About Odanadi

Odanadi Seva Trust

Odanadi is a pioneering anti-trafficking organization based in Mysore, South India, working for the rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of trafficked women and children. For the past 20 years Odanadi has been committed to providing a safe haven for survivors of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, slavery, domestic abuse and destitution.

Rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration

Odanadi currently runs two residential rehabilitation and reintegration centres in Mysore, housing up to 85 women and young people at any one time. Every resident has a different story to tell: many have been rescued from the hands of brothel owners and sex traffickers, others from abusive homes, child marriages or domestic and commercial servitude. At Odanadi residents are provided with the skills they need to heal, empower, educate and eventually reintegrate themselves back into mainstream society.
Odanadi’s unique psycho-social therapy programme has become accepted as best practice both within India and internationally. The Union Human Resource Development Ministry has adopted the Odanadi model, and many other Indian state governments have sent rescued girls to Odanadi to facilitate their rehabilitation.

Odanadi’s method is carefully tailored according to each individual’s needs and can entail a wide range of activities, from psychological counseling to art therapy, drama, karate to yoga and acupuncture. Research shows that almost a quarter of trafficking victims are re-trafficked, which is why it is so important for residents to be well prepared for life outside the walls of Odanadi. Odanadi’s aim is to reunite trafficking victims with their families, and to give them the necessary tools to face mainstream society as strong, confident, empowered individuals.