Diet and nutrition are pivotal in promoting and sustaining good health across the life cycle. Many factors, including income, individual preferences, cultural traditions, and environmental influences, collectively shape dietary habits and impact women’s health. A well-balanced diet, incorporating diverse food groups in adequate quantities, is crucial for individual well-being and immune system enhancement.

A dietary survey called

Health And Well-Being Of Rural Women

by A. Khetarpal and G. Kochar
was carried out with the help of a questionnaire.

Aim

This study delves into the health and well-being of rural women, focusing mainly on their dietary practices.

Methodology

The study includes 75 women, ages between 25–45 years, residing in rural areas of Yamunanagar district, Haryana. The participants were selected based on their moderate work profiles and their daily nutrient intake.

Findings

Key findings reveal a monotonous family diet marked by limited variety and diversity. Consumption across all food groups falls below the recommended allowances, highlighting potential nutritional deficiencies.

The women must improve their intake of essential components such as vegetables, fruits, and milk products. In contrast, oil, sugar, and jaggery consumption approaches adequate levels. This observation aligns with the findings of Johansson and Anderson (1998), who emphasized suboptimal intake of fruits and vegetables in their research. Interestingly, the study observes a gender-based difference, with men exhibiting a higher daily intake of fruits and vegetables than women.

Moreover, the rural women’s diet demonstrates deficiencies in crucial minerals and vitamins, emphasizing potential health risks associated with these nutritional gaps. The daily caloric intake was below the minimum requirements for adult women, indicating a possible energy deficit.

Conclusion

This analysis highlights the nutritional challenges faced by rural women. Identifying gaps in dietary practices and their impact on health provides valuable insights for targeted interventions to improve the well-being of women in rural settings.

Initiatives Taken By The Government To Improve Nutrition & Well-being Of The Rural Women

The government has implemented various initiatives to enhance nutrition and well-being in rural women. Some key initiatives:

While launching initiatives is a crucial step in addressing the challenges faced by rural communities, acknowledging that their success depends significantly on practical implementation is essential. In this regard, the collaboration between the government and rural development NGOs in India plays a pivotal role. These NGOs often possess grassroots-level understanding, local knowledge, and established networks within communities. They can bridge the gap between government policies and the actual needs of the rural population. In essence, the partnership between the government and rural development NGOs is instrumental in creating a more responsive, sustainable, and impactful approach to uplift rural areas and enhance the overall well-being of their inhabitants.

Women’s History and Empowerment Month is dedicated to commemorating the historical contributions of individuals who navigate life with the identity of “woman” in various dimensions, encompassing body, spirit, and identity across the past, present, future, and fluid states. This month serves to honor women’s achievements throughout history and emphasize an ongoing commitment to empower women and dismantle barriers hindering their progress and advancement.

Since March is designated Women’s History and Empowerment Month, let’s look at the top sustainable rural development NGOs in India working relentlessly to empower women.

S M Sehgal Foundation!

Since 1999, S M Sehgal Foundation (Sehgal Foundation) has been tirelessly dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in rural communities across India. As a prominent rural development NGO, Sehgal Foundation operates as a public charitable trust, engaging a team of skilled and devoted individuals. This team is instrumental in devising sustainable programs tailored to rural India’s most pressing needs. Backed by a proficient research team engaged in participatory research, impact assessment, and interactive dialogues, Sehgal Foundation ensures that its actions are well-informed, leading to sustainable and positive outcomes.

The impactful grassroots programs and development interventions initiated by S M Sehgal Foundation have made significant strides, reaching communities in 12 states across India. With the support of donors and partners worldwide, the foundation empowers individuals and communities in need, fostering their development and facilitating positive transformations.

Celebrating Poshan Maah to encourage behavior change on nutrition among women in rural Nuh

S M Sehgal Foundation celebrated Poshan Maah (Nutrition Month) to promote behavior change regarding nutrition among women in rural Nuh, Haryana. Poshan Maah, a nationwide initiative, focuses on improving nutrition outcomes for women and children.

S M Sehgal Foundation engaged with the community through interactive sessions, workshops, and community meetings. Key activities included disseminating crucial information on balanced nutrition and emphasizing the significance of a diverse and nutrient-rich diet. Women in the community were educated on the nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating mothers and the importance of early and exclusive breastfeeding.

The foundation employed innovative approaches to make the initiative more impactful, including street plays, community rallies, and distribution of educational materials. These efforts ensured that the information reached a wider audience and resonated with the community, encouraging them to adopt healthier dietary habits.

The foundation also collaborated with local influencers, such as anganwadi and ASHA workers, to leverage their influence in disseminating nutritional knowledge. The involvement of these community figures helped establish a more direct and relatable communication channel.

S M Sehgal Foundation showcased its commitment to creating sustainable and positive changes in the nutrition landscape of rural Nuh by combining awareness campaigns, community engagement, and collaboration with local influencers. This approach instigates behavior change that has a lasting impact on the nutritional well-being of women in the region.

About the Author

Ms. Sreeja Basu
Assistant Program Lead, Local Participation and Sustainability

Sreeja Basu did her Master’s in Economics. She has been working at the grassroots level for the last 5+ years, majorly with women around nutrition. Currently, she works as an Assistant Programme Lead at S M Sehgal Foundation in integrated village development projects at Nuh, Haryana.

The post Promoting Nutrition And Well-being Of Rural Women In The Women’s Empowerment Month appeared first on S M Sehgal Foundation.

Capacity-building has become crucial, especially in development organizations working to improve the well-being of individuals in underserved rural areas who rely on their labor for income. This concept, deeply rooted in rural development, has evolved in meaning, models, methods, and tools.

For farmers, capacity building is an ongoing process that provides access to information, facilitation, and empowerment, especially for women, fostering technical advancement. In sustainable agriculture development, extension services are crucial, prioritizing the active involvement of individuals and rural communities. The goal is to empower farmers to tackle daily challenges effectively and capitalize on opportunities. This approach emphasizes community engagement, promoting farmers’ self-reliance at its core.

Entrepreneurship For Farmers & Women In Rural India

Rural entrepreneurship has evolved significantly, and the future holds great potential. Technological advancements, shifting consumer preferences, and a focus on sustainable living position rural women entrepreneurs for success. E-commerce is pivotal, enabling rural entrepreneurs to reach a global market through online platforms. For instance, a farmer from a remote village can sell organic produce worldwide, providing new income sources and showcasing unique products.

