About the Organisation: Based near the centre of India's vibrant and cosmopolitan capital,
Delhi, the organisation is involved in publishing and producing many of its own titles in children's fiction, adult fiction and academic works. It also runs several community schools for the benefit of poor children. Its student development programme includes hosting cultural festivals and it runs a wide range of programmes to help to increase literacy and promote Indian literature.
Who they are: Founded in 1988 and the winner of no less than six international awards for its work, this project has big ambitions to help India's disadvantaged - and it manages to fulfil them all!
What they do: Its mission is to enhance the joy of reading, believing that stories help create friendships of a rare kind and link people, faiths and creative impulses. While the focus is on books, publishing and reading, its philosophy has taken it into running a school on wheels for
Delhi's street children and setting up other schools in a tribal area in Arunachal Pradesh, which helps tribal people educate their children into caring for their environment in ecologically friendly ways.
In another community, its work has helped women from poor families to increase their earnings - and so their families incomes - many times, from Rs. 200 (£2.50) to Rs. 15,000 (£200) a month.
It also runs a prestigious literary prize and has linked storytellers, folk and contemporary artists and community activists all around the world.
What you can do: If you love words, books and kids, experiencing different cultures, want to make a difference and promote global understanding this is the place to be. Your volunteer skills will help this organisation keep down costs; you'll meet a great bunch of people and create links that could last a lifetime. Plus, if you hope eventually to work in publishing, you'll develop your own skills with words and your eye for detail so you'll be able to show on your CV that you've done something innovative to getting into a career in a field that's notoriously difficult to break into.