“For the past few years, I’ve been working on the ground with families in crisis — helping children stuck in labour, supporting women facing abuse, and connecting vulnerable communities to basic rights and services. My name is Ventakesh Goud, and this is the path my life has taken.

I come from a small village in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district. My father was a toddy tapper, and my childhood moved between school, our fields, and the rhythm of village life. After 10th, I came to Hyderabad to prepare for EAMCET because I wanted to become a civil engineer. When I didn’t get the score I hoped for, I joined BSc.

Around that time, our family went through a financial crisis. I worked part-time to support myself, but in my first year of college, I lost my father. I had to pause my education and take up full-time work. After a few years, when things settled a bit, I returned, completed my BA, and then pursued a Master of Social Work.

During my internship, I worked closely with organisations that dealt with community issues and family conflicts. I witnessed children dropping out, women facing violence behind closed doors, and families collapsing without support. That experience changed my direction. I realised this is where I wanted to contribute. Later, I studied journalism as well — because sometimes the biggest problem isn’t the issue itself, but the silence around it.

Along with six friends from different fields, I co-founded the Integrated Rural Development Organisation (IRDO). All of us have full-time jobs, but we spend our time, skills, and resources working in communities across Ranga Reddy, Mahabubnagar, and Chennai. In Ranga Nayakula Colony near Hayathnagar, a community of nearly 10,000 people, we have focused on women’s support, healthcare access, skill development, and education.

Child labour has been one of the toughest challenges. We have rescued children as young as nine, many from migrant families, and helped enrol them in schools with support from the police and Labour Department — even when there was resistance from local groups and businessmen.

Another sensitive area has been supporting women pushed into sex work due to poverty or abandonment, many of them single mothers. Some rescue efforts were risky, but with police assistance, we helped them move to shelter homes where they received counselling, safety, and training to restart life.

Over time, we have supported 860 TB patients, helped 300 children return to school, provided nutrition to 650 students, facilitated scholarships for 60 students, and planted over 300 trees in different neighbourhoods.

Years ago, I wanted to become a civil engineer. Life didn’t go that way. Today, I may not be building roads and bridges — but I’m working to rebuild lives, step by step, alongside the people who need support the most.”

– Ventakesh Goud, Co-Founder of Integrated Rural Development Organisation