The demand for sustainable and locally sourced goods further drives rural entrepreneurship. Consumers’ environmental awareness creates opportunities for eco-friendly products, utilizing natural resources and traditional knowledge. An example is a rural entrepreneur producing handmade soaps, using locally sourced ingredients. Changing workforce demographics contribute to rural entrepreneurship’s bright future as more people seek a balanced life in rural areas. Talented individuals bring innovative ideas, like a young couple or women starting a farm-to-table restaurant, capitalizing on local produce.

Government support is crucial, with policies, financial assistance, training, and favorable regulations fostering rural entrepreneurship. Governments worldwide offer grants and loans, empowering rural entrepreneurs and women farmers to start or expand their businesses. Collaborating with reputed NGOs is essential for executing comprehensive initiatives. By collaborating with top rural development NGOs, the government can build a strong sense of community in rural areas, which is a significant advantage.

The Top Rural Development NGO In India

S M Sehgal Foundation has been committed to improving life in rural Indian communities since 1999. As a leading sustainable, rural development NGO operating under a public charitable trust, the foundation has a dedicated team of professionals crafting programs to address pressing needs in rural India.

The foundation’s primary goal is to support community-driven development initiatives that positively transform rural India’s social, economic, and environmental aspects. Their overarching vision is to empower every person in rural India, providing them the tools to lead secure, prosperous, and dignified lives.

Farmer Field Schools: Nurturing Learning and Experimentation

S M Sehgal Foundation introduced the “Farmer Field Schools” concept in 2020 to address agricultural challenges like mono-cropping and flood irrigation. Tested in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, this model garnered positive feedback from farmers and proved effective in crop diversification, aligning with market demand and changing climate patterns. In Nuh, Haryana, a Farmer Field School was established under the HDFC Parivartan Project. Despite initial skepticism, farmers Md. Akhlak and Iqbal embraced the model, leading to successful practices like staking in tomato cultivation. The field school, costing ₹3,80,000, showcased income-generating and climate-resilient techniques. A tomato-centric crop basket, ridge gourd, and bottle gourd demonstrated healthy saplings and enhanced yields. The intervention challenged traditional notions, attracting over 300 farmers from nearby villages to learn and adopt these practices, breaking barriers to crop diversification.

Woman Farmer Adopts Balanced Fertilizers in Wheat Cultivation

Rekha, a woman farmer in Nuh, Haryana, faced challenges with low productivity, saline land, and no irrigation facilities on her 1.5-acre rain-fed agricultural plot. In June 2021, S M Sehgal Foundation initiated an integrated village development project in her village, addressing water, education, health, sanitation, nutrition, and agriculture.

The project team provided training on modern agriculture techniques to enhance agricultural practices and implemented hands-on demonstrations in farmers’ fields. Rekha received a sustainable Package of Practices (PoP) kit for wheat cultivation in October 2021, which included micronutrients to improve soil health and boost crop yields.

Under project supervision, Rekha cultivated wheat on one acre using scientific PoP and traditional methods in an adjacent 0.5 acres for comparison. Farmers observed enhanced plant length, canopy, and color in the demonstration plot during the crop’s growth phase.

Upon harvest, Rekha achieved a 3.2 quintal increase in wheat yield in the demonstration plot compared to the control and an extra four quintals of fodder. The improved yield translated to an income increase of INR 11,040 from 0.5 acres, using the new method at INR 2,200 per quintal.

A field day organized in Rekha’s plot allowed farmers to discuss the benefits of the scientific wheat cultivation method. Convinced and enthused, farmers desired to replicate Rekha’s approach using the introduced PoP in subsequent seasons. Rekha noted that the micronutrients enhanced wheat yield and restored soil health on her farm.

About the Author

Mr. Akhilesh Sharma
Assistant program lead, S M Sehgal Foundation

Akhilesh Sharma is an assistant program lead at S M Sehgal Foundation. He holds a master’s degree in Rural Development and has a total of 10 years of experience in managing rural programs. His expertise lies in monitoring and evaluation within the development sector.

The post The Entrepreneurship Capacity Building of Rural Women And Farmers appeared first on S M Sehgal Foundation.

In his seminal book, A Theory of Justice, John Rawls drives home the core principles of the concept of justice, based on a group of individuals who are unaware of their age, sex, race, religion, economic class, wealth, income, intelligence, talents, etc. Inequalities that have underlying social and economic parameters must be addressed for the general good and be skewed toward the least advantaged.

However, human well-being indicators are built on a negative perception of the reduction of ill-being rather than building on a positive base of improving the well-being of people.

The two main Sustainable Development Goals, SDG1 and SDG2, build on a base of reducing poverty and achieving zero hunger. The ultimate goal of increasing income and achieving contentment with food quantity is lost behind moral valuation that has been accepted by consensus. No harm there, but individuals who are affected due to social and economic inequalities should also be aware of their position and rights.

Women And The Rural Economy

Women in rural India are important to the progress of the rural economy. They play multiple roles as farmers, wage earners, and entrepreneurs. Women also care for the well-being of their family members and are responsible for providing food and care to the children and the elderly.

Poor rural households are often responsible for unpaid work such as collecting wood and water.

Empowering rural women through productive employment and ensuring gender equality contribute to inclusive economic growth. That are the backbone of achieving poverty reduction and food security.

The Vital Contribution of Women to Indian Agriculture

Agricultural development is the most important and primary source of income for almost 70% of India’s households. With the majority of India living in rural regions, the importance of agriculture cannot be undermined. Approximately 60% of the Indian population works in agriculture and contributes about 18% to India’s GDP. Almost 80% of women are engaged and depend on agricultural development in rural India. Thus, women contribute to agriculture in ways that include:

AGENTS OF CHANGE: EMPOWERING WOMEN AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL

S M Sehgal Foundation, a rural development NGO in India, has been working since 1999 to improve the quality of life in rural communities. S M Sehgal Foundation’s main program areas include Water Management, Agricultural Development, Local Participation and Sustainability, Transform Lives one school at a time, and Outreach for Development.

Women’s Leadership

The Local Participation and Sustainability Program enables women to participate in village-level institutions and public life. The program provides women with a platform to come together, voice their concerns about community and development issues, and work collectively to address problems that affect their families and their community. Capacity-building sessions teach leadership and communication skills that build their confidence to improve last-mile delivery of government programs, take leadership roles to address development issues, and participate in gram sabha. The program further builds the capacities of women elected representatives (WERs) to collectively tackle the problems of the village and organize women in Women Farmer Clubs.

Power in Empowerment

Swapna, president of Woman Farmers Club Mohamadshapur, mobilizes members to participate in project activities and adopt the learnings

Swapna is the president of the Women Farmers Club Mohamadshapur, Siddipet district, Telangana, and has two acres of land that is shared with her brother in law, i.e. each of them uses it every alternate year. In 2020, Swapna grew cotton, paddy, green chilli, and tomato.

