Utthan is a Gujarat-based NGO which is involved in gender and women's empowerment, livelihood generation and the promotion of peace and communal harmony. The organization will be working in Amreli, Bhavnagar, Dahod and Panchmahal districts of Gujarat and covers approximately 250 villages. The project aims to strengthen and build capacities of the grassroots women's movements and hopes to address the following critical issues:

Gender Inequity and Discrimination
Although Gujarat is among the most developed states in India in terms of per capita income, its human development indicators remain low and regional imbalances persist. Son preference is the norm and the numbers of ‘missing girls’ are increasing in Gujarat. In a recent study, 89.8% women in the Saurashtra-Kutch region reported undergoing violence. Bhavnagar figures in the high crimes against women region at an all India level.

Communalism
The aftermath of 2002 communal riots has brought in a heightened sense of vulnerability for women. Discontinuation of education, early marriages of young Muslim girls and restrictions on their mobility in Gujarat has been the social response to the violence. There are glimpses of critical awareness emerging that the growing domestic violence against women within the community is linked with the violence, insecurity and vulnerability as minority community.

Casteism
Discriminatory and oppressive practices like untouchability and manual scavenging are still very prevalent in Gujarat as is in many other states. Dalit children make up the majority of those sold into bondage to pay off debts to upper-caste creditors.

Challenges to Democratization
The Gujarat State Government has been propagating the Samras scheme in Gram Panchayats for unanimous selection of Panchayats rather than the democratic elections.