Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad (India)

What Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad (India) does

Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is an Ahmedabad-based non-profit founded in 1993 that uses law as a tool for social transformation. It serves vulnerable communities including Dalits, tribals, minorities, women, and queer people through a portfolio of programmes spanning legal aid, community legal education, paralegal training, POSH compliance, university curriculum design, and policy advocacy. Its core 'technology' is a proprietary pedagogical model called Heart-Head-Hand (rooted in Paulo Freire's Freirian thought) that combines perspective, skills, and information for training lawyers, paralegals, students, and civil society organisations, together with the Entitlement-Availability Framework that links grassroots field practice to policy research and design. The Institute of Paralegal Studies network, anchored by CSJ, spans 34 organisations across 5 Indian states and engages roughly 3,400 paralegals, while the Social Justice Lawyers Association reaches 15 districts with 80 lawyer members. CSJ also runs the Young Professionals Programme for Legal Empowerment (YPPLE) that has placed 40 young professionals in field roles over the past decade.

CSJ's go-to-market is community-led: it operates through grassroots law centres, trained volunteer paralegals, folk-media outreach (theatre, songs, films), and partnerships with civil society organisations, law universities (NALSAR, NUJS, GNLU, ILNU), and government bodies (NHRC, NITI Aayog, Department of Justice, Gujarat High Court, SLSA). Distribution to vulnerable beneficiaries is essentially free at the point of delivery, while a second revenue stream comes from fee-based POSH compliance services (ICC design, policy tailoring, training, and external ICC membership) sold to government workplaces and other institutional clients. Marketing is executed through a mix of owned digital channels (website, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube), a publicly accessible Resource Library, annual reports, and grassroots community events such as Samvidhan par Charcha. Reported 2024-25 impact metrics include 5,522 legal interventions, 336 legal investigations, 1,19,538 people reached, 1,237 people trained, and ₹6,93,80,414 in monetary impact worth from legal interventions.

Name

Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad (India)

Legal name

Centre for Social Justice

Website

https://centreforsocialjustice.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Centre for Social Justice is an Ahmedabad-based non-profit founded in 1993 that uses law to advance social transformation. It serves vulnerable communities including Dalits, tribals, women, and queer people through legal aid, paralegal training, and POSH compliance across India.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Aid and Access to Justice Services

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Legal Services (5411), Individual and Family Services (6241), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Defense & Legal Aid Services (BPAIAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Legal Aid & Client Advocacy Services (BPAGAEAM), Rule of Law & Justice Sector Reform (BPADAGAB), Reentry & Justice-Involved Support Services (BPAGAEAN), Protection, Child Protection & Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Response (BPAGAAAG)

Keywords

• Legal aid services
• Paralegal training
• Community legal education
• POSH compliance
• Access to justice

Headquarters

HQ city

Ahmedabad

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: CSJ is a non-profit organisation relying on donations and grants to fund its operations. The organization accepts donations through its website.
2. POSH Compliance Services: Fee-based consultations on POSH policy design, ICC strengthening, and training services for workplaces.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is a non-profit organisation that provides legal empowerment, legal aid, and paralegal training to vulnerable populations in India. It delivers direct legal services and representation to marginalised communities, conducts community legal education through folk media, runs the Young Professionals Programme for Legal Empowerment (YPPLE) and the Indian Institute of Paralegal Studies network, and offers fee-based POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) compliance consulting to workplaces and government bodies.

Product overview

Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is a non-profit organisation offering a holistic suite of legal empowerment programmes rather than a unified software product. Its core offerings include the Young Professionals Programme for Legal Empowerment (YPPLE) for training young lawyers, the Indian Institute of Paralegal Studies network for paralegal training, Nyaya Darshan university education programme, and POSH compliance services. Supporting programmes include Community Legal Education through folk media, Knowledge Creation and the Entitlement-Availability Framework for research, Legal Services for direct client representation, and Samvidhan par Charcha for promoting constitutional values. These programmes operate from a network of law centres with community leadership, united by CSJ's Heart-Head-Hand pedagogical model inspired by Paulo Freire's teaching philosophy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• YPPLE (Young Professionals Programme for Legal Empowerment): A program for young legal professionals to become change agents through grassroots engagement, mentorship, and field experience in access to justice work.

