WOMEN CENTRIC DEVELOPMENT

Acknowledging the fact that women are the most important force in society, BAIF has adopted an inclusive approach of integrating women into its development programmes with focus on quality of life, reduction in hardship and capacity building.

Initiatives for Improved Quality of Life

Hardship Reduction

  • Installation of safe drinking water sources closer to the hamlets
  • Nutritional security through establishment of community grain banks and kitchen gardens
  • Promotion of energy conservation devices such as improved stoves, biogas, solar devices and energy plantations

Improved Health

  • Focus on maternal and child health
  • Improved hygiene and sanitation

Capacity Building 

  1. Women in the community are encouraged to form groups.
  2. These groups known as Self Help Groups (SHGs), are involved in savings and recycling of their money for consumptive and productive purposes.
  3. The group members are trained in skills development for improved livelihood.
  4. Facilitated to establish linkages with financial institutions and local Government authorities .
  5. Well-established groups are mobilised to form village-level committees/clusters and federations.
  6. With focus on livelihood enhancement, women are also motivated to manage various micro-enterprises.

Study on Women SHGs in BAIF

Best SHG in BAIF Programme

Gender Responsive Approach

  1. Hardship reduction to ensure active participation in socio-economic development
  2. Identify and address gender needs
  3. Involvement in decision making process
  4. Capacity building in technical skills, information sharing and leadership development
  5. Formation of SHGs for solidarity, awareness and motivation
  6. Enhance their capabilities to contribute to family income and access to credit and assets
  7. Orientation of staff to encourage participatory development
  8. Gender vigilance to ensure women’s participation on all fronts and access to benefits

Impact

Consolidation of women-centric rural livelihood programme has been observed in all the programmes of BAIF.

  1. Emergence of champion women farmers as change makers in agriculture
  2. Development of women community leaders and resource persons in the society
  3. Participation in Gram Sabha and election of women in various Panchayati Raj Institutions, cooperative bodies and village-level institutions
  4. Effective functioning of women Artificial Insemination (AI) technicians
  5. Gender sensitivity has resulted in pride for contribution of women in community development.

Partnerships

With increasing feminization of agriculture, today, women form the invisible workforce in Indian agriculture. BAIF in partnership with Mahindra & Mahindra is implementing the Prerna Project to empower women farmers as changemakers in agriculture. Launched initially in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, a cadre of 689 champion farmers from 52 villages have ensured crop productivity enhancement and farm mechanization with the involvement of more than 5200 women farmers. In its second phase, the project covers 80 villages of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh with the direct involvement of 3500 champion women farmers who embody scientific agriculture, enhanced financial autonomy and self-reliance.

Encouraged by the success of women farmers in mushroom cultivation in Dangs and Valsad, South Gujarat, BAIF (BISLD Gujarat) in partnership with the Mukul Madhav Foundation is demonstrating an empowering model in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and promoted farm livelihoods and mechanization through paddy cultivation with 60 women farmers and non-farm livelihoods through mushroom cultivation by 150 women belonging to landless as well as small and marginal farming households.