As an organization bridging the Indian diaspora and communities in India, Forum for Developing Communities is engaged in deeply understanding the social forms that travel across borders and how they shift and transform through that movement. One of the most structural institutions, and one with devastating social and other effects, is the caste system, a form of stratified social hierarchy that institutionalizes discrimination from birth. Some of these practices of discrimination and dehumanization of those considered “lesser” just by virtue of their birth have now traveled into the U.S. diaspora.

FDC is engaged with two key projects related to caste, one addressing the longstanding inequities perpetrated by the system on children, especially girls, and the second is an educational project to forestall the spread of casteism in the diaspora.

• On girl-children education, we continue to support the education and career development of Dalit girls in the southern Indian states through a combination of financial support, mentorship, and career guidance.
• On caste education in the United States. We have developed an interactive and participatory curriculum on caste. Such curriculum is designed and adapted for different audiences–from high school students, college aged youth, corporate human resource departments, to civil rights activists and government officials at municipal, state, and federal government levels.