A Companion Page · Governance & People

The People Behind The Work.

A young people's movement deserves to know who is holding the room. This page sets out the Directors, the Patrons, the implementing partners, and the independent oversight that together carry institutional responsibility for every Sikhiyas programme.

I. The Directors

Sikhiyas is led by two co-Directors, who hold joint authority over programme design, admissions, and operations. The Director model is deliberately two-handed — every consequential decision passes through two voices before it lands.

Both Directors are accountable to the Patrons (below) on matters of strategy, and to the Independent Ombudsperson on matters of safeguarding and grievance. Directors do not sit on the Ombudsperson's terms of reference, and cannot remove the Ombudsperson from office without unanimous Patron consent.

II. The Patrons

Sikhiyas does not operate a closed Trustee board in the conventional sense. Strategic stewardship is held instead by a Council of Patrons, drawn from the senior leadership of our partner organisations. Patrons meet twice a year — once in person on the Kangra campus, once by video call — and act collectively on matters of strategic direction, financial probity, and institutional reputation.

Patron seats are held ex officio by named senior figures from each of the following partner institutions:

The current named individuals occupying each Patron seat are listed in the annual Sikhiyas Patrons Letter, sent each year to all current cohort families and any registered enquirer who requests it. The letter is also published on the Sikhiyas website at the start of each new admissions cycle.

III. The Independent Ombudsperson

This is the most important office on this page.

The Independent Ombudsperson is a senior, named individual — drawn from outside the Directors' line, outside the Patron Council, and outside any partner organisation in which the Directors hold an operational role. The Ombudsperson is retained on a written terms-of-reference, reviewed every three years, and may be removed only by unanimous Patron consent.

To the Ombudsperson, any participant, Saath, parent, partner, staff member, or external party may address — in writing or by recorded call — any grievance arising from the conduct of a Sikhiyas programme or any of its representatives. The Ombudsperson has standing authority to:

• investigate any complaint independently of the Directors;
• require disclosure of any document, contract, or correspondence held by Sikhiyas;
• interview any staff member or contractor without notice;
• publish findings, with or without redaction, to the complainant and to the Patron Council;
• require remedial action whose implementation the Directors are bound to accept, and to publish the outcome.

IV. The Safeguarding Lead

Distinct from the Ombudsperson — who handles all grievance matters — the Safeguarding Lead is a trained, named child-protection officer present on every Under-18 cohort. Their role and authority are set out in detail on the Under-18 Cohort & Safeguarding page.

V. The Implementing Partners

Sikhiyas is a programme architecture, not a self-standing field operator. Every placement, every dormitory, every kitchen, every disaster-response engagement, and every certificate is delivered through one of four implementing partner institutions:

• EduCARE IndiaThree decades of community-based work in disaster risk management, public health, and ecological restoration. Field operations spine.
• RISHEERegional Institute for Safety, Health, Environment and Empowerment. The training and curriculum spine, including the EWBL practitioner cohort with which Sikhiyas members co-train.
• CIEELThe Centre through which international cohort administration, certification, and the Diaspora Scholarship are delivered.
• GlobalPEACE InternationalThe pluralistic-universal network within which Sikhiyas offers its conceptual treasury into the wider conversation, and from which it draws shared solidarity programmes.

Each partner is described in greater depth on the Implementing Partners page.

VI. Legal & Institutional Status

Sikhiyas operates as a fee-funded programme — not a donations-soliciting body. We do not hold or accept charitable contributions, and accordingly we do not require, nor have we sought, foreign-contribution registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). All scholarship, fee, and stipend flows are managed through the books of the implementing institution responsible for the relevant cohort, under standard commercial-services taxation in India.

The formal registration name under which Sikhiyas operates in legal and institutional documents is:

Audited annual statements, the most recent Patrons Letter, and the current Ombudsperson terms of reference are issued, in writing and on request, to any prospective applicant, partner, or registered enquirer.

VII. The Working Test

Every member of the Directorship, every Patron, every member of partner staff, and every contracted programme worker is held to a single working test, written down and signed at the start of each cohort:

Any conduct, by any person carrying a Sikhiyas badge, that does not pass this test is grounds for immediate removal — without process beyond the Ombudsperson's written finding. We have not had to apply this provision. We commit, in writing, to apply it without hesitation should the day come.