Manthan Research & Development Society
Working with Himalayan communities to strengthen livelihoods, skills and local institutions.
About Manthan
Manthan Research & Development Society works alongside Himalayan communities to strengthen local livelihoods, build skills and support community-led development rooted in local knowledge and participation.
Through long-term projects and local partnerships, we help communities turn their priorities into practical solutions that can be sustained locally.
Our Work
Manthan works with communities through agriculture, agro-based livelihoods and community-led tourism — supporting practical opportunities rooted in local knowledge and participation.
Explore Our WorkSupporting opportunities connected to land, farming and local knowledge.
Manthan works with communities to understand local needs, recognise existing skills and explore practical agro-based opportunities that can strengthen village livelihoods.
Helping communities create local opportunities through responsible tourism.
Manthan supports tourism that keeps local people at the centre—connecting homestays, food, culture and village experiences with opportunities to earn closer to home.
Project in Focus
Community-led Tourism
Bangar Valley Collective is Manthan’s community-led tourism project working with 16 villages across Bangar Valley.
The project brings together local homestays, food, culture and village experiences to create more opportunities for people to earn closer to home.
Manthan supports the project through community engagement, coordination and locally rooted systems that keep communities at the centre.
Supporting local livelihoods. Creating stronger reasons to stay and return.
Our Approach
Manthan starts by understanding local needs, existing knowledge and what communities want to build for themselves.
We spend time understanding local needs, challenges and existing strengths.
Ideas are shaped with communities and relevant partners, not designed for them from outside.
We support practical opportunities and systems that can continue within the community.
Impact
Manthan’s work focuses on stronger local participation, practical livelihood opportunities and community-led systems that can grow over time.
Communities help shape priorities, ideas and decisions instead of being passive recipients.
Local knowledge and practical skills remain central to how ideas are developed and carried forward.
Agriculture and community-led tourism can create more opportunities for people to earn closer to their villages.
The focus is on processes and local participation that can continue beyond a single activity or project phase.
Community Story
Jakhwadi Village
Rooted in Jakhwadi, part of a shared future.
Abhinav Patel is from Jakhwadi Village, one of the communities connected to Manthan’s work in Bangar Valley.
His story represents something important about community-led development: lasting change begins by listening to the people who know a place through everyday life.
For Manthan, stories like Abhinav’s are not simply about individual outcomes. They are a reminder that local knowledge, participation and opportunity need to remain at the centre of how the valley develops.