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Good practice Imported

Sakhi One Stop Centres — India's National Scheme for Women Survivors of Violence

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Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 47% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

India's Sakhi One Stop Centre scheme, funded via the Nirbhaya Fund since 2015, has grown to 733+ centres nationwide, assisting 668,139 women survivors by 2022 — but independent reporting finds under-spent budgets and weak police referrals limiting its reach.

668,139
Women assisted, 2015-2022 (2015-2022)
750+
Operational centres (2024)
45 %
Share of released funds actually spent (2022)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India
Period
2015–present
Keywords
gender-based violence, one-stop services, legal aid, social protection

Context

India's One Stop Centre scheme, branded Sakhi, became operational 1 April 2015 under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, financed through the Nirbhaya Fund, bringing police facilitation, medical aid, legal aid, counselling and short-term shelter (up to 5 days) 'under one roof' for women and girls affected by violence.

Results

By 2024, more than 750 centres were operational, covering nearly all of India's ~730 districts. Between 2015 and 2022, Sakhi centres assisted 668,139 women. Independent reporting found only about Rs 328 crore of the Rs 735 crore released had been spent (under 45%) as of 2022, and only 13% of Indian women who experience spousal violence seek any help at all.

Conclusions

Sakhi is a genuine gap-filler for the coverage map — a nationwide, government-run, one-stop GBV response reaching hundreds of thousands of women a year — but the evidence base is honest about uneven implementation: minimal police awareness limiting referrals, and Domestic Incident Reports filed in only 6% of examined Chhattisgarh cases.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Women and Child Development, state-level One Stop Centre staff/case workers

Conditions for success

  • Faster fund utilisation against released allocations
  • Police awareness and referral training

Common failure modes

  • Under 45% of released funds spent as of 2022
  • Salary delays; no pay rise since 2017 at one state centre
  • Domestic Incident Reports filed in only 6% of examined cases

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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