INDIA

NariNauka is the program that inspired the creation of WWoW. 

In March of 2024, three of the WWoW founders taught a guide school for local Indian women on the Ganga River in India, where a thriving whitewater industry existed, but there were zero women guiding. Realizing the barriers those women faced were larger and more numerous than we had imagined, we quickly realized that this was not simply a one-off guide school. This was a program that would need years of support and growth. 

NariNauka is now gearing up for it’s fourth year of programming. In the three years of programs thus far NariNauka has worked with 23 Indian women, training them in whitewater skills and further mentorship. Five of those women have now passed the India Guide Exam (only one woman had ever passed it before,) and are now working as raft guides and safety kayakers, which are well respected and well paying jobs. 

One of those women, Naina Adhakari, has started the Pravahini Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization that supports women from underserved communities and survivors of human trafficking, by connecting them with the healing power of nature through kayaking and river-based outdoor education.

Naina and another NariNauka alumni, Priyanka “Pinki” Rana, together are working towards taking over and growing NariNauka’s Ganga River program. 

Meanwhile, other NariNauka Almuni are working with WWoW to create women’s guide training programs on their home rivers, and are gearing up to run in 2027 and 2028.

NariNauka is spreading across India like ripples, these young women continue to keep growing and empowering each other.

India Programs

• NariNauka I - March 2024

• NariNauka II - March 2025

• NariNauka III - March 2026

• NariNauka IV - March 2027

• Arun Nadi Nari - Kameng River Program - December 2027

• NariNauka Kali River - 2028