RAPID's History

The idea of RAPID was first conceived by Mr. Vijay Kulkarni when he was working at BASIX, a microfinance and livelihood creation institute throughout India. During his time at BASIX, Mr. Kulkarni witnessed the success of such programs, but wanted to extend services to specifically cover people who face sudden, unexpected challenges in life. His vision was to work with families who had suddenly lost the ' bread earner ' of the family.

Mr. Kulkarni moved to Dharwad to start his new venture. During the initial research phase, it became apparent that there were a large number of struggling single women. The majority of these women were either widows or had been deserted by their husbands (alternately, in several cases the woman had left her husband). These women were struggling as a result of a sudden tragedy and left with little to no outside help.

In March 2001, RAPID was born to respond to this need.

Over the next several years RAPID grew to work with more and more women in Dharwad and surrounding villages. Within a few years time RAPID had grown from a one-man show to a staff of eight and operations in over ten villages and two cities.