She has received training in integrated nutrient management (INM) and integrated pest management (IPM), preparation of the organic pesticide solution Jeevamritam, mulching, bio leaf extracts as organic fertilizer, waste decomposer as an organic fertilizer and for disease control, and she visited the Centre of Excellence on Vegetables and Flowers, Hyderabad, and Ankapur, Nizamabad district.

As the president of WFC, she enthusiastically executes her role of mentoring and motivating WFC members to utilize modern methods of farming, while also being an example by practicing the newly acquired knowledge from the project in her own farm.

Conclusion

The challenge of ending poverty can only be achieved with the end of gender-based discrimination. Gender inequality deprives women of basic rights and opportunities for well-being. This in turn makes and keeps women poor.

The Indian government in its vision has realized the gap and is striving toward poverty alleviation through training programs, financial inclusion, strengthening of social services, and creating awareness of women’s rights. Ensuring women’s access to basic services, land control, property inheritance, and financial inclusion is the way forward to achieving the lofty goals of SDG1 and the reduction in poverty.

The way forward is to provide women with equal access to avenues for growth through social protection. The key to achieving SDG1 lies in realizing women’s rights.

The post Contribution Of Women In Agricultural Development appeared first on S M Sehgal Foundation.

“Individuals act in their best interest whenever they have the choice, that is, when they possess adequate knowledge, competencies, and resources . . .”
~ Amartya Sen in Development as Freedom.

Freedom, rights, individual entitlements, and people’s capabilities play a key role in empowerment. Likewise, a human rights perspective forms the guiding light for building empowerment interventions through an expansion of the individual’s capabilities. To achieve empowerment it is important to enhance the capacity of people/ communities. Over time, empowerment tends to help people claim their rights, which creates better accountability between society and the state

In the Indian context, gender inequality is not only based on the traditional sex dichotomy of males and females. Gender in India, particularly in the rural context, is a complex social system that structures the experience of females. Biological differences in males or females, over time, develop into gendered individuals in a background of sexism and patriarchy. Coupled with other forms of discrimination, such as racism, and classism, this leads to a pathway toward poor health. This structured disadvantage is further exacerbated by discriminatory laws, policies, and institutions, poor diet, stress, and environmental toxins.

What is the roadmap to women’s empowerment and equity?

The World Economic Forum 2021 Global Gender Gap Report pegs India at a dismal 140th of 156 countries on gender inequality. This is reflective of India’s performance on a host of developmental factors: health and survival, economic participation and opportunity, rural education, and social empowerment. Significant progress seems to have been achieved at the urban level; however, rural India lags far behind.

To achieve gender equality, it is imperative to substantially scale up efforts to support women across growth indicators. One of the major steps in this direction is to enrich women’s healthcare delivery. A pathway to achieving this ambitious target is to support women to take charge of their health through initiatives that ensure equitable access to quality care. By gaining information, access to resources, and participative action, women would gain control their own lives rather than being dominated by others.

Given the state of the dismal rural healthcare system in India, there further exists a gender bias driven by heuristics based on gender stereotypes and sexism in patient care. This results in differential health outcomes for men and women. Since women are stereotyped as “the weaker sex,” their health-related complaints are often interpreted as exaggerated and viewed as psychosomatic rather than physical. The need of the hour is to close the gap in health equity through action on the social determinants of health.

What is the role of women in family-centered healthcare?

An approach to family-centered healthcare is one where a holistic view is taken rather than palliative care to deliver comprehensive and continuing care and help improve the healthcare of rural populations. A family-centered strategy entails preventive and promotive care delivered by trained healthcare providers who are trained to understand community needs and who will engage them actively. Women are socially conditioned into caregiving roles, such as nurses, midwives, and frontline community health workers. Values such as creativity, empathy, mutual connection, and emotional skills are important as healthcare workers look to use community channels to engage. women and forward the vision of a balanced and equitable approach. In a populous and diverse country like India, women are a major force in tackling the problem of reach through participation.

What is the role of women in healthcare through Self–Help Groups (SHGs)?

In marginalized populations, women-based SHGs are a potent tool for empowering women and improving their health outcomes. SHGs are particularly useful, especially among women who are unable to access health facilities or outreach services. They help by reducing, developing, and expanding healthcare coverage and building strong linkages with the lowest levels of the state health system, such as frontline health workers. SHGs have demonstrated positive results in discussions, dissemination, of information, and with a participatory learning approach of health practices in meetings. SHGs operate on a large scale in India and are important agents that deliver behavior change communication and social support interventions to rural women.

This has led to improvement in rural health practices in one-time points and independent of healthcare intervention areas. The role SHGs play can be attributed to increased social cohesion and group collectivization to reduce the disparities by helping women follow correct healthcare practices.

What is the role of Female Front Line Health Workers (FFHWs)?

In India, the task of managing the health response at the community level falls on the shoulders of female frontline health workers (FFHWs). These are categorized as voluntary community health workers (CHWs), ASHA (accredited social health activists), anganwadi workers (AWWs), and auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs).

FFHWs take health services directly to communities where access is often limited. These women come from the communities that they serve and act as an important link to health facilities by bringing services to people’s doorsteps. The last-mile connectivity makes them a crucial intermediary between the community and the healthcare system. In a culture where many women have been deprived of freedom of movement, their role is important in implementing sustainable changes at the local level.

FFHWs interact across all levels of rural families as well as their communities. They play a variety of roles for rural populations and advise them about nutrition; family planning, healthy living, acting as midwives, administering vaccinations, and are caregivers, etc. This makes them very closely involved with communities, and this close relationship is the first step in enhancing rural campaigns.

Conclusion

India is at a crucial stage in the fight for gender equality and social justice. The priority for the state and the nonprofit institutions is to redress discrimination against women. Gender inequality in itself cannot be addressed without transforming gender norms. Women have a crucial role to play in the agenda for social change. Their participative role in healthcare can transform the lives of millions of underprivileged besides raising their marginalized social status. The time is ripe for the burden of proof to shift from those fighting to be recognized to those who benefit from the current order.

How is S M Sehgal Foundation helping rural communities?

S M Sehgal Foundation (Sehgal Foundation), established in 1999, has been working at the ground level to improve the quality of life of the rural communities in India. A sustainable rural development NGO in India, S M Sehgal Foundation was established as a public, charitable trust. The NGO’s skilled and dedicated team creates sustainable programs to address rural India’s most pressing needs. S M Sehgal Foundation has five main program areas: Water Management, Agricultural Development, Local Participation and Sustainability, Transform Lives one school at a time, and Outreach for Development.

