Biodiversity
Gibbon & habitat
Community-led protection of the Western Hoolock Gibbon at New Ngaulong Community Conservation Area, under Dawkling Forest.
Read more →Jalukie, Peren District · Nagaland · Since 2013
Communities empowered. Nature conserved. Futures transformed.
We work with hill communities across Nagaland, Assam and Manipur — protecting the Western Hoolock Gibbon's forest, and building livelihoods that let families thrive alongside it.
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Registered and audited — every rupee accounted for
80GAAGAD6508F23KLO2
12ABAAGAD6508F23KLO1
CSR-1CSR00048982
DARPANNL/2022/0314887
PANAAGAD6508F
TANSHLTO3296G
0Years in the hills
since 2013
since 2013
0States
Nagaland, Assam, Manipur
Nagaland, Assam, Manipur
0Programmes
running or delivered
running or delivered
0Government registrations
and certifications
and certifications
0Corporate MoUs
GroundUp Asia, Gajam India
GroundUp Asia, Gajam India
What we do
Eight programmes, one idea
Forests survive when the people living beside them are not forced to choose between the forest and dinner. Everything we run comes back to that.
Leadership
Grassroot leadership
Workshops that put village councils, women and indigenous youth in charge of local governance and conservation decisions.
Read more →Livelihoods
Livestock & beekeeping
Piggery, poultry, goat rearing and bee boxes — income that depends on the forest staying where it is.
Read more →Women's enterprise
Tailoring centre
A six-month course for women who left school early. Graduates leave with a skill, a machine and, for many, a business.
Read more →Craft
Cane & bamboo
One of the oldest skills in these hills, taught and produced as a paying craft rather than a museum piece.
Read more →Food security
Faith Garden
Food always in the home. Kitchen gardens, seedlings and wood-vinegar making as a natural crop treatment.
Read more →Infrastructure
Public sanitation
A public toilet built by DONetS in Peren District. Small infrastructure, disproportionate effect — and it made the state news.
Read more →Energy
Clean energy access
With Gajam India: expanding clean energy technologies and the livelihoods that come with reliable power.
Read more →Flagship project
The gibbon never touches the ground
India's only ape moves through the canopy and nowhere else. Break the canopy and a family is stranded — which is why habitat protection here is not about fencing forest off, but about keeping it connected.
In partnership with GroundUp Asia Pvt. Ltd., we run habitat and biodiversity monitoring, forest protection patrols, environmental education for youth, and capacity building for village conservation committees. The village councils hold the decisions; we hold the training and the record-keeping.
How the project worksOn film
Watch the work
Footage from the field, plus state television coverage of the sanitation build.
The archive
Four years of field photography
Cane craft, kitchen gardens, training halls, bee boxes, sewing machines and a building site — the whole record, unedited.
Where we work
Three districts, three states, one hill belt
The border here is administrative. The forest, the ridgeline and the communities are continuous — so our programmes are too.
- Peren District
- Nagaland — our home district. Base at Jalukie Town, and site of the gibbon conservation area, the tailoring centre, the sanitation build and the clean-energy project.
- Dima Hasao District
- Assam — livelihood and capacity-building work with hill communities across the state border.
- Tamenglong District
- Manipur — community mobilisation, plantation and leadership programmes.
How we got here
Thirteen years
2013
Founded in Jalukie
Started by a group who could see two problems at once: natural resources disappearing, and families with no economic reason to protect them.
2018
Registered
Registered under the Societies Act of 1860 of Nagaland State on 19 September, opening the door to formal grants and structured growth.
2022
Cane craft and kitchen gardens
The Faith Garden programme and cane work get going in earnest across Peren District, alongside DARPAN registration with NITI Aayog.
2023
80G, 12AB and CSR-1
Tax exemption for donors and eligibility for corporate CSR funding. The tailoring centre opens; Assam Rifles hands over sewing machines.
2024
Sanitation and state coverage
A public toilet built by DONetS in Peren District draws NLTV news coverage. Beekeeping expands with beneficiary households.
2025–26
Two MoUs signed
GroundUp Asia for gibbon habitat protection and indigenous youth leadership. Gajam India for clean energy access in Peren District.
Partnerships
Who we build with
MoU · Conservation
GroundUp Asia Pvt. Ltd.
Technical and financial support for the Protection of Western Hoolock Gibbon & Its Habitat project, and for the Grassroot Leadership Programme for indigenous youth.
MoU · Clean energy
Gajam India Private Limited
Economic Empowerment through Clean Energy Access — expanding clean energy technologies and sustainable livelihoods across Peren District.
Alongside these we work with village councils, churches, women's organisations, youth groups, grassroots NGOs and Community Conserved Areas — the institutions that were already doing this work before we arrived. Assam Rifles has supported the tailoring centre with equipment.
Together, let us continue empowering communities, conserving nature, and building sustainable futures for generations to come.
A sewing machine costs less than a phone.
It has started more than one business in Jalukie. Donations to DONetS are eligible for tax exemption under Section 80G.