The Mahila Samakhya program: Empowering education for women's equality in Indian disadvantaged communities and rural areas

In India the women’s movement and the government have done much to ameliorate women’s education and to build the gender gap. However, it is argued that India still has much gender inequalities embedded in society and, as a consequence, in education and that there is much work to be done in terms of implementation. An alternative form of education, the Mahila Samakhya Program, was launched in India in 1988 for the education and empowerment of women in rural areas and disadvantaged communities in order to achieve equality. The Mahila Sanghas or women’s collectives were created to provide a space for women and girls to meet, reflect, ask questions and express their thoughts. This article argues for the implementation of an empowering education, apart from the formal education, to help women and girls overcome inequalities especially in education. It aims to prove how this empowering education increases education for poor women in rural areas, especially for girls. It examines the quality and results of the existing Mahila Samakhya program analyzing the empowering process. The case study will be the Indian state of Bihar and two theories of empowerment will be applie

A Review on Dalith Women Empowerment in India

Empowerment is the expansion of asserts and capabilities of poor people to participate in negotiate with influence, control and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives. Education   is one of the important sources of empowering women with the knowledge, skill and self confidence   necessary to participate fully in development process. It enhances better socio-economic development. Women empowerment in India is highly dependent on several variables that include caste, class, family background and culture, Geographical location it may be urban or rural and age. The barriers of dalith women empowerment are discrimination in the society, economic disadvantages, religious practices, social believes and violence against women. They are unable to access health and educational services, lack decision making power and face higher level of violence. There is an immediate need for empowering dalith women in present scenario. Keywords: Dalith women empowerment, education, socio-economic development

In Search of a Holistic Approach: Vygotsky Situated in the Rural Indian ESL Contexts

This paper argues that it is high time that the teaching of ‘a language of opportunities’ got liberated from the rigid and restricted frame of institutionalized instruction with its fossilized curriculum, syllabus, materials, testing and evaluation and so on. Teaching-learning English must be made a democratic process, a social agenda, which leaves apace for societal intervention. It has been suggested here that those who had been marginalized so far as passive stakeholders, namely parents and public, too should be made active participants in the process of second language education, contributing to the process in their own way. The fifteen-year old search for such a holistic approach to ESL education has now reached a point at which a framework of some degree of definitude has been arrived at. This paper outlines (only) the theoretical framework currently being in use on a massive project in Kerala (south India) which aims at ‘empowering rural India through English language education’. The interim report of the progress of the project will be appearing as a sequel paper

Public Service Delivery: Role of Information and Communication Technology in Improving Governance and Development Impact

The focus of this paper is on improving governance through the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the delivery of services to the poor, i.e., improving efficiency, accountability, and transparency, and reducing bribery. A number of papers recognize the potential benefits but they also point out that it has not been easy to harness this potential. This paper presents an analysis of effective case studies from developing countries where the benefits have reached a large number of poor citizens. It also identifies the critical success factors for wide-scale deployment. The paper includes cases on the use of ICTs in the management of delivery of public services in health, education, and provision of subsidized food. Cases on electronic delivery of government services, such as providing certificates and licenses to rural populations, which in turn provide entitlements to the poor for subsidized food, fertilizer, and health services are also included. ICT-enabled provision of information to enhance rural income is also covered

The Business of Empowering Women

The goal of this business case is to inform private sector leaders about the potential impact of women's economic empowerment in developing countries and emerging markets, increase their understanding of some of the issues, challenges, and opportunities facing these women, and ultimately inspire them to action

A State of the Art of Self Help Groups in India

This paper considers the strategies of self help group for micro-enterprise development in rural areas. It seeks to answer the question of whether and under which conditions self help groups are an effective vehicle for organizing and representing local people in the development of community based micro-enterprises. Focusing particularly on examples from India in the context of food as a local resource, special attention is paid to success and failure factors of self help groups. While self help group strategies have been applied in the past as a blind replication of success models without considering the intricacies involved in group formation, success of self help groups is based on a thorough understanding of local conditions and possibilities to intervene

Development Through Empowerment: Delivering Effective Public Services - A Literature Review

This paper reviews the channels through which empowerment may improve the efficiency and quality of public service delivery, particularly in developing Asia. Departing from a macro perspective, we focus and revisit microeconomic evidence for three broad measures aimed at empowering the poor: empowerment through voice, empowerment through exit, and empowerment through information

Gender Aware Approaches in Agricultural Programmes: International Literature Review

This document presents gender aware approaches in agricultural programmes. In response to the persistent inequalities of women in farming despite decades of development assistance, Team Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security at Sida headquarters has initiated a thematic evaluation of how gender issues are tackled in Sida-supported agricultural programmes. The purpose is to increase understanding of how Sida's development assistance in agriculture should be designed, implemented and funded to ensure that female farmers are reached, that their needs as producers are met, and that they are able to benefit from the support to achieve a positive impact on their livelihoods. As part of this, the study also aims to understand the ways in which particular aid modalities impact upon the ability of programmes to reach women farmers effectively. The ILR aims to address the following questions: * Which methodologies and instruments have been used by donors to widen the scope of women's agency in agricultural development programmes? * To what extent has the work of programmes on involving female farmers impacted upon overall agricultural outcomes? * What are the most important lessons? What is working well and what is working not so well (effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability)? Below are recommendations to increase understanding of how Sida's development assistance in agriculture should be designed, implemented and funded to ensure that female farmers are reached, that their needs as producers are met, and that they are able to benefit from the support to achieve a positive impact on their livelihoods