With active support from donors and partners across geographies, S M Sehgal Foundation’s grassroots programs and development interventions have already touched the lives of three million people across India, empowering individuals and communities in need to escalate and enhance their development.

The Local Participation and Sustainability Program helps rural communities to promote good hygiene and sanitation in villages, improve awareness of preventive and remedial healthcare, and encourage the adoption of safe hygiene practices through behavior-change campaigns.

What is the e-Poshan Kendra project about?

In June 2021, S M Sehgal Foundation began implementation of a CSR-supported partnership project initiative in district Nuh, Haryana. This integrated village development project works on water management, rural education in India, health, sanitation, nutrition, and agriculture.

The panchayat choupal (community building) was in a dilapidated state and being used as a garbage disposal site. As a result, the community avoided the main road near the choupal. The area was prone to the spread of diseases like dengue, malaria, and others due to growing filth, and acted as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. This affected people’s health and led to the loss of life in some cases. In October 2021, the project team initiated an endeavor to transform this choupal into an E-Poshan Kendra (E-nutrition center). By January 2022, the choupal was completely transformed into an E-Poshan Kendra. Solar panels were installed for a sustainable source of energy. Community women became keenly interested in the E-Poshan Kendra and started regularly attending the training sessions held here on nutrition and a balanced diet.

Gradually, the E-Poshan Kendra became a hub of information provision on good nutrition practices, sanitation, as well as on key government services. The E-Poshan Kendra provides structured training to village women and showcases thematic films and inspirational stories on sanitation and nutrition. Vaccination drives for village children are also organized in this center. Overall, the E-Poshan Kendra led to realizing of the vision of family-centered healthcare with the local women adopting it wholeheartedly.

The post Enriching Women’s Healthcare Toward Equity & Empowerment appeared first on S M Sehgal Foundation.

“I raise up my voice—not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. . . . We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.”
~ Malala Yousafzai

The preamble of the Indian Constitution speaks about gender equality as a fundamental right of women and a fundamental duty of the state. The state had been empowered to take measures to achieve positive results in this regard. The reality however is that even after seventy-five years of independence, India’s women continue to assume a role and position that is considered secondary.

Historical Perspectives

The fractured history of India has seen several ups and downs in the ways women have been perceived in society. From the Rig Vedic period when women enjoyed equal status, to the Gupta period when their status deteriorated, male dominance took root. The Mughal period added to their woes with practices like child marriage, dowry, and sati coming to the fore. During British rule, several reformers fought for equal rights for women. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were advocates for women rights and, as a result of their efforts, the status of women in social, economic, and political life began to elevate somewhat. The transition has been slow, and even now women are perceived as the “weaker sex.”

Women’s Empowerment and the UN Charter

From the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targeted at poor countries to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), women’s empowerment gained a new meaning. The MDG gender equality goal encompassed parity in education, political participation, and economic empowerment for women. On the other hand, SDG goal 3 was broader and talked about equal rights, opportunity, and freedom from discrimination and violence. The ethos of all the MDGs and SDGs were clear on one thing: achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment was integral to each.

As a corollary to the MDGs, a joint initiative of UN Global Compact and UN Women developed the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in 2010. The broad canvas of these principles looked to empower women and girls in the workplace, marketplace, and community. These seven principles were based on “Real-life business practice, and seek to elaborate the gender dimension of corporate sustainability.” Though a noble cause, therein lay the dichotomy of these principles with respect to the role of women in India. Structural and social diversity in India abounds. To apply a broad concept, the main focus of which was on real-life business practices and corporate sustainability, is clearly not workable. India’s gender inequality is predominant in the rural hinterland where women are denied social and economic status. Undoubtedly, a step was taken and is “work in progress.” The government has moved ahead with the agenda of empowerment through social schemes targeted at the vulnerable; progress is visible, though slow.

Women’s Empowerment Principles In Brief

(Source: https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4bcc0fcf2.pdf)

Means Or The End?

Women’s empowerment is a continuous process and does not have an end point or an outcome that can be measured. Experiential pathways that are not clearly defined may have different outcomes for women in a diverse setup like India and have to be viewed holistically. To look at changing mores that have been ingrained in the social and cultural system requires a patient approach. On the other hand, if we view the positives that accrue as an ongoing, continuous improvement in their social, economic and health status, the achievement of sustainable rural development in India will show appreciable gains with the participation of women in all aspects of life.

Women’s empowerment is now a mainstream development concern in India. The question here, unlike in the developed world, is to look at “what development can do for women,” and then reap the rewards of “what women can do for development.” Women’s empowerment is the means to that end, which will continuously follow with equitable and synergistic progress in the economic, cultural, and social growth of the country.

The Way Forward In Providing The Means

The process of women’s empowerment is a pathway where women travel in individual and collective journeys. As a result, the gains often remain hidden. However, the areas of concern that could be and are being worked on are similar to those espoused by the SDG-5.

S M Sehgal Foundation: Driving Social Change Through Women’s Empowerment

Aurangabad District

The gender ratio in India has been skewed toward males and continues to defy the efforts of policymakers and government. Though the goals of achieving gender equality is paramount and has led to several initiatives in the right earnest, some areas like Haryana and Maharashtra show a dismal picture. Per census 2011, the gender ratio in Maharashtra was 929 females in 1,000 males, which is below the national average of 940/1,000. Birth of a girl child is still not as joyous an occasion for families as it is for the birth of a boy.

S M Sehgal Foundation, a rural development NGO in India has embarked on an initiative in district Aurangabad titled “My Daughter My Tree” to try and correct this anomaly. The objective is to counter the prevalent mind-set of preferring a boy over a girl through a unique program combined with environment protection.

This initiative felicitates parents of girls under the age of two years by providing them with a coconut tree, the fruit of which has great spiritual value, along with a tree guard. The tree is dedicated in the name of the girl child to celebrate her birth and also to increase the green cover.

The initiative was rolled out in about ten villages in Aurangabad with the dual objective of sensitizing people to gender equity while increasing green cover. S M Sehgal Foundation also organizes Women’s Leadership Schools (WLS) in these areas to promote local participation and prepare community leaders.

It is heartening to note that the locals have started to realize the potential of promoting girl children and giving them the opportunities that can ensure their brighter future.

Samastipur-Bihar

S M Sehgal Foundation has been working to build the awareness of women in Samastipur (Bihar) on the benefits of preventive and remedial health, timely vaccination of children, and menstrual hygiene. Borrowing a leaf from the WEP principles, the route chosen to achieve this is to empower women volunteer leaders known as swasthya sakhis. These volunteers take the message to the community through ward level meetings and family visits.