Products and services

• Young Professionals Programme for Legal Empowerment (YPPLE) A year-long immersive programme that trains young legal professionals to become change agents through grassroots engagement, mentorship, and field experience in access to justice work. Aimed at aspiring social justice lawyers.
• Indian Institute of Paralegal Studies A network of 34 organisations across 5 Indian states that trains and institutionalises paralegals to bridge the gap between lawyers and common people, eliminating the hierarchy between lawyers and paralegals in providing legal aid.
• Community Legal Education Direct grassroots engagement using folk theatre, songs, jingles, films, and stories to build legal awareness and capacity within vulnerable communities. Targeted at Dalits, tribals, minorities, women, and queer persons.
• POSH Compliance Services Fee-based services that help workplaces and government bodies comply with the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, including Internal Committee (ICC) design, inquiries, policy tailoring, training, and legal assistance to aggrieved parties.
• Legal Services Direct legal assistance and representation provided to vulnerable clients by teams of lawyers and paralegals, including in-court appearances, out-of-court settlements, and filing of claims with various government departments.
• Nyaya Darshan University Legal Education Programme University legal education programme that combines social realities with classroom teaching, offered to institutions such as NUJS Kolkata, NALSAR Hyderabad, GNLU Gandhinagar, and ILNU Ahmedabad. Aimed at law students.
• Knowledge Creation and Entitlement-Availability Framework Research and policy influence programme that derives insights from grassroots fieldwork to inform policy discourse, including the proprietary Entitlement-Availability Framework used by other organisations for fieldwork, training design, and policy decisions.
• Samvidhan par Charcha (Constitutional Values Programme) Series of community events facilitated by volunteers trained in constitutional principles and diversity, using games, songs, dances, skits, and entertainment to promote constitutional morality, peace, and harmony in communities.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5,522 legal interventions and 1,19,538 people reached in 2024-2025
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Jan-Swasthya Abhiyan (People's Health Movement)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020CSJ established Antrik Vishthapit Haq Rakshak Samiti as part of Jan-Swasthya Abhiyan, focusing on prisoner rights and health.
• NITI AayogcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Consultation with NITI Aayog on Goal-16 (SDG) targets and indicators. CSJ submitted recommendations on implementation and reformulation of indicators for Goal-16.
• NALSAR University of LawcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2016Academic collaboration providing legal education curriculum through Nyaya Darshan+ programme and exposure programmes for Ugandan judicial officers.
• NUJS Kolkata, GNLU Gandhinagar, ILNU AhmedabadcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2016University partnerships providing curated courses that combine social realities with classroom teaching, bringing CSJ's pedagogy to legal education institutions.
• Wada Na Todo AbhiyancoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014CSJ works as part of Wada Na Todo Abhiyan on Sustainable Development Goals, conducting regional consultations, budget analysis workshops, and civil society capacity building for SDG monitoring.
• National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012NHRC partnership includes Kayda Sahayak Program started in 2003 to train life-convicts as paralegals. CSJ acted as secretariat to Special Rapporteur appointed by NHRC for post-riot compliance surveys.
• Working Group on Human RightsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012CSJ started working as part of the Working Group on Human Rights in 2012.
• Department of Justice, Government of IndiacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010CSJ was invited to contribute in formulation of the Paralegal Volunteer Scheme and Retainer Lawyer Scheme, contributing to national legal services policy.
• Social Justice Lawyers AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010CSJ devised this solidarity forum for social justice lawyers to ground and strengthen the social justice movement, reaching 15 districts with 80 lawyer members.
• Kutch Mahila Vikas SangthancoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2009CSJ supported the organisation in setting up its legal programme called Hello Sakhi, a crisis response system linked with local police stations for women's safety.
• Mahila Adhikar SamitiminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2009CSJ became a member of Mahila Adhikar Samiti from 2009-2010, working on women's rights and legal advocacy.
