About Headstreams

Creating livelihood pathways for those who have long 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 communities. We design and run programmes that foster self-expression, build practical skills and enable economic empowerment.

Vision

Creative livelihoods become a viable, aspirational path for those outside formal education, bridging socio-economic gaps and promoting well-being, through creative means.

Mission

To make creative livelihoods accessible for young women from vulnerable and under-resourced contexts through craft and design education: art, craft production (ceramics) and creative services.

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 each young woman lives a purpose-aligned, intentional life. That means conscious, everyday choices that fit her own values, beliefs and goals, and taking ownership for the course of her life.

In each of seven areas of her life, every woman reflects on what has been and what is, then chooses what she would like it to be, and works towards it. You can only choose from what you know, so our programmes deliberately open up new crafts, places, people and chances to give back.

Within her

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

Around her

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

What it brings: clarity and purpose, greater well-being, more control over her own life, deeper relationships and more confident decisions.

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, the two foci complement each other programmatically, in our drive to fashion creative livelihoods for girls and young women aged 15 to 29.

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

Read the 18-year report

Team & board

Dr Cheriyan AlexanderPresident
Mahalakshmi ParthasarthyVice President
Dr Naveen I. ThomasCo-founder and Secretary
Nitya ThomasTreasurer

[Team of 19 grouped by pillar and function, with photos for those who agree. Board list to verify for 2026.]

In memory of Anu Akka. Anu joined us as a volunteer in 2009 and worked full-time from 2011. She coined the name "Tackle". In her memory, the Anu Akka's Tackle Programme carries her name, with her family's consent.

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. 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. Delivery: are we running it well? Sessions happen on time, on budget and to standard, with good attendance and clean records.
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
2026 NSRCEL (IIM Bangalore) Impact Orbit
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