Project
Strengthening the Leadership of Women in Local Democracy – Gram Panchayats (Village Councils in India)
- India
- September 2011
The project aimed to strengthen the leadership of women elected into Gram Panchayats (Village Councils) in the state of Rajasthan. Project activities were undertaken pre- and post-elections. Pre-election the activities involved championing the women candidates. Post-election the project focused on helping women fulfill their roles and responsibilities as elected women representatives (EWRs). A pre-election campaign focused on the dissemination of simplified, complete and accurate information. The goal of this information was to counter various myths and misunderstandings that were used to discourage prospective women candidates.
Campaign materials were well researched and created with great care, taking into account local needs and conditions. Following the elections, residential leadership workshops instilled confidence, self-respect, dignity and solidarity among the women representatives.
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- Women's empowerment
- India
- September 2011
In order to assess the progress of the elected women beyond the project the grantee should strengthen its data collection. This will also help maintain their strategic focus. Remaining – and new – needs among the elected women should be assessed before embarking on new training activity supporting the women’s federations.
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- Women's empowerment
- India
- September 2011
The collection of baseline data from the elected women before they participated in the project’s capacity building activities progressed very slowly as implementing partners were unfamiliar with the methodology of the baseline survey. A second survey to determine the project’s outcome was not carried out before the end of the project.
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- Women's empowerment
- India
- September 2011
The training methods used by the grantee were appreciated by the participants. Trainees enjoyed gathering for several days in residential workshops, away from their home. They described with enthusiasm how the training generated environments that were free of discriminatory patterns and full of opportunities for learning, sharing and exchange.
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- Women's empowerment
- India
- September 2011
The project created federations among the women representatives. While this was not funded by the UNDEF project, these networks will contribute to the project’s sustainability. The women involved repeatedly mentioned to evaluators their expectations from the federations, saying that their work could benefit from exchange and cooperation among elected women representatives, in order to identify solutions to similar issues occurring across their village councils.
