resources department in each organization to support survivors? She was also contemplating how each organization’s equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives could be expanded to integrate the unique challenges and needs of survivors of acid attacks to foster their empowerment in the workplace.

This case is suitable for courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive degree levels on HR management, organizational behaviour, and introduction to social entrepreneurship. In HR management courses, this case can be taught in modules that cover equity, diversity, and inclusion issues. The case can also be taught in the leadership module of an organizational behaviour course. In social entrepreneurship courses, this case can be used for modules on social impact, scaling for disadvantaged people, and theory of change. The case highlights the efforts of non-governmental organizations to provide holistic support to acid attack and burn survivors. After working through the case and answering assignment questions, students will be able to<ul><li>appreciate the role NGOs play in helping individuals live with traumatic experiences to overcome the impact of traumatic experiences;</li><li>analyze the challenges NGOs face in providing holistic support to people who experience psychological trauma and in sensitizing organizations to create an environment that supports the healing process;</li><li>examine how equity, diversity, and inclusion policies can be tailored to address the unique challenges faced by survivors of acid attacks, amid the various forms of diversity in the workplace; and</li><li>apply the theory of change’s inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impact to an organization’s efforts to advocate for social change.</li></ul>

• Equity Diversity and Inclusion
• People with Disabilities
• Acid Attack Survivors
• Theory of Change
• Non governmental organizations