From a founder's living room to a young women-led collective
FAT was registered in 2008, but the idea began earlier — with Gayatri Buragohain and a small circle of colleagues asking a question that felt both simple and radical: what would it look like for girls from the margins of Indian society to not just use technology, but to own it, question it, and use it to change their lives?
The beginning was genuinely humble. The first workshops were held at the founder's home. The idea of a Tech Centre — a dedicated physical space for girls — came from the girls who attended those workshops. They proposed it, and a group of volunteers fundraised to make it possible. The first centre opened in Delhi in 2010 with three computers. Donors began to take notice of what was emerging, and over the following years, FAT expanded: new cities, new states, new partnerships.
But growth without a clearly defined pipeline created problems that took years to fully understand. Many participants reached the early levels but did not progress further because the pathway forward was not yet clearly designed or communicated. Donors who had funded specific locations or programmes pulled out when their priorities shifted, leaving gaps that were difficult to absorb. And internally, the organization faced a leadership crisis in 2017–18 that came close to closing FAT entirely — a crisis rooted in unmanaged power dynamics, team fragmentation, and the absence of a governance structure to hold the organization together during conflict.
What saved FAT was the collective action of the young women associated with it. They stepped forward, took responsibility, and began rebuilding — not just the organization, but its direction. The period from 2019 to 2021 was one of hard internal work: a new organizational structure designed from the ground up, a new vision and mission developed collectively, new policies and systems, and a formal transition plan toward a young-women-led model. Over this period, FAT also undertook external evaluations to understand what we thrive on and what needs to change.
The five-year transition from founder-led organization to young-women-led collective structure, begun formally in April 2021, reached a defining milestone in March 2026. FAT is now led by a three-member Management Collective — Rubi, Jyoti and Rekha. Rubi and Jyoti serve as Interim Co-Directors for external purposes. This is not a small thing. Many organizations talk about community leadership. We have done it.
This journey has shaped not only who leads FAT, but how we understand leadership itself — as something that is collective, participatory and rooted in community. It is this philosophy that continues to guide our work today.
