Courtney Jordan Foundation launches CJF India

New Delhi, 1 November 2026. The Courtney Jordan Foundation today announced the launch of CJF India, its newest regional foundation and its first in India, led by Dr. Rajesh Sharma, President, India Operations.

CJF India will focus on three commitments over the next five years: keeping children reading and girls in school through grade 12 with a bridge to first jobs; supporting women-led microenterprises and youth apprenticeships with patient capital and mentoring; and strengthening family nutrition and clean water so that learning and earning can continue.

India does not need rescuing. India needs accompaniment. A tutor who stays after school. A mentor who walks to the bank and the buyer with a mother. A health worker who returns after the camp. That is the work CJF India will do, lane by lane, village by village.

Dr. Rajesh Sharma, President, India Operations

The launch follows more than a decade of work across the Foundation family, including education hubs in Bangladesh serving 18,000 children and young people each year, support for more than 2,500 women entrepreneurs, a trauma-informed education model reaching 14,000 students in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, and clean water for 29 rural communities in Mozambique.

What CJF India will do in its first 100 days

• Listen in six states: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Odisha, with teachers, ASHA and anganwadi workers, panchayats, self help groups and youth.
• Open twelve community learning hubs with local NGO and school partners, enrolling 3,600 learners with priority to girls.
• Support 500 women’s microenterprises with seed support and 24 weeks of mentoring, plus 300 youth apprenticeships.
• Begin health screening for 5,000 families for anemia and child growth, with school nutrition in partner schools and repair of 40 water points.
• Publish a public listening report on 15 December 2026 and a First 100 Days results note on 9 February 2027.

Quotes

Courtney Jordan, Founder: “Every branch begins the same way, with one person whose life changes and who then lifts a family. India has millions of such people. Our job is to remove the one barrier in front of them.”

Dr. Noah Burch, Executive Director and COO: “We will grow at the speed of trust. Twelve hubs, measured honestly, before thirty. Data before expansion. That discipline is our promise to communities and to partners.”

How to join

CJF India is not accepting individual online donations at launch. It invites volunteers, school and NGO partners, CSR collaborators and gifts of goods. Write to info@cjfindia.org or volunteer@cjfindia.org.

About CJF India. CJF India is the India branch of the Courtney Jordan Foundation, a global advocate of poverty prevention since 2011 with offices in London and Dhaka. Motto: Help One, Save Many. Media: media@cjfindia.org.