• Indian Institute of Paralegal Studies / Institute of Paralegal StudiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2006CSJ anchored this network of 34 organisations across 5 states, engaging 3,400 paralegals, committed to improving paralegal training quality and legitimising the role of paralegals in India.
• BRAC University (Bangladesh)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2003Collaborative training of trainers for paralegals conducted jointly with BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Reports indicate similar Nepal training collaborations.
• Snehadhara FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2002CSJ and Snehadhara Foundation co-organise training programmes that blend Art Practices for Inclusion with diversity principles and Constitutional values, integrating arts-based practices for promoting constitutional values.
• Swati, Anandi, Narsarjan, Mahila Samakhya, Ajeevika BureaucoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2002CSJ helped these organisations run their legal programmes, providing capacity building and institutional support. Part of network building since 2002.
• Gujarat High Court and State Legal Service AuthoritycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1995Two model centres in Surendranagar and Baroda run in collaboration with Gujarat High Court and SLSA. Ongoing collaboration on monitoring Legal Service Authorities performance.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Jagori Rural Charitable Trust: Delhi-based women's rights NGO supporting gender-sensitive communities and legal aid for women facing violence. Direct parallel to CSJ's POSH practice, women's helpline work and Mahila Samakhya partnerships, with similar grassroots capacity-building orientation.
• CREA (Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action): Delhi-headquartered feminist human rights organisation doing intersectional legal advocacy and gender-focused training, with strong donor and policy networks. Comparable to CSJ's POSH, women's rights and queer rights programming operating at the intersection of law and gender.
• Lawyers Collective: Long-standing Indian legal NGO with separate women's rights and HIV/AIDS practices and an active pro-bono litigation practice. Comparable on legal-aid delivery, public-interest litigation and grant-funded service model even though its scale is much broader than CSJ.
• Alternative Law Forum (ALF): Bengaluru-based legal aid, research and teaching NGO that combines community legal education with activist research on social justice, mirroring CSJ's pedagogy-plus-law approach. Comparable in funding model (grants + fellowships) and South-Asian focus on constitutional values.
• Human Rights Law Network (HRLN): India's largest network of pro-bono lawyers providing legal aid to marginalised communities across 22 states. Directly comparable to CSJ's grassroots legal empowerment model, using a paralegal-plus-lawyer approach and litigating on civil liberties and Dalit/tribal/minority rights.
• Justice & Care: International anti-trafficking and modern-slavery NGO that combines legal aid with grassroots partner capacity building, including India programming. Comparable to CSJ on direct legal intervention for vulnerable populations plus paralegal-style training networks.
• National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS): Pune-based capacity-building NGO training civil society in rights-based advocacy, parallel to CSJ's Heart-Head-Hand and Entitlement-Availability training frameworks for paralegals and CSO partners. Comparable in pedagogical orientation, training delivery, and grant-funded India-wide footprint.

Broad incumbents

• Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI): Pan-Commonwealth advocacy and research body with an India programme on access to justice, prison reform and police accountability - areas where CSJ also works. Functions as a larger, research-led incumbent that CSJ engages alongside on reform submissions.

Others

• Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy: Delhi-based legal policy think tank engaging in judicial reform, state capacity building and rule-of-law research. Comparable through CSJ's policy-advisory work on Gram Nyayalaya, SDG-16 and NHRC submissions, though Vidhi focuses on legal-policy research rather than legal service delivery.
• Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (People's Health Movement - India): National network of civil-society organisations on health rights, with whom CSJ established the prisoner-rights Antrik Vishthapit Haq Rakshak Samiti. Compares as a movement-level network partner operating on right-to-health legal advocacy, parallel to CSJ's right-to-justice advocacy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CSJ_India
• Facebookfacebook.com/censocjust
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/centre-for-social-justice-ahmedabad
• Instagraminstagram.com/socjust_india

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad (India)