If you've read our project page, you know the basics: twenty women, tailoring training, Kolkata. This post is about everything that happened before that page existed.

Finding AIM

The decision to work through local partners was easy. The decision of which partner was not.

What we needed was specific: an organization already doing vocational training for women, with real track record, legally compliant for receiving foreign funds, transparent about finances, and — this part is harder to screen for — willing to work with a tiny newly-started Norwegian nonprofit that had never done this before.

Our Volunteer Lisa found AIM Foundation in Kolkata. They run education and community development programs. They'd been doing this work for years before we entered the picture. But what made AIM the right fit wasn't their CV. It was how they treated us.

They were patient. We came to them with a lot of questions (many of them probably basic from their perspective) and they answered every one. They understood we were small and early-stage. They didn't rush us. They didn't oversell. They educated us about their context and let us move at our pace.

That matters more than most people realise. A lot of cross-border partnerships fail because one side treats the other as a transaction. We wanted a relationship with someone who would tell us when we were wrong, not just when we were useful. AIM gave us that.

The agreement nobody sees

Behind a partnership like this sits a document that took longer to finalise than anyone outside the process would guess.

We negotiated payment structures. We discussed reporting requirements; what AIM would document, how often, in what format. We went back and forth on receipt thresholds. At what amount does every individual purchase need a receipt? We landed on ₹10,000, which made sense because most purchases are bulk fabric and accessories that clear that threshold anyway.

Lisa drove most of this process. The emails, the follow-ups, the "can we clarify this section" messages. Partnership coordination sounds abstract until you realize it means making sure two organisations in different countries, operating under different legal frameworks, are aligned on every detail before a single rupee changes hands.

We structured the funding in four installments — 25% at months one, three, five, and seven. That gives us checkpoints. It gives AIM predictability. And it means neither side is overexposed.

There's also a clause that limits our financial obligation to funds we've actually raised. That might sound like a hedge, but it's honesty. We're a small organization funded by donations. I won't promise money we don't have. AIM understood that. The right partner always does.

What we're actually funding

This is important to get right, because our model is specific.

AIM runs the SuiDhaga tailoring training program. They have the expertise, the trainers, the facility at their Boral Unit in Kolkata. What they needed was funding for the materials; the fabric, the accessories, the tools that make the training possible.

That's where we fit. Dharma doesn't run programs. We fund what makes existing programs work. The distinction matters because it's honest about where our competence starts and stops. We're good at fundraising, compliance, and accountability. AIM is good at training women in tailoring. We each do our part.

Why tailoring, specifically

I get this question a lot, and the honest answer is: because it works.

Tailoring is a skill with real demand in local markets. It doesn't require massive startup capital. A woman who finishes this training can start earning from it, not in theory, not "after further capacity building," but practically. She has a skill. There's a market. The connection between training and income is direct.

That directness is something we care about at Dharma. Not because we're against long-term systemic work (we're not) but because when you're small and early-stage, you need to prove that your model produces real outcomes. "This woman can now earn money she couldn't earn before" is a measurable outcome. We can track it. We can show it to donors. We can learn from it.

What I'm nervous about

I want to be honest about this too, because I think most nonprofits aren't.

This is our first project. We designed it carefully, the partner selection, the agreement structure, the payment schedule, the reporting requirements. But we haven't run it yet. There are things we'll learn in the next five months that will change how we approach the second one.

Maybe our reporting checkpoints need adjusting. Maybe there are material needs we haven't anticipated. Maybe the installment timing doesn't match the actual rhythm of the program. We'll find out.

I'm not nervous about the training itself, AIM knows what they're doing. I'm nervous about our side. Are we set up to be the kind of funding partner that actually makes their job easier, not harder? Are our processes smooth enough? Are we communicating well enough?

We'll see. And when we learn, I'll write about that too. Not just the wins, but the adjustments, the mistakes, the things we'd do differently. That's part of the deal.

What this means for you

If you've read both of these posts, you now know more about how Dharma operates than a typical donor page would ever tell you. You know about the legal structures, the compliance work, the partnership negotiations, the payment schedules.

I did that on purpose. I don't want to sell you a feeling. I want to show you a system.

Because when you support Dharma, you're not just supporting twenty women learning to sew — although that's what it ultimately becomes. You're supporting the structure that makes sure your money gets there, gets tracked, and gets used for exactly what we said it would be used for.

That's not emotional. It's not a heart-wrenching story. It's something better: it's trustworthy.

If that resonates with you, our donation page is here. And if you want to follow what happens next — the training updates, the outcomes, the honest lessons — stick around. This is just the beginning.

Best
Ronny Wisløff Andersen
Founder

Dharma International is a Norwegian nonprofit supporting women entrepreneurs in developing countries. Learn more at dharma.ngo.