Partners

Working primarily with migrant communities facing multiple forms of marginalisation, including housing insecurity, discrimination, vulnerability to police violence, and limited access to services, the organisation creates spaces where community members can gather, reflect, express themselves, and build collective agency. Their programmes span theatre, storytelling, music, visual arts, library activities, and community events, engaging participants across age groups while centring leisure, play, creativity, and dialogue.

An important feature of Aagaaz's work is its investment in community leadership. Many of their facilitators come from the same communities with which the organisation works and have themselves participated in Aagaaz programmes as children and adolescents. The organisation places significant emphasis on long-term mentorship, leadership development, trauma-informed practice, and capacity building, enabling facilitators to grow into educators, organisers, and community leaders. This approach recognises both the strengths and lived experiences of community members and seeks to build sustainable local leadership from within.

Project with MHI: Haal-Khayal-Sawaal

With support from MHI, Aagaaz implements Haal-Khayal-Sawaal, a community mental health initiative that integrates arts-based engagement, community care, leadership development, and trauma-informed practice. The programme creates safe and supportive spaces for children, adolescents, youth, and women through regular sessions focusing on emotional expression, self-awareness, relationships, gender, consent, constitutional values, and social justice, while promoting belonging, resilience, and well-being.

A core component of the project is the development of community facilitators, who receive ongoing training in trauma-informed approaches, group facilitation, mental health, arts-based methodologies, storytelling, and community engagement. Aagaaz is looking at strengthening community connections, fostering dialogue around everyday struggles, and responding to crises through partnerships with organisations working on legal aid, gender-based violence, education, child protection, and housing rights. By combining these, the project aims to contribute to individual well-being while addressing the broader structural realities that shape mental health in the community.

Click here to find out more about Aagaaz Theatre Trust.