Fifty years of partnership, helping rural communities in
south India build better lives
Village Service Trust is a volunteer-run UK charity supporting partners in Theni district, south India,
who work with women and marginalised communities in their pursuit of lives free of poverty, violence and discrimination, helping them build education, health, livelihoods and strong community groups
that they now lead themselves.
The people at the heart of our work
We work with some of the most marginalised communities in Tamil Nadu, who are now building brighter futures together with our partners.
Women in rural India still earn less than men and have fewer chances to study, own property or take part in decisions. With our partners, thousands of women have come together in self-help groups to save, borrow wisely, support one another and become leaders in their villages.
WOMEN: Leading change in their villages
For generations, Arunthathiyar families had few chances for education or secure work. Today their women are among the most active in our partners’ self-help groups. In 2025–26, 222 Arunthathiyar women received more than half of all the loans arranged through their federation of self-help groups. Trained Arunthathiyar women leaders worked with local officials to bring new roads, drainage and bus services to their villages.
ARUNTHATHIYARS: Learning,
leading and growing together
Tribal families in the Western Ghats have seen their traditional way of life change greatly. Our partners work with Paliyar and Muthuvan families on housing, children’s education and forest-based livelihoods such as honey, cardamom, pepper and coffee, helping them to use government schemes and build a secure future.
INDIGENOUS: Rooted in the hills, reaching for the future
Our partners' work
We support long-term partners who work with community organisations, such as women's self-help groups and voluntary groups that address domestic violence.
For more than 30 years VST has promoted women’s self-help groups that leverage affordable loans to fund self-employment or family needs. The groups are part of a women’s movement promoting women’s empowerment, education and solidarity.
Women's self-help groups
Saving together,
growing together
VST supports anti-violence committees and peer support groups – village volunteers who identify women affected by domestic violence and assist them to find legal redress and resolve their family circumstances. Leaders of the women’s movement campaign to change attitudes that condone violence against women.
Anti-violence volunteers
Stepping up
for survivors
Village-based children’s clubs provide both a social activity for young people and an introduction to social action, such as monitoring school dropouts, encouraging girls to resist gender based violence and child marriage, and calling out discrimination at school.
Children's clubs
Young voices,
bright futures
In tribal hamlets VST’s partners work with village development committees, women’s self-help groups and children’s clubs to obtain vital documents needed to access welfare benefits, housing and land for farming; to overcome school attendance issues; to obtain access to health care and to protect rights to live and work in the forest.
Tribal organisations
Forest families,
building better lives
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