The initiative has shown positive results, and the community is witnessing higher vaccination acceptance for children and better reproductive and general health for women. A direct contribution to the health agenda, an important WEP principle has been accrued through the selfless efforts of S M Sehgal Foundation.

The post Women’s Empowerment: A Means or An end? appeared first on S M Sehgal Foundation.

“Only when women wield power in sufficient numbers will we create a society that genuinely works for all women.”
~ Anne-Marie Slaughter, American political scientist and public commentator

Over the years, women in rural India have risen to the forefront to play an important role in the rural ecosystem. They are now actively engaged as farmers, wage earners, and small entrepreneurs. Women are still actively engaged in household work as caretakers of their families, including the elderly and children.

In the past, the government’s development efforts sought to target men and women. However, the patriarchal system led to women being more marginalized and excluded from the benefits of programs. Later programs targeted women as child bearers and sustainers and still left out the issue of their empowerment and equitable access to schemes. More recently, India has shown a radical shift toward empowering women along with a growing realization by policymakers that the role of women, especially in rural India, could have a multiplier effect on economic growth. Given an atmosphere where they can emerge from constraints imposed by gender inequality, lack of education and healthcare, women can help to enhance productivity and efficiency and lead to more balanced and inclusive growth.

However, women are still constrained from participation in economic and developmental activity due to gender discrimination and social norms.

The concept of women’s empowerment has often been viewed with suspicion as society still grapples with ingrained issues of patriarchy. In this context, leadership roles assumed by women are viewed critically. Women in rural India remain major contributors to primary healthcare especially in the area of health education. Assuming leadership roles in healthcare enhances their self-esteem and belonging and leads to improvements in women’s health and of their families. In rural areas, given the right training and impetus, village women have proven to have a beneficial role to play in the health and well-being of their community

ISSUES FACED BY WOMEN IN RURAL INDIA

LINKING WOMEN TO HEALTH SERVICES: VOLUNTEER AND FUTURE LEADERS

The National Rural Health Mission looks to provide every village in the country with a trained female community health activist ASHA (accredited social health activist). The ASHA worker is from the respective village and is thus accountable to it. ASHA workers are trained to act as an interface with the villagers and the public health system. Similarly there are anganwadi centers for child welfare and an auxiliary nurse midwife to take care of maternal health. Though the roles played by each overlap and are multipurpose, they are often overworked, considering the population size.

The National Rural Livelihoods Mission leads initiatives in educating the masses on the benefits of food, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene through volunteers and self-help groups. The progress has been steady and was able to cover over 50 million households by 2020.

Women Leaders in Health – The Indian Context

The role of women in rural India as primary caregivers in families and as health workers cannot be underestimated. About 40% of India’s workforce is female and about 30% of this workforce comprises nurses and midwives, and frontline health workers (ASHAs). However, this number dwindles as we go higher in the value chain. Only about 6% of doctors operating in rural areas are female. Thus, we have a situation where the potential of women in the healthcare domain is underexploited. As one looks beyond, the role of women in the field of health remains skewed. Most of the positions of authority are held by men and, as policies are formulated on issues of women’s health and well-being, women themselves have little or no representation. In the absence of proper healthcare across rural India, women bear the brunt as they suffer due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth, cervical and breast cancer, etc. This makes them sensitive toward supporting health facilities, antenatal care, immunization, etc.

The reasons for this paucity in health leadership have answers in the deep-rooted issues of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and the dearth of networks and support/ mentoring structures, etc.

Promotion of women’s leadership in health services and across the spectrum is key to better health services. This requires enabling access to the tools and resources, social and political, to help overcome constraints.

The Role of Women as Health Leaders: The Way Forward

Women Volunteers, The Catalysts on the Ground

Women in rural India are being encouraged to take leadership roles in the fight against malnutrition. They now realize that they have a key role to play in providing nutrition through enhanced livelihood. Today’s volunteers will be the leaders of tomorrow as they spread the message. Being involved in various roles as Mahila Kisans or Pashu Sakhis will make them the champion fighters to lead India to meet Sustainable Development Goals and mitigating factors responsible for malnutrition.

Samastipur, Bihar

S M Sehgal Foundation has been working on increasing the awareness of women in Samastipur, Bihar, on preventive and remedial health, timely vaccination of children, and menstrual hygiene.

For taking the message to the grassroots, S M Sehgal Foundation selected and trained 25 swasthya sakhis (women health volunteers) to take the message to the community through ward level meetings and family visits. After training, the women health volunteers conducted the following activities in 25 villages of Samastipur district, Bihar.

Conclusion

As part of the National Nutrition Week, observed from September 1 to September 7, the government works to make people aware of the value of nutrients such as essential proteins and vitamins in our diet. This is an integrated effort by all arms of the government to understand that proper nutrition is essential for the body and for mental health.

Clearly women health volunteers are the leaders who will take healthcare and nutrition in rural India to fulfil the objectives of the National Rural Health Mission. However measures must be taken by policymakers to appreciate women’s role. Culture building and valuing their activities for the good of the community is of primary importance in their retention. Women are the change agents, the leaders who can lead rural India to a healthier tomorrow.

It is imperative to foster women’s leadership in healthcare to enable them to realize their full potential; and for improving quality and access of health services. The need of the hour for improving health service quality and delivery is to improve hiring, mentoring, and enabling networks to bring more women in leadership roles.

FAQs

The post Women Leaders Contribute to Better Health Services appeared first on S M Sehgal Foundation.

In rural India, many important characteristics, such as equity and inclusiveness, have been ignored for many decades (Mosse, 2018). Even though women constitute nearly half of the total population in India, they are often excluded from local participation and public representation (Kumar, Dhamija, & Dhamija, 2016).

The Indian Constitution provides for the principle of gender equality in its preamble, and women’s equality is provided as a fundamental right. The constitution places obligations on the state to foster the same as part of its fundamental duty and to provide a definitive direction through well-thought-out policies and directions. However, there is still a long way to go even after more than seventy years of independence. Each day, the media is full of stories of atrocities against women. These issues are concentrated more in areas and communities that still accept the age-old concept of male superiority. The social and economic structure in rural India has not changed much over the years. Underemployment, casteism, and lack of education have a major role to play in the marginalization of women, particularly in rural areas.

The gender disparity, especially in rural India, is a glaring and grim reminder of the still rampant problem of gender discrimination. Women still have issues concerning financial exclusion and the lack of education opportunities, medical care, sanitation facilities, and more.

To address the issue of women’s equality and uplift their social status, the Government of India has made a concerted effort by way of laws, plans, and programs in various spheres, with the realization that the way forward is to shift the focus from welfare to development. Thus women’s empowerment has gained recognition as the core issue in uplifting the status of women.

