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WHO WE ARE
We are a group of community leaders, social impact practitioners, and researchers working since 2021 to expand opportunities and nurture spaces of belonging and love for children and youth growing up amid poverty, marginalisation, and violence.
OUR JOURNEY
It started with a conversation
Surud began organically in 2021 in a few tribal villages of Ranchi district, Jharkhand.
At that time, one of us was working closely with communities in the region and was witnessing how the COVID-19 pandemic had intensified the vulnerabilities that children and young people were already experiencing. Across the development sector, there were conversations around school dropout, child marriage, trafficking, and violence. But beyond these conversations and the terminology around them, there was a more immediate question: what could be done?
Drawing upon the relationships built over the years, conversations the began with people from the community. The conversation was not about a programme or an intervention. It was simply about whether there was something that could be done for the children.
The response was that there could be.
Football became a space
Football emerged as one possibility. Not only as a sport, but as a way to create a space at the village and panchayat levels where children and young people could come together, remain connected, support one another, and navigate their challenges and dreams together.
This is how Surud Football Club (SFC) began. It brought together children and young people from these villages. Over time, senior players were encouraged to take greater responsibility and become leaders for the younger ones. As the idea of the club evolved beyond being only local football teams, we started exploring how young players could understand and access possible professional career in football.
In November 2021, Surud Football Club was registered under the Centralised Registration System (CRS) of the All India Football Federation.
Growing beyond the game
However, with time, we also understood that football training and linkages alone could not address the many realities that children and young people were navigating.
Since then, Surud has continued to grow, not simply by reaching more children and young people, but by continuously learning from them and rethinking what our approach should be.
Today, Surud is a space where we walk alongside children and youth as they build aspirations, understand their rights, develop socio-emotional intelligence, explore questions of gender and equality, and take up leadership within their own communities.
Surud has always believed that children and young people cannot be separated from the spaces and relationships around them. As we deepen our work, we are also engaging with parents, panchayats, and other football clubs, creating conversations and connections that allow children and youth to find greater support as they navigate their journeys.
♥ The Surud Heart
- Knows that communities are not people we come to help; they are people we walk with and learn from.
- Recognises that we may come from different worlds, and that this can create unequal relationships if we do not question ourselves.
- Listen before acting.
- Learns and unlearns
- Shows up with love, not just when things are easy, but over time.
Surud’s journey has never been only about the children and youth we work with. It has also been an inward journey for the Surud Hearts, growing alongside the communities we are part of, learning from their experiences, questioning ourselves, and continuously evolving along the way.
WHAT WE DO TODAY
Today, our work happens through spaces created with children, youth, families, communities, and local institutions.
Some of these spaces began with football, some through conversations and learning, and some by reimagining traditional community spaces for today's generation. Together, they are part of our efforts to create spaces where children and young people can feel a sense of belonging and love, build aspirations, and grow with the support of those around them.
SURUD FOOTBALL CLUB
Surud Football Club (SFC) is our flagship space, which began in 2021 with the aim of bringing children and young people together through football. The club provides year-round football training through local coaches along with specialised training camps led by certified coaches.
Beyond developing football skills, SFC creates pathways for children and youth to explore opportunities in the sport. Through its registration under the Centralised Registration System (CRS) of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), players get opportunities to participate in trials and access professional football pathways.
CIRCLES OF BELONGING
A child’s journey is shaped not only by the spaces they directly participate in, but also by the relationships around them.
Through Circles of Belonging, Surud walks alongside families, communities, panchayats, and local youth spaces to create conversations around care, dignity, equality, and safety, while strengthening the support systems around children and young people. The aim is to build homes and communities where children can grow without fear of violence and are able to recognise and pursue the possibilities available to them.
DHUMKURIA RUMPA
Dhumkuria Rumpa is an emerging space for the intellectual and social growth of tribal adolescents and youth.
Inspired by the traditional youth dormitory, it seeks to revive the spirit of collective learning where young people learn from community knowledge, their cultural roots, and contemporary ideas.
We envision this space as a bridge between ancestral wisdom and modern critical inquiry; a space where young people can reflect on identity, relationships, nature, gender, and their role in shaping their communities.
We invite individuals who would like to be a part of this vision to become curators of Dhumkuria Rumpa
We are currently inviting interested individuas to become curators of our upcoming program Dhumkuria Rumpa
Get in Touch
Email Us
campaignsurud@gmail.com
Our Location
Tonko, Chandaghasi Panchayat, Hatia, Ranchi Jharkhand, India