Projects
Associating Elected Women Representatives to Form a Federation
Objective
- To create an Elected Women Representatives' (EWRs) federation
- Facilitate collective assertion of women's political power
Results
- A state-level federation known as 'Sthree Suchana Sangama' has been established and registered in Karnataka under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act(1960) (Society Number – BIJ-S298-2006-07).
- EWR federations were formed in 13 districts of Karnataka. More than 1000 women members have been associated with the federation.
- A web-based information source has been launched for maintaining the continuity of the federation.
- This exercise enabled women politicians to unite across caste, class and political parties.
- It showed that women are more confident and assertive when organized in large numbers. They are now creating a joint body, the South India Federation.
- Partnered and co-ordinated with southern states of India viz., Kerala, Andhra Pradesh & Tamil Nadu, to form a fedaration of the EWRs in their states.
Building Budgets from Below
Objectives
- Linking economic governance to political governance, preparation of village/ward level plan, raising awareness among women especially the elected women on various poverty alleviation schemes
- Evolving a user-friendly tool or methodology that can be used by women and for the training on raising awareness on gender responsive budgeting
Results
- Several focus group discussions with the EWRs pointed out that even uneducated and illiterate women are highly capable of decision-making and budget planning, if given opportunities and sufficient training.
- The user-friendly tool or methodology evolved during this project enabled Mysore City Corporation to bring an appreciable change in their budget. Similarly, the gram panchayats have been able to prepare action plans & designed the budget accordingly.
- A documentary film on the success story of setting up a primary health unit in Kumbara Koppalu, Ward No. 35 of Mysore Mahanagara Palike by the efforts of the foundation was documented by UNIFEM on January 23-24, 2007
Village Development Plan
Objectives
- To understand the preparation of the budget, both the revenue as well as the expenditure side, and to create sufficient awareness of management of finance with special reference to fiscal discipline
- To build the capacity of elected persons to be able to comprehend the linkages from local to state and national levels for resource mobilization
Results
- The focus group discussions and trainings conducted so far enabled the EWRs to form and express their opinions.
- The participants felt that their involvement in the planning process was very significant.
Community Based Response to Violence against Women and Other Gender Issues
Objectives
- Build the capacities of all the members in the 50 Village Justice Committees
- Build linkages with both Government and Non-Governmental agencies working on the issue of violence against women in the local area
- Ensure sustainability and effective functioning of these committees
Results
- The project revealed that the main cause for Violence against women was due to consumption of arrack
- CBR groups' submitted two memoranda this time with the representatives of Mahila Samakhya Karnataka to the Honorable Chief Minister of Karnataka to ban arrack sales in Karnataka.
- This initiative bore fruit at the Government level wherein the Government has now decided to ban the sale of arrack with effect from July, 2007.
SSF is grateful for the support received from its donorsComplete project report