Empowerment is an active multi dimensional process which enables women to realize their full identity and powers in all spheres of life. Power is not to be translated; nor can it be given a way. Also power has to be acquired and once acquired it needs to be exercised, sustained and preserved. Women have to empower themselves. This means that they have to understand the causes of the existing inequality of women in all sectors, economic, social, political, legal and educational spheres and take the initiative to develop their status.
Women’s self-help groups (SHGs) have increasingly been used as a vehicle for social, political, and economic empowerment as well as a platform for service delivery. Although a growing body of literature shows evidence of positive impacts of SHGs on various measures of empowerment, our understanding of ways in which SHGs improve awareness and use of public services is limited. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper first examines how SHG membership is associated with political participation, awareness, and use of government entitlement schemes. It further examines the effect of SHG membership on various measures of social networks and mobility. Using data collected in 2015 across five Indian states and matching methods to correct for endogeneity of SHG membership, we find that SHG members are more politically engaged. We also find that SHG members are not only more likely to know of certain public entitlements than non-members, they are significantly more likely to avail of a greater number of public entitlement schemes. Additionally, SHG members have wider social networks and greater mobility as compared to non-members. Our results suggest that SHGs have the potential to increase their members’ ability to hold public entities accountable and demand what is rightfully theirs. An important insight, however, is that the SHGs themselves cannot be expected to increase knowledge of public entitlement schemes in absence of a deliberate effort to do so by an external agency.
Introduction SHGs and Development: The Scenario SHGs and Micro credit and Micro finance Global Analysis of Self-Help Groups Detailed Analysis of SHG in Tamilnadu Self-Help Group and its Members Role of SHGs in Social Transformation Summary of Major Analysis Promotion of Self-Help Groups Bibliography Index
This book focuses on advanced research and technologies in dairy processing, one of the most important branches of the food industry. It addresses various topics, ranging from the basics of dairy technology to the opportunities and challenges in the industry. Following an introduction to dairy processing, the book takes readers through various aspects of dairy engineering, such as dairy-based peptides, novel milk products and bio-fortification. It also describes the essential role of microorganisms in the industry and ways to detect them, as well as the use of prebiotics, and food safety. Lastly, the book examines the challenges faced, especially in terms of maintaining quality across the supply chain. Covering all significant areas of dairy science and processing, this interesting and informative book is a valuable resource for post-graduate students, research scholars and industry experts.
This book analyzes the impact of Covid-19 in different areas such as corporate social responsibility and legislation in SMEs, insolvency law, behavioral finance, government interventions in markets, financial disclosure, the emergence of unregulated financial sectors, the increase of coronavirus-related crimes, and the development of banking regulations in the Covid-19 pandemic, among others. The coronavirus epidemic, which has spread throughout the world, has highlighted the inadequacies of the health and social systems of all states, even the most advanced. The health emergency has required extraordinary measures, especially at the level of laws that are essential for the preservation of lives, health, and livelihoods. The priority for governments and even the international community was, from the outset, to prevent infections and care for those affected. Such a strategy required an unusual increase in health spending, even though it exceeded the State's financial capacity and lacked fiscal space. In addition to this challenge, which has not yet been overcome, there is another, that of redressing the consequences of the measures taken (general containment). It should be pointed out that during health crises, the state may have to review the requirement for transparency because of the emergency, but not free itself from it. The urgency could never be an alibi for a violation of citizens' rights and freedoms. With urgency, financial management systems must be flexible and responsive to all occurrences, while ensuring optimal use of resources and minimizing the risks of fraud and corruption.
This pioneering reader is a collection of fundamental writings on the influence of culture and ethnicity on human social behavior. An overview of current psychological knowledge about African Americans, Asian Americans, American Indians, and Hispanics/Latinos in the United States, Readings in Ethnic Psychology addresses basic concepts in the field--race, ethnic identity, acculturation and biculturalism. In addition, psychosocial conditions such as risk behaviors, adaptive health behaviors, psychological distress, and culturally appropriate interventions are also explored.
This comprehensive handbook provides community psychology approaches to addressing the key issues that impact individuals and their communities worldwide. Featuring international, interdisciplinary perspectives from leading experts, the handbook tackles critical contemporary challenges. These include climate change, immigration, educational access, healthcare, social media, wellness, community empowerment, discrimination, mental health, and many more. The chapters offer case study examples to present practical applications and to review relevant implications within diverse contexts. Throughout, the handbook considers how community psychology plays out around the world: What approaches are being used in different countries? How does political context influence the development and extension of community psychology? And what can nations learn from each other as they examine successful community psychology-based interventions? This is essential reading for researchers, students, practitioners, and policy makers involved with community well-being.
Many development programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve investments in human capital consider womens empowerment a key pathway by which to achieve impact and often target women as their main beneficiaries. Despite this, womens empowerment dimensions are often not rigorously measured and are at times merely assumed. This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of womens empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventionscash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programson womens empowerment, nutrition, or both. Qualitative evidence on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs generally points to positive impacts on womens empowerment, although quantitative research findings are more heterogenous. CCT programs produce mixed results on long-term nutritional status, and very limited evidence exists of their impacts on micronutrient status. The little evidence available on unconditional cash transters (UCT) indicates mixed impacts on womens empowerment and positive impacts on nutrition; however, recent reviews comparing CCT and UCT programs have found little difference in terms of their effects on stunting and they have found that conditionality is less important than other factors, such as access to healthcare and child age and sex. Evidence of cash transfer program impacts depending on the gender of the transfer recipient or on the conditionality is also mixed, although CCTs with non-health conditionalities seem to have negative impacts on nutritional status. The impacts of programs based on the gender of the transfer recipient show mixed results, but almost no experimental evidence exists of testing gender-differentiated impacts of a single program. Agricultural interventionsspecifically home gardening and dairy projectsshow mixed impacts on womens empowerment measures such as time, workload, and control over income; but they demonstrate very little impact on nutrition. Implementation modalities are shown to determine differential impacts in terms of empowerment and nutrition outcomes. With regard to the impact of microfinance on womens empowerment, evidence is also mixed, although more recent reviews do not find any impact on womens empowerment. The impact of microfinance on nutritional status is mixed, with no evidence of impact on micronutrient status. Across all three types of programs (cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs), very little evidence exists on pathways of impact, and evidence is often biased toward a particular region. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings and remaining evidence gaps and an outline of recommendations for research.
This work is based upon a research study whose purpose was to collect new information about the special benefits and drawbacks of formal organizations' efforts at social network building for older women. In it, a two-tiered investigation was carried out: a national review of a select group of model self-help support programmes for older women throughout the United States; and an in-depth community case study of a nationally recognized model program of self-help support groups, leadership training, networking and community outreach/education for older women. It provides the research-oriented reader with scientific evidence to assess the relative efficacy of self-help group programming.
