Seva Niketan was founded in 2003 by Dashrathi Behera and works with women from Adivasi communities in the aspirational district of Kalahandi in Odisha to address critical challenges faced by forest dwelling communities with respect to gender, livelihoods and education. The organization works with the community to build financial resilience through SHG formation, micro-credits and facilitating livelihood opportunities from non-timber forest produce. They also provide capacity building support to local institutions, government departments as well as forest conservation groups on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act. They particularly focus on engaging and training women on community forest management and conservation whilst leveraging their existing traditional knowledge on protection of forests.