The National Policy laid out the following goals and Women Empowerment objectives for 2001-

(i) Creating an environment through positive economic and social policies for the full development of women to enable them to realize their full potential;

(ii) The de-jure and de-facto enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom by women on equal basis with men in all spheres – political, economic, social, cultural, and civil;

(iii) Equal access to participation and decision-making of women in the social, political, and economic life of the nation;

(iv) Equal access of women to healthcare, quality education at all levels, career and vocational guidance, employment, equal remuneration, occupational health and safety, social security and public office, etc.

(v) Strengthening legal systems aimed at the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women;

(vi) Changing societal attitudes and community practices by active participation and involvement of both men and women;

(vii) Mainstreaming a gender perspective in the development process;

(viii) Elimination of discrimination and all forms of violence against women and the girl child; and

(ix) Building and strengthening partnerships with civil society, particularly women’s organizations.

(Source: https://wcd.nic.in/womendevelopment/national-policy-women-empowerment)

The collective role of women elected representatives (WER) is a powerful instrument for local participation

A collaborative model of strengthening local participation of women was developed by S M Sehgal Foundation (Sehgal Foundation), in which women-elected representatives (WERs) of diverse institutions are trained and encouraged to collectively tackle problems of the village.

Sehgal Foundation teams have seen that the collective action of women representatives is an effective tool to solve problems related to the functioning of village-level institutions and also streamlining the delivery of government schemes in villages. The sustainable work done under this unique model has helped in overcoming problems of the villages of Nuh district in Haryana. The WLS (Women Leadership School) model developed by the S M Sehgal Foundation is now recognized as a powerful tool with the capacity to make a cumulative and radical change across 662,000 villages of India and the ability to harness the cumulative resources of neglected rural women.

The WLS uses a training guide that was developed for women leaders to follow and guide others to overcome challenges of patriarchy, upgradation of skills and information, and guide them in activities and projects that are undertaken at the village level. This guide is designed to facilitate WLS sessions, where trainers can organize capacity-building sessions to foster leadership qualities in women. An interactive twelve-session program uses group discussions, case study-based learning to inculcate bonding, improve leadership skills, and manage power dynamics. Women Leadership Schools have the capacity to lead transformative change in how governance processes and gender issues are looked at in India.

Also Read – Women’s Empowerment: A Means or An End?

S M Sehgal Foundation’s Women Leadership Schools lead by example

To train women representatives in the villages of Nuh, S M Sehgal Foundation undertook training exercises for more than 400 elected representatives from twenty villages of different village-level institutions including the gram panchayat, school management committee (SMC), village health and sanitation committee (VHSNC), and Anganwadi workers. The representatives were trained about the functions of these institutions with a structured curriculum. The program encouraged these women representatives to take up leadership roles through collective action for the overall development of villages. The results have contributed significantly to tackling local issues at the village level. In addition, a feeling of inclusion and self-esteem was inculcated–the first step in breaking the patriarchal divide.

These women are now aware of schemes such as pensions (old-age, widow, handicapped, and deserted women), the public distribution system, Ayushman Bharat Yojana, labor card registration, Aapki Beti Hamari Beti, and many others. They are also informed about the work of village-level institutions like VHSNC, SMC, and PRI, and their role as members. Armed with this knowledge, women are taking more action at the village level. Often in a group, they go to different offices and meet officials and address the problems of the village.

Some initiatives taken by these women at the village level are discussed in detail.

AN INITIATIVE OF VILLAGE CLEANLINESS

Lack of wastewater disposal facilities was a common problem in the Gurnawat village. Dirty water was flowing onto the roads, due to inadequate wastewater disposal facilities, making the roads filthy. Women elected representatives (WERs) took the initiative to create wastewater disposal facilities. They approached the sarpanch of the village, Dayawati, and explained the problem villagers were facing on a regular basis due to the unclean surroundings. The sarpanch was cooperative, met the secretary, and heard the women. Funds for the construction of nine soak pits were sanctioned within just a month. Right after the sanctioning of funds, a meeting was held among the WER to identify the areas to construct soak pits in the village. Pregnant women and children faced difficulties accessing the Anganwadi center as the roads were full of filthy water. However, since the construction of a soak pit in close proximity to the center, accessibility has been smooth.

According to the villagers, the construction of soak pits helped in the reduction of filth on the roads. Although there was a soak well in the school for wastewater disposal, it was not enough for the school and was perpetually overflowing with dirty water over the entire school campus. The school teacher said that five soak pits constructed in the primary and middle school have solved the disposal problem and also controlled mosquito breeding to a great extent, and the area now seems neat and clean.

HAND PUMP INSTALLED IN THE SCHOOL

Water is a necessity for life. Primary schools in Utton village didn’t even have the basic amenities. A bore well in one of the schools had been dysfunctional for the past four years. Children carried water bottles from home. The cook at school found it difficult to fetch water for cooking and cleaning the utensils. Hence, the water to cook the mid-day meals was arranged by the families living close to the school.

This challenge was discussed in a WER session with the school teachers, where they learned that the school had no funds to install a hand pump. In the next few days, there were meetings and discussions between all WER members, the sarpanch, and the school authorities regarding the issues faced by the students due to the unavailability of drinking water at the school. The sarpanch assured that the school would be provided with adequate funds for the construction of a hand pump. A hand pump was installed in the school in June 2019, with the assistance of the school teachers. Now the teachers and students are content due to the free access to clean drinking water from the hand pump. The parents of the students also realized that it was primarily due to the initiative of women’s groups in the village that the water problem in the school was solved.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUB HEALTH CENTER

In village Kharkhari, due to the lack of local-level health facilities, villagers had to walk all through blocks for small health needs and for vaccination purposes. Discussions with women representatives revealed that to operate all the services, including an Anganwadi worker, ASHA, and ANM, the Anganwadi center in the village was too small. Hence, pregnant women and small children had to go to Taoru village to avail the services. The sarpanch understood the problem of the village and proposed the construction of a sub-health center in the village in 2016. However, permission was not granted. After the constitution of WER in 2019, initiating the construction of a sub-health center was the first common problem raised by the women representatives.

These women representatives approached the sarpanch once again on behalf of the WER, drafted an application with the signature of all the elected representatives, and submitted it to the sarpanch. One acre of the panchayat land was then allotted by the sarpanch for the construction of the sub-health center. The research team of S M Sehgal Foundation met the sarpanch to discuss the proceedings. The quality work of WER for village development, especially the initiative undertaken by women representatives for the construction of sub health centers in the village, was much appreciated by the sarpanch.

