AMURTEL was founded in 1975 by P.R. Sarkar to respond specifically to the problems faced by women and children in their struggle to meaningfully develop in all areas of life; it is an organization managed by women, for women. AMURTEL helps to build solutions with women around the world to gain greater self-sufficiency and economic independence. Methods that break the cycle of chronic poverty include strategies that raise the standard of health and education of women and their children.
We seek local solutions. AMURTEL understands that there are no ready-made solutions to problems of poverty. Every situation is unique and requires its own local solution. Because our field directors are already based in the areas they serve, they are better able to promote a solution that is suitable for each particular set of circumstances. This translates, for example, into small business cooperatives for poor urban women in the Philippines, neighborhood homes for abandoned children and infants in Mongolia, drinking water supply programs in Ghana and pre-and primary schools for underprivileged children in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Thailand, Nicaragua and Kenya.