Founding team

Founding team _bunkerroy_robertgohen

Bunker Roy started his rural village development work in the Christian missionary program in 1969 where he experienced how to empower all sections of the rural community, from women to education. Rambaba requested Bunker to come to Tilonia in 1971 to independently setup and work for the Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC). First project that Bunker worked on was a water well and than expanded the work at Barefoot College in solar, education, and livelihood programs. Bunker is now sharing the Barefoot approach with the global community to ensure rural villages all over the world are empowered and sustainable.

Founding team Ratan Devi

Ratan Devi was the first Barefoot teacher in 1975 at both the day and night schools. She started the rural creche program which allowed rural women to work and to experience economic independence. This program enable Rata Devi be the source for women's development issues and in turn, she coordinated field center activities to implement women empowerment activities. Ratan Devi progressed to become the program director for various projects that brought about a close relationship between Barefoot College and the Government of India. This effort has allowed for the national and local government to become major sponsor of Barefoot solutions.

Founding team Rafiq

Rafiq joined Barefoot College in 1990 and comes from a traditional blacksmith background. He worked at the mechanical workshop prior to becoming a Barefoot architect. Rafiq is overseeing the new training center at the Old Campus.

founding team Teja Ram

Teja Ram is all things rural education. His expertise in grassroots education program development prepared him well for his first Barefoot College project in 1985 to start the night school initiative. He deeply believes that the key to any sustainable rural advancement is education in the traditional knowledge and skills. Teja Ram has developed and implemented many community based educational programs on water, education, and livelihood sources.

founding team ramkaran

Ramkaran started out as a teacher at adult education teacher but as children attended his classes rather than adults, he quickly became a night school teacher in 1976. He then joined the craft section as an accountant. The experience of working with artisans and unfair employment practices for women in craft making led him to start up the women's development program at Barefoot College. Ramkaran's focus on women's issues, such as wage equality and domestic violence, he has maintained rural women's empowerment through quarterly women's working group meetings with many villages. He has made many advancements on women's employment include equal wages to men and their place in society. As Ramkaran has spent lots of time in the field, he has also become close the water shortage issues and started the rainwater harvesting program for community schools.

founding team bhanwar jat

Bhanwar Jat came to Barefoot College in 1975 with traditional skills in farming and architecture. He also implemented water harvesting systems for farming. His passion is to train the next generation of rural villages in traditional technologies. Bhanwar is responsible for designing the new campus for Barefoot College designed in the desert sand. He continues to lead the preservation and maintenance of all facilities and water systems found at Barefoot College.

foundingteam meghraj

Megh Raj had a deep expertise in agricultural development and focused on accessing drinking water for rural villages, especially how to access during droughts. He started the agriculture program within Barefoot College to work with marginal farming. He led projects in water drilling to locate fresh water. As he visited villages for water drilling, he took pictures and slides which formed the foundation of the Audio Visual team at Barefoot College.

founding team Rambaba

Rambaba was the creator of the values the Barefoot College was founded in early 1970s. He was considered to be part of the lowest member of the Indian caste system - Dalat, or the Untouchables. Rambaba's grace and equal treatment of all people, whether men or women, influenced the five non-negotiable values of Barefoot College. After meeting Bunker Roy at the Christian missionary program, REWARD, he along with Megh Raj brought Bunker to Tilonia village to start working on access to drinking water in 1970.

founding team vasu

Vasu started helping out with marginal farming and poultry development to help villages overcome health care and food issues. Due to drinking water shortages, Vasu changed focus to supporting all areas at Barefoot College from writing project proposals to relationship management with external/internal stakeholders. Vasu is known throughout the campus as the Barefoot encyclopedia because of his deep history and love for Barefoot College.

foundingteam_bhurji2

Bhanwar Gopal was an avid photographer and was an art teacher before settling at Barefoot College in 1981. His initial involvement with theater puppetry and street plays allowed Barefoot College to communicate the importance of environmental, social, and community development topics. These performances allowed for the village people to become aware and empower themselves. The success of these programs expanded to include environment walks in villages overall in India which led to active drought management. All of these programs triggered Bhawar Gopal and other staff to setup the Barefoot Communications program. His passion for videos, photos, and stories later created the Audio Visual department which has become critical to engaging the global community.

foundingteam_bagwhatnandan

Bhagwat Nandan worked in day and night school starting in 1973 and then was the field centre coordinator for 5 years. His next project was to solar electrify the hospital on the new campus with the help of 4 solar engineers (2 women). The success of this project led Bhagwat Nandan to solar electrify the whole campus. He has managed the solar engineering program for both international and local women solar engineers which involves training and post installation support in local village.

foundingteam_laxmanwaterharvest

Laxman Singh used to come to rural villages for mining projects to utilize his mastery of geophysics and hydro-geology. One of his visits near Tilonia in 1985 inspired him to leave his academic world and dedicate his life to doing practical everyday work for the rural community. At Barefoot College, he started with with exploration of sweet water sites for hand pump and well installation. Laxman has experienced a very successful identification of fresh water sites at high elevations in the Himalayas to the plains of the Rajasthani desert. As Laxman implement water solutions, he observed that the villages also needed them to have light - not kerosene based, but Solar. His projects in solar electrification led him to work on special initiatives directly linked with the global community and started the Woman Barefoot Solar Engineer program in 2000. Laxman loves observing the impact access to water and energy has on the rural communities, especially Ethiopia.

Founding team

Barefoot College founding team creates an empowered and sustainable community through living its core non-negotiable values – every second.

The organization was established to solve grave problems like drinking water quality, female education, health and sanitation, rural unemployment, income generation, electricity and power, as well as social awareness and the conservation of ecological systems in rural India. Every founding staff member has contributed significant skills to create practical Barefoot solutions to address these problems, from implementing women’s development groups on wage equality to training on water harvesting.

The policy of the Barefoot College is to take girls and women from the poorest of villages and teach them to become professionals without requiring them to read or write. This policy is brought to life in the journey each founding member has experienced to make their own personal difference in the Barefoot evolution. Rambaba illustrates that even thought he is part of the lowest caste class (Dalat), he will be unstoppable in treating all men and women with respect and equality.

It is the only school with such a policy, as well as the only school in India that is entirely solar-powered. Keeping with the principles of the Barefoot College founders, solar panels were installed by a Hindu priest with only eight years of schooling, and many of the builders were themselves illiterate. The Barefoot College founders have turned the impossible into the possible.