Group-based approach of rural development, experimented in India for almost fifteen years, is a matter of academic debate and policy concern. Especially, the penetration and effectiveness of Self-Help Group (SGH) among tribal communities has scarcely been unequivocally accepted and acknowledged. This asks for academic inquiry on tribal life and governance with a participatory grounding. The present book is outcome of an exploratory research work conducted among the women of Santal community of Jharkhand, the largest tribal group of India. The study employs mixed methods to explore the impact of SHGs of tribal women on their empowerment and traces out some relevant and associated constraints. The book is a valuable document on SGH movement vis-a-vis tribal empowerment in Indian sub-continent."
Women empowerment is an important issue in our development. There has been a lot of debates on definition and operational aspects of the empowerment, particularly women empowerment. The up-coming self help groups in India are well defined means to achieve empowerment in rural areas. We have made a sincere attempt to analyze SHG from major dimensions focusing on empowerment. We believe and hope the book will be of much useful to the students, field workers, researchers and all others dealing with women empowerment.
Women empowerment is an important issue in our development. There has been a lot of debates on definition and operational aspects of the empowerment, particularly women empowerment. The up-coming self help groups in India are well defined means to achieve empowerment in rural areas. We have made a sincere attempt to analyze SHG from major dimensions focusing on empowerment. We believe and hope the book will be of much useful to the students, field workers, researchers and all others dealing with women empowerment.
This Incidence Of Poverty By Social Groups Unfolds The Truth That There Is Higher Concentration Of Poverty Among The Tribal Population In Both The Rural As Well As Urban Areas Of Orissa. Their Weak Resource, Their Low Position In Socio-Economic And Political Hierarchy, Their Relative Lack Of Access To Facilities Provides By Developmental Measures; And Their Inadequate Participation In Institution Is Mainly Responsible For Their Backwardness. It Is, Indeed, A Matter Of Deep Concern That The Fruits Of Development Fail To Reach The Weaker Sections Of Our Society Despite Our Planned Efforts. The Present Publication Contain Some Papers Covering Topics Like Problems Of Tribal Women Education, Tribal Women Empowerment, Participation Of Tribal People In Regeneration Of Forests, Rehabilitation Due To Displacement, Child Labour And Economic Empowerment Of Women Through Self Help Groups. Based On Both Primary And Secondary Data, These Papers Focus On The Issues Of Tribal Development, Its Problems And Potentials. This Book Will Be Immensely Useful To The Researchers And To Anyone Concerned With Tribal Problems.
All over the world there is a realization that the best way to tackle poverty and enable the community to improve its quality of life is through social mobilization of poor, especially women into Self Help Groups. Ever since Independence a number of innovative schemes have been launched for the upliftment of women in our country. Indian Government has taken lot of initiatives to strengthen the institutional rural credit system and development programmes. Viewing it in the welfare programmes of Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) and shifting the concept of Development to Empowerment. The Indian Government adopted the approach of Self Help Groups (SHGs) to uplift the rural women. The empowerment of women through Self Help Groups (SHGs) would lead to benefits not only to the individual woman and women groups but also the families and community as a whole through collective action for development. The book will be highly useful to students of social studies especially Women Studies, Social Work, Sociology, Economics and also to the students and research scholars specialising in Human Development and NGO s and also other functionaries dealing with women.
Women have experienced significant changes in various spheres of their lives during the last decades as Bangladesh made economic progress. Yet women’s economic engagement and empowerment are subdued, as they cannot make sufficient choices for themselves. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic developments in gender equality in Bangladesh. Through examining women’s participation in the labour force, ownership and control of household assets, use and control of financial assets, and opportunities for entrepreneurship, the authors have made concrete recommendations to overcome challenges that lie ahead for women’s economic empowerment. This book is an important contribution to the knowledge on interventions required by the policy makers and broader stakeholders towards narrowing gender gaps. --Fahmida Khatun, PhD, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh The women’s story is central to Bangladesh’s economic and social transformation. There is an urgent need to deepen researched understanding of the multidimensional pathways of women’s economic empowerment and extent of real progress made. Voices to Choices is an important contribution to this story. Surely, the journey of women’s economic empowerment remains a long and challenging one. Realizing the full benefits of new opportunities is often hampered by both new and entrenched insecurities. The task is as much one of empowering women’s agency as of dismantling barriers. The responsibility is as much women’s as society’s. --Hossain Zillur Rahman, PhD, Executive Chairman, Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) This book provides critical insights and is timely, as it outlines how girls and women in Bangladesh have gained more opportunities in labor force participation, control over household and financial assets, as well as greater prospects for entrepreneurship. The findings will greatly contribute to future policy and planning for government and key stakeholders working to advance women’s economic empowerment in the country. --Sabina Faiz Rashid, PhD, Dean and Professor, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health BRAC University
In this paper, the authors describe the adaptation and validation of a project-level WEAI (or pro-WEAI) that agricultural development projects can use to identify key areas of women’s (and men’s) disempowerment, design appropriate strategies to address identified deficiencies, and monitor project outcomes related to women’s empowerment. The 12 pro-WEAI indicators are mapped to three domains: intrinsic agency (power within), instrumental agency (power to), and collective agency (power with). A gender parity index compares the empowerment scores of men and women in the same household. The authors describe the development of pro-WEAI, including: (1) pro-WEAI’s distinctiveness from other versions of the WEAI; (2) the process of piloting pro-WEAI in 13 agricultural development projects during the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, phase 2 (GAAP2); (3) analysis of quantitative data from the GAAP2 projects, including intrahousehold patterns of empowerment; and (4) a summary of the findings from the qualitative work exploring concepts of women’s empowerment in the project sites. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned from pro-WEAI and possibilities for further development of empowerment metrics.
