Across India, caste based discrimination and patriarchy are well entrenched. In this backdrop despite government norms for compulsory inclusion of women in gram sabhas and reservations by them in a bid to ensure the same, it is still difficult for women to actively participate in gram sabha meetings and other public gatherings with men. Men still tend to strongly resist women’s political leadership wherever women are sarpanches or in a leadership role in one capacity or the other. The project exploits opportunities created by government policies like joint ownership of houses and 50% reservation for women in local governing councils to make women’s participation effective and meaningful through well-informed and empowered groups of women participating in the elected positions as well as through their interventions in the general gram sabha meetings. The project also focuses on domestic violence and provides counselling and legal aid to survivors of violence in the project areas.
Project Focus:
i.) Strengthen women’s participation on governance across the 18 villages.
ii.) Enable men to take responsibility for reducing gender based violence and supporting women’s political participation publically in at least 8 villages.
Project Beneficiaries: 4000 women
Project Area: 18 Drought prone and poor villages of Purandar Block of Pune district in Maharashtra
Project Budget : INR 3,696, 400
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