Also Read – Enriching Women’s Healthcare Toward Equity & Empowerment

S M Sehgal Foundation is leading the way in rural transformation through inclusive development

S M Sehgal Foundation is a rural development NGO that has been working to improve the lives of rural communities in India for more than twenty years. Led by a vision that every person deserves to lead a more secure, prosperous, and dignified life, it has embarked on a mission to strengthen community-led development initiatives to achieve positive social, economic, and environmental change across rural India.

S M Sehgal Foundation creates an ecosystem of programs to address rural India’s most pressing needs of water management, agriculture development, local participation and sustainability, school transformation and outreach for development. Thus, S M Sehgal Foundation works with local communities across rural India to understand and alleviate their problems. Inclusion and gender participation across the entire community is of paramount importance in every effort. To achieve all-around development for marginalized communities, S M Sehgal Foundation supports gender parity by ensuring inclusivity in all its programs.

FAQs

The post Women’s Empowerment in Rural India appeared first on S M Sehgal Foundation.

“Whether I come home to be beaten up by my husband or to a quiet, unusual day depends on the food I cook that can save me from the ordeal. The portions of salt or sugar in my food, whether the curd I set curdled to accuracy, and if the chai was kadak (strong) enough, all determine how my day would go,” says Neelam [name changed], a middle-aged woman living in the Hamzapur village of Nuh district, Haryana. An illiterate woman married into an orthodox, Muslim family, Neelam has lived her entire life bound by the four walls of her home. Her daily routine has been limited to the field where she labors the whole day, only to come home to fill her lungs with smoke emanating from the chullah (stove). Irrespective of her tiredness, she then cooks dinner for her entire family. “My husband?” she laughs, “He is very punctual in waking up every morning, taking a bath, and then setting off to the local shop to meet his fellow gamblers to enjoy a card game. He comes back home around late afternoon, sometimes only for an afternoon siesta, tired as he must be from such an exhausting day of playing cards.”

“I have four daughters. My eldest, Shabnam [name changed], her schooling completed, now sits at home helping me with the housework. I wonder what these twelve years of education changed for her, what was the outcome? Similar to other girls from the village, she now stays at home and cooks food, washes clothes, and works in the field. She wanted to be a doctor. My husband and her chacha (uncle) forbade her studies, stumping her and cutting her wings off. They eventually succumbed to pressures from the villagers. Neighbors often made snarky comments and remarked that our daughters would fall under bad influences and run away or be kidnapped by the bad men out there. I wonder who was ‘bad’ in the scenario.”

The daughter sitting nearby hesitantly expressed her plight, having to give up on her dream of becoming a doctor while her classmates were able to pursue theirs.

Seema, the third eldest, comes home riding her brother’s motorbike with a bottle of cold drink for the guests. It is refreshing and slightly reassuring to see a girl ride a bike here, a village where stepping out of the house invites ridicule and bad-mouthing. However, acknowledging that also comes with a realization of how far women and humankind needs to go to obliterate such punitive parameters. Seema studies in the tenth grade and aspires to be a doctor just as her elder sister once did. Rumor has it that she too will be forced to quit school after she completes tenth.

Neelam’s youngest daughter was never allowed to go to school and now studies Urdu at the local Madarsa. “I am guilty of not letting my daughters study further and pursue their dreams. But what else could I have done? How could I support them all alone when the entire village and my own family stands against them? Even if I tried to leave all this behind, where will I go?”

Not very far away from Neelam’s village, lives another woman named Zubaida in Sakras village in Nuh. “I have lived my entire life like a slave. I did not get the opportunity to study. We are five brothers and I—five boys and only one sister. I grew up seeing my brothers going to school while I stayed at home and did the chores. I often complained to my mother, saying that if only she had allowed her daughter to study, she would’ve learned how to spell doodh (milk).”

In the scorching heat of June, when the entire community sits inside their homes seeking respite from the hellish weather, young Shehnaaz walks in the door, returning from college, as her mother sits narrating what it is like to be a girl with a dream in Nuh. Taking off her dupatta with a huff, Shehnaaz does not complain of the hot weather in which she has to travel miles every day to go to college, she smiles and is only grateful that she gets to do it.

While Neelam and Zubaida are only two women, there are innumerable girls eagerly waiting to share their same tales of deprivation, subordination, and subjugation. The Indian society since time immemorial has viewed a woman as a commodity, bought and sold as she is in the garb of marriage. A girl’s impermanence in her natal family makes her a “liability,” which the parents must rid themselves off as soon as she ripens for reproduction. While a boy is an investment given his so-called “permanence” in his parents’ house, making him the future breadwinner and thus making it imperative that he goes to school. This view has reduced a woman’s role to producing and taking care of children, simply because she has a body capable of carrying a child.

The assumed duty of domestic work that rests on her shoulders alone is nothing but an extension of her image as the caretaker. This flawed perspective has stolen many dreams and will continue to do so if no one questions it. Educating our daughters is a step forward toward bringing about social change. While some may be successful like Zubaida, others may have a sad story to share like Neelam, a prey to the patriarchal system, forced to pull her daughters out of school and pushed back into the kitchen. Although only a drop in the vast ocean, Zubaida sets an example for many people to follow.

Education forms one of the primary tenets to attaining a better standard of living and breaking away from the social complications that hold us back. For any country to move forward, the first step is always a social revolution which may then be followed by other forms of revolution. Without education, no such change would ever be possible.

(Vrinda Dabas is a bachelor’s student at Delhi University who interned with S M Sehgal Foundation in the month of June 2018)

The post The tales of two women appeared first on S M Sehgal Foundation.

On a cloudy September afternoon, our auto-rickshaws entered the lanes of a temporary housing settlement colony of adivasis (tribals), situated at 10km distance from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. As Sehgal Foundation’s eleven-person governance team climbed out of the rickshaws, we found a group of tribal men and women welcoming us with red kumkum tikas (powder marks on the forehead), which they put to show respect. Their faces showed determination and expressions of solidarity.

Soon Kesar Devi, the woman leading the group started telling us the stories of their struggle to get land rights in their native village, Deli. These tribal families had been living in Deli for ages, before migrating to the temporary settlement colony. However, they did not have the legal rights to the land on which they were living. When they demanded the legal rights to their land, it led to fights with the panchayat (village council) members, local block officials, and district administration. As it became hard for them to live under constant threats, they migrated from their native place to a temporary settlement colony a few kilometers away from Deli. Kesar Devi told us stories about how hard it is to ask for your dues from people in power.

When the team visited two other villages in the vicinity, the adivasi residents of these villages narrated similar tales of landlessness and loss of identity.

