Women and Deprived Empowerment

Project Title

Socio-economic, Cultural Empowerment of Women and Deprived Communities in Rural Areas of Saharanpur District of Uttar Pradesh

Objectives

  • Reduction in incidences of violence and harassment against women and adolescent girls
  • Socio-economic empowerment of women including their participation in decision making and financial management at household level.
  • Improving access to education for adolescent girls from Muslim minorities and from other socially marginalised groups.
  • Increasing incomes of farmers – especially of women farmers – and strengthening of Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO)
  • Strengthening people’s organisations (CBOs) and enabling them to address critical socio-economic and developmental issues and promoting communal harmony
  • Improvement in health of women and adolescent girls, especially those in the reproductive age-group

Activities

  • Women Cell engaging with victims of domestic violence and helping them in resolving their disputes and in preventing violence against them
  • Organising 36 Nari Adalats (women’s courts)
  • Workshops with stakeholders like police, media, health personnel, school management committees, education department officials, teachers
  • Competitions among students (boys and girls)
  • Celebration of International Women’s Day
  • Meetings of young women and adolescent girls’ groups
  • Periodic testing of haemoglobin and calcium levels of adolescent girls and young women and iron and calcium supplements provided to the needy
  • Capacity building of women farmers on farm-based livelihoods – dairy, nursery development, vermi-composting, mushroom, beekeeping, vegetable cultivation etc.
  • Establishment of fully functional FPO office
  • Setting up of 15 girls’ education centres for providing informal education to 450 girls in three years from class 1 to 5
  • Organising Eid Milan, Roza Iftari, Holi Milan, etc., and other events on social harmony
  • 30 street plays on to raise awareness on violence against women, gender equality, dowry, adolescent girls’ education, health and other women’s issues staged

Expected Outcomes

  • Around 150 cases of domestic violence are resolved each year
  • Issues and problems of women, particularly cases of violence against women are resolved through Nari Adalats
  • Gender sensitisation of different stakeholders takes place
  • Over 3,000 students are sensitised on the issue of different kinds of violence against women and gender discrimination
  • More than 6000 women participate and pledge to oppose any kind of violence against them and speak out against any atrocity against women.
  • Health and hygiene issues of 300 young women and girls discussed and addressed
  • Haemoglobin and calcium levels of 300 young women and girls regularly monitored and improved
  • Women take up supplementary farm-based livelihoods – dairy, nursery development, vermi-composting, mushroom, beekeeping, vegetable cultivation
  • A fully equipped and fully functional office of FPO established; it has sufficient working capital to purchase produce from farmers and also to meet its operational expenses; and it sells critical inputs such as improved seeds, pesticides, agricultural equipment, etc., to farmers for enhancing their production
  • Adolescent girls from Muslim and other social marginalised families are able to get quality primary education
  • Social harmony and brotherhood promoted amongst various religious groups in project area
  • At least 1500 men, women and children directly sensitised on various developmental issues, while a significantly larger number also indirectly sensitised.

Target Groups

Women, minorities, socially and economically marginalised communities, victims of domestic and/or sexual violence, deprived and disadvantaged groups and women who are denied access to basic resources

Coverage

100 villages in Sadholi Qadim, Sarsawa, and Muzaffarabad blocks of Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India

Funder

Misereor