Education

From birth, Dalits are taught that they are sub-human and the upper-caste is taught that they should not associate or be near a Dalit. In fact, if even a Dalit shadow lands upon an upper caste member, many upper-caste members will go through a series of cleansing rituals. This attitude is carried on throughout their lives and it's extremely difficult to change.

The best way anyone can think of to really help the Dalit people is education. A large portion of Dalit children will never go to school. This is partly because the parents won't let them because they need their five-year-old to help bring in income, and partly because some of the upper-caste schools won't accept Dalits.
DFN and some other organizations work to fund and build DEC's (Dalit Education Centers), aka schools, that accept children of any caste, but are target specifically toward the Dalit children. DFN works in the Dalit slums to try to convince the parents to allow their children to go to school and uses an English-based education in all the school. Most of the upper-caste society speaks fluent English as it is the most dominant language in the business world of India, and it would be a lot easier to pass as a non-Dalit and try to get out of the mold of your caste by knowing English. See this link for further detail: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124642022941378351.html

Furthermore, the students are taught that no one should be allowed to discriminate based on caste and that all humans are born equal. By instilling this notion into kids' minds at a young age, we have the best shot at Dalits and non-Dalits growing up with an attitude of equality, and not one of hatred. Out of all the different ways to bring freedom to the Dalit people, in my opinion, this is the most effective.

I will be the 1st to admit that the DEC's that we build in India would be considered by most of us to be trash. The buildings are not very nice, the school supplies are very limited, and outside of the classroom is just dirt. However, compared to the living situations these kids are in every day, these schools are absolute heaven. Several of the children would show me their desk and their teacher. We would then walk a few blocks to their "house" in the slums, and I would see what they have to go home to-- utter poverty. So even though these schools are not anything close to schools in the US, the impact that they have on the lives of so many Dalit children is unfathomable.