Fortunately, these tribals found a friend in Ekta Parishad, a federation of community-based organizations, operating in 20,000 villages of eleven states of India. Ekta Parishad helps mobilize, empower, and unite tribal people, so they can demand their land rights.

The process of mobilizing tribals starts with biweekly meetings between small groups of men and women. The objective of these meetings is to initiate discussions on issues and points of action. An amount of Rs. 10 and small quantities of vegetables are collected from each tribal household to create the gram kosh (village fund) and the anaj kosh (grain bank) for those in dire need. The koshadhyaksha (cashier), preferably a woman, manages the resources.

People like Katori Devi, the koshadhyaksha of Lakhanpur village, situated near Jhansi, are giving recognition to this community-based model. She performs her responsibilities voluntarily as the manager (grain and money). Her illiteracy does not get in the way of performing her duties. She learns about maintaining records from the village youth. “Aapne jameen aur haq ke liye hum bahut door taak jane ke liye raazi hain (We will fight for our land and our rights),” said Katori Devi.

During the week-long trip, the Sehgal Foundation team also visited the historically famous Chanderi town, situated in Ashoknagar district of Madhya Pradesh. The natural beauty of the place – its hills, lakes, forests, and rivers – fascinated all of us.

In Chanderi, the team interacted with the managers and the weavers of Chanderiyaan initiative– an e-commerce portal highlighting the richness of weaving and design patterns of the region. The Chanderi weavers operate and manage the initiative to spread information among their community. Its main objective is to promote online marketing of products to benefit weavers by cutting down the intermediaries’ margins.

Moving ahead, the team reached Chanderi Ki Awaaz, a community radio station. It aims to reach out to every village and panchayat (village council) members of Chanderi with the information on their legal rights and entitlements, as well as health and sanitation. The preservation of folk culture and local talent is a major focus area of Chanderi Ki Awaaz.

Overall, the trip was an opportunity for the Sehgal Foundation team to learn from other community initiatives. We realized that the passion behind these small initiatives drives them to success.

The post Passion Drives Grassroot Initiatives appeared first on S M Sehgal Foundation.

Water scarcity in countries such as India is of global concern. Nearly 70% of India’s 1.2 billion people live in rural areas, many of which face unprecedented water shortages. The job of providing water for the household invariably falls on women, often at the expense of their education, income earning opportunities, and cultural and political involvement. The development of effective, sustainable water initiatives in rural India is vital to the country’s future and the empowerment of women. Reliable access to clean water allows Indian women to realize a greater potential in their communities and live fuller lives.

For more than a decade, the Sehgal Foundation has developed replicable, scalable solutions to the problems that face the villages of India, most notably water scarcity, low agricultural productivity and income, and poor local governance. These development models have been implemented in select villages in Mewat, a water-stressed and socioeconomically lagging district of Haryana. To truly make a significant impact, Sehgal Foundation is working to take its models to other parts of rural India. This requires additional human and financial resources, for which Sehgal Foundation is actively seeking effective partner organizations in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

Sehgal Foundation is an initiative of the S.M. Sehgal Foundation, which was established as a trust in India in 1999. Both entities receive primary financial support from the Sehgal Family Foundation, USA (based in Des Moines, Iowa). For simplicity, the S.M. Sehgal Foundation and the Sehgal Family Foundation will be referred to henceforth as The Sehgal Foundation.

In an effort to begin a focused discussion on tactics and initiatives that have proven their effectiveness in promoting sustainable water access and promote women’s empowerment in rural Indian villages, Sehgal Foundation on May 17, 2012, hosted a roundtable in Washington, DC, to discuss issues related to water and women in rural India. This roundtable brought together a diverse and knowledgeable cadre of nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and federal agencies to examine opportunities and best practices for creating sustainable water security in India’s villages.

The narrative began with a brief welcome by Ben Sehgal of the Sehgal Foundation, followed by introductory remarks by John Oldfield, CEO of WASH Advocates (washinitiative.org), who moderated the ensuing discussion. WASH Advocates is dedicated to bringing water and water service providers together to provide safe water sources in underdeveloped countries and areas. Mr. Oldfield is a recognized leader in drinking water and sanitation issues.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Sehgal introduced the audience to the Sehgal Foundation, which was established by his father, Suri Sehgal, a respected seed scientist and agribusinessman who was raised in India and headed a successful seed company there. Ben went on to explain that his father started the Foundation primarily to help small-scale farmers in rural India; but, after asking the villagers what was most important to them, he quickly realized that waterwas the key issue that connected and underpinned all the others. Women’s empowerment is another such issue. The Foundation then adopted a more holistic approach encompassing other critical aspects of sustainable rural development. The Foundation established Sehgal Foundation to research, develop, and test practical, sustainable models that could be replicated on a wide scale. Ben concluded his remarks by emphasizing the success of these models and the need to deploy them in many more villages in rural India. He stated unequivocally that “IRRAD does solid work and deserves funding. Sehgal Foundation is transparent, ethical, focused. There are some 2-3 million NGOs in India, of which about 500 have been third-party certified. Sehgal Foundation belongs in the top five.”

Oldfield then set the stage for the roundtable by putting the problem of sustainable access to potable water in rural Indian villages in context. He recalled Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s declaration about water, “I would like our children to be taught at a young age the importance of cleanliness.” But India has a great deal of work to do as a country to ensure all of its citizens have access to safe water supplies. He recalled Jawaharlal Nehru’s assertion that when everyone has a toilet in India, it shall be considered a modern society by the rest of the world. Oldfield noted that, unfortunately, nearly every discussion internally in India about access to safe water supplies centers around access to additional sources of water, not necessarily using the available sources in a more efficient and sustainable manner. The discussion blossomed once the stage was set.

The topic of the first half of the discussion was “On the Front Lines: Perspectives from Public and Non-Profits”; it featured short reports on current activities in India presented by the following:

The topic of the second half of the discussion was “Successful Partnerships: Corporate Investments are Paying Dividends”; short reports on corporate social responsibility efforts in India were presented by the following:

Each session was followed by an open dialogue on the specific issues highlighted during the presentations. An in depth review of each panel discussion and views of some of the attendees at the roundtable will follow in subsequent articles on this blog.

The Sehgal Foundation, Gurgaon, Haryana, India, is an initiative of the S.M. Sehgal Foundation, India, and is supported by the Sehgal Family Foundation, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. Sehgal Foundation promotes sustainable rural development with emphasis on water management, sustainable agriculture and agricultural income enhancement, sanitation and hygiene, and rural governance. Women and water are at the heart of all these activities. Please see www.smsfoundation.org for more information.

The post Sehgal Foundation Hosts Roundtable entitled “Water and Women: Village Development in Rural India appeared first on S M Sehgal Foundation.