Programmes of ARD:
1. People centred development through the formation of Self Help Groups (SHG):
ARD works in Community Development through the formation and consolidation of village level bodies and institutions. In order to ensure the development is sustainable, ARD forms Self Help Groups, self-dependent bodies capable of sustaining the development process.

SHGs have become the fulcrum of a democratic practice that serves as a platform for members to work together and to develop mutual trust and respect. This process ensures participatory decision-making capabilities where the women learn to effectively manage their own institutions.

These institutions serve as an effective vehicle for advocacy at the grass root level for the proper management of various village level institutions such as the Anganwadi centre (the health sub-centre).

2. Community Organisation with Rights based Approach:
ARD's approach towards development is through entitlement where people are the ultimate agents of change as well as the recipients of that change.

ARD believes in the strong force of the community and lays emphasis on community empowerment and participation. It recognises the right of the state as “service provider” and the role of the community as “service recipient”. ARD makes initial contact with the people organises the community and empowers them through various tools such as information dissemination, capacity building etc such that the people are able to assert their own rights and entitlements.

Emphasis is laid on the three basic rights for empowerment:
Right to Participation, Right to Development and Right to Livelihood.

3. Advocacy and Lobbying:
In a democratic country like India, advocacy is a crucial component of community development, where the learning at the grass root level is brought to make change in the laws of the country. It ensures three possible changes: to initiate new legal reform, or to bring about change in the existing rules and procedures, or to bring about transparency in the implementation of new rules and procedures.

ARD has been actively engaged in “grass root advocacy” to bring about structural changes in the village-level institutions and their functioning.

4. Creating self reliant communities:
Self reliance ensures that the people are economically, socially and politically empowered to take care of themselves and fight for their own rights and entitlements.

SHGs act as a vehicle of change whereby economic change is developed within the women, who then bring about social change by inculcating self esteem and self reliance within the group, which further helps them to participate in many political aspects such as effective decision-making in the gram sabha (village-level council) etc and hence help them to become politically empowered.

5. Documentation of best practices and sharing:
Documentation of the best practices forms a crucial part of ARDs work as it ensures the replicating of older successful approaches, understanding of what works and what does not and preserves the experiences that one has gained during the implementation process.

Sharing of the effective documentation also ensures a sound learning platform for other organisations and agencies. ARD also undertakes effective research and various need assessment studies at different levels. In today’s world knowledge is power and knowledge leveraged with effective skill provides a platform for successful implementation.

6. Partnership and Liasoning with similar and allied institutions (NGOs and Govt agencies):
ARD strives to adopt a partnership approach with various Government as well as non Government bodies. It recognises the fundamental approach of staying within the system and bringing change within the system. It adopts partnership with various institutions to bring about change in the approaches of various agencies, such that it reaches the needs of the most vulnerable and the marginalised groups.

ARD has partnered with Society for Participatory Research in Asia on the issue of political empowerment of women and leadership development. ARD has also partnered with Gaya Voluntary forum and with Women Development Corporation (WDC) for women's empowerment.