our history

Right from the beginning, CREA reframed sexuality and reproductive health and rights in an expansive, intersectional way. It empowered activism by bridging the theory-practice gap. Srilatha Batliwala, Senior Advisor, Knowledge Building

CREA was founded in 2000 by Geetanjali Misra and Pramada Menon, feminist activists and development professionals. They were convinced that the feminist landscape in India needed an organization to centrally address sexuality and reproductive health and rights, and young women’s leadership capacities. Over years of growth, CREA also came to focus on gender-based violence and disability justice, from a rights-based, intersectional, Global South vantage.

In 25 years of CREA programs, thought leadership and advocacy, key moments include:

• 2000: CREA registers as a nonprofit organization in New Delhi, where it remains headquartered.
• 2001: Establishes an office in New York City and registers in the US to work globally at the UN and other multilateral forums, helping it work at local, regional and international levels.
• 2000-2006: Launches its flagship Institutes on Sexuality, Gender and Rights (SGRI) and Feminist Leadership, Movement Building and Rights (FLMBaRI).
• 2002: Starts Ibtida, a network of grassroots organizations in some of India’s Hindi-speaking states (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand) to train communities on gender, sexuality, rights and feminist leadership. It also begins a series of Global Dialogues, aimed at transnational movement-building.
• 2006-7: Joins a coalition to advocate for sexual rights at the newly formed UN Human Rights Council (HRC). Is a leading part of Voices Against 377, a coalition aimed at ending the Indian law that criminalized same-sex relations.
• Translates and shares feminist knowledge resources, journals, papers and guides for Hindi-speaking organizations and activists. Starts its first Institute in Hindi.
• 2008: Starts a Feminist Leadership, Movement Building and Rights Institute in East Africa. Its regional work in Asia and Africa aims to strengthen movement leaders and foster alliances.
• 2009: Organizes a global dialogue between the women’s movement and the sex workers’ movement, marking the start of its decades-long sustained advocacy for sex workers’ rights.
• 2010: Launches the pioneering Disability, Sexuality and Rights Online Institute (DSROI), to bring an intersectional understanding of disability justice and feminism.
• 2011: After its 10th anniversary, CREA commissions a meta-review of its work undertaken over the past decade and publishes findings in Dancing on the Edge.
• 2011: Holds its first global conference, Count Me In!, that brought together sex workers, sexual and gender-diverse groups, and women with disabilities in South Asia. Starts the It’s My Body campaign to empower young girls to resist violence.
• Launches a program that spans Egypt, Kenya, Sudan and South Asia to train women in international human rights instruments.
• 2013-2015: Starts the Meri Panchayat, Meri Shakti program, working with elected women representatives (EWRs), to bring a feminist lens to decision-making at the grassroots level.
• Works at the UNHRC as part of the Sexual Rights Initiative, and multilateral venues. Organizes a global dialogue on decriminalization, choice and consent. Monitors the implementation of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act in India.
• Starts the Sports, Empowerment, Leadership and Freedom (SELF) Academy, a program that used sports to build autonomy for young girls, strengthening them to challenge gender norms.
• 2017-19: Launches the South Asia Young Women’s Leadership and Mentoring program.
• 2018-19: CREA’s global convening helps resolve tensions between disability rights activists and those working in sexual and reproductive health and rights. It builds a working bridge, the Nairobi Principles, to facilitate cross-movement action.
• 2020-21: Develops a strategic plan that centers structurally excluded people. Launches social justice primers, All About Power, All About Movements, and Feminist Allyship. Starts a Deep Dive series on feminist visions of digital infrastructure.
• 2022-24: Runs an Emerging Leaders program for young feminists to work in the organization.
• Starts its Gender and WASH program, bringing an intersectional, gender-transformative approach to urban sanitation in India. Creates art-based narratives to influence the discourse.