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To facilitate integrated, sustainable social help programs in local communities and in the Indian subcontinent through processes of self-empowerment and enrichment.


In this process of giving and serving the giver grows spiritually and the receiver is blessed with the power of transformation.
  - Swami Tejomayananda
    World wide Head of Chinmaya Mission
CORD is a bond of Love and Understanding, encouraging a process of sharing which enriches both the giver and the receiver.

Chinmaya Mission is a spiritual, social and educational organization with a global presence. The service wing of the Mission operates under the acronym CORD -  Chinmaya Organization of Rural Development. In pursuance of the vision of its founder, Swami Chinmayananda, it has been actively serving citizens of rural areas of the Indian subcontinent for the past several years.

The Project aims to build organizational and operational capacity of village groups to run their own activities in an integrated, participatory and sustainable manner while augmenting their income and enabling natural resource management by the villagers.

The greatest legacy that the project has given to the simple women in the area is the unfoldment of their potential in many directions.

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BEGINNINGS    
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With a goal to work comprehensively for the betterment of society, Chinmaya Mission began to closely engage with rural communities in and around its Sidhbari Ashram in Himachal Pradesh, India. As a result of the laudable efforts of volunteers and the invaluable benefits to participating villagers and their families and communities, the Chinmaya Rural Primary Health Care and Training center (also known as "the Sidhbari Project") was established in 1985, with the blessings and guidance of Pujya Swami Chinmayananda.

There was no shortage of obstacles, however. Critical healthcare issues were inextricably intertwined with the harsh reality of rural India's poverty, illiteracy, and gender discrimination, all of which hinted at the formidable walls of social and economic disparities to be overcome.

The Sidhbari Project soon recharged and reshaped its approach to be more holistic and development oriented, focusing first on the empowerment of women. The Project took on, and succeeded in developing various training programs that tackled hard-hitting issues like healthcare and nutrition, micro-banking and income generation, rehabilitation of specially-abled (not "disabled") children, and natural resource management.

In 2007, the Sidhbari Project alone covered nearly 500 villages, benefitting over 45,000 participating villagers and over 250,000 indirect beneficiaries.