Launching the Era for Achieving the Final Milestone: Text Part 3

Joan Holmes, January 20, 2000

Our Programs

As we know – women and children are the main victims of hunger. Also, we know that – if women are given the opportunity – they will be the primary authors of the end of hunger, in their household, community and their nation.

Let’s now examine what’s so in South Asia: Bangladesh and India, and our strategies for this new era. We’ll then review our strategy for Latin America and Africa. As many of you know, I recently traveled to both Bangladesh and India to work with our leaders there to create strategies for this new era.

Bangladesh

There is no country in THP where transforming the subjugation of women will be more demanding than in Bangladesh. As our country director, Prof. Badiul Majumdar says – taking on this issue requires us in Bangladesh to transform our organization and ourselves. At the same time – there is no country in THP with greater commitment to the end of hunger and a greater ability to mobilize people for transformation than in Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, we have a two prong strategy: (1) at the grassroots level, to have as many women as possible take The Hunger Project’s 4-day animator training and be empowered as agents of change in their villages, and (2) to make an impact at the national level. The women who have taken the animator training testify to a profound shift in a sense of themselves and their ability to improve their own lives and the lives of other women.

Women animators have formed women’s self-help groups, created their own enterprises and increased their incomes. They have facilitated other women to step out of their household, become literate and learn their legal rights – in the home and in society. Women animators have become elected leaders in local government. They have campaigned against domestic violence and sex trafficking. They speak out, challenge old ideas, and create new partnerships between women and men.

THP-Bangladesh will dramatically increase the number of women animators. It took us 5 years to train the first 800. This year alone, we will train 700 more. In order to do this THP-Bangladesh must retool its whole organization. They must dramatically increase the number of women trainers – hire more women staff members – establish ongoing programs of empowerment for women animators – and rewrite the curriculum of all our programs.

At the national level: We will create and widely disseminate a brochure in Bangla that educates the Bangladeshi's about women's issues and the high cost that their society pays for continuing to subjugate their women. Also, we will carry out a campaign to have Bangladesh establish a National Girl Child Day - a day of total national mobilization for the rights and improved conditions of female children.

India

Let’s now direct our attention to India. For the first time in history, there is an enormous opening to transform the powerlessness of women in India. After centuries of some of the worst subjugation in the world, in 1992, India passed the 73rd and 74th amendments to its constitution. These amendments mandate that significant power and resources be put into the hands of elected village councils called "panchayats" - and that 1/3 of all panchayat members must be women.

This transfer of power to more than one-million rural women - most of whom are malnourished - many of whom are illiterate and many who have never before stepped outside their homes – is, in my view, the greatest social experiment of our age. This transfer of power is a revolution. Village women who stand for local elections must find within themselves the courage to face at least condemnation and humiliation – often physical abuse and - sometimes - even murder. Women are literally risking their lives for the privilege of serving their community.

In one village of the Madurai district in Tamil Nadu, a low-caste woman was threatened that if she stood for elections in opposition to the traditional chief, he would kill her. He carried out his threat. Thousands of women in that area rallied to protest this outrage. The response of her daughter - even after the murder of her mother - is that she will run for her mother's seat in the next election.

THP has commissioned studies that show, that despite enormous obstacles, women's participation in local councils in India is working. Five million women have entered the political process by standing for elections. One million women are serving as panchayat leaders – and they are beginning to make a difference.

Women’s participation is beginning to shift the local development agenda towards human issues like health and education. For the first time, village women have someone to go to when they have problems such as domestic violence. Initial data indicates that women’s participation may well transform the very meaning of leadership – from speech making and aggression, to patience, honesty and inclusion. It shows the promise of redefining governance – to less corruption and far more accountability.

THP is in a unique and powerful position to play a catalytic role in seizing this opportunity, to empower women to succeed in this process.

India – New initiatives

THP is launching a new program of action to empower women’s participation in local democracy as the pathway to social, economic, and political transformation. We will launch this work initially in four states where we believe there is sufficient government support of women in panchayats to achieve success: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

In each state, we are analyzing the specific obstacles to success of women in panchayats – and mobilizing key sectors of society to transform them. The media is critical. It has the power to either overcome or reinforce cynical attitudes towards the difference women can make. In Karnataka, we’ve just completed an all-day workshop to educate journalists on this issue – the first of its kind in all India, and the first of many we will hold.

Another critical issue is the partnership between NGOs and the panchayats. In some areas, NGOs distrust panchayats and perceive them as a threat to their position as service providers. In Rajasthan next Monday, THP is holding the first-ever roundtable of leaders of panchayats and NGOs to establish an authentic partnership for empowering people’s self-reliance.

Perhaps the most important missing element for panchayat leaders to succeed is training. Women need to know their rights and their responsibilities as panchayat leaders. They need to be knowledgeable of critical development issues for their community and learn how to access resources. Men panchayat leaders need to be sensitized to gender issues, and trained to overcome attitudes and behaviors that prevent women members from exercising their responsibilities. We have already launched trainings of our own, and we intend to build coalitions of organizations to ensure that every panchayat leader receives the training they need.

As these new initiatives emerge, we will also continue our SPIA activities in all 11 states of India. As Dr. Subrahmanyum of Uttar Pradesh said in our meetings - "Give me a year and a half, Joan, and we'll have our state ready for this new program too."

In March, I travel to India. George Mathew – the nation’s top expert in panchayats – has invited me to speak to organizations in New Delhi which could become a powerful coalition for this issue. I will then go to Madhya Pradesh – one of India’s poorest states. Panchayat elections will have just been completed in the state. We will meet with newly elected women leaders to co-create the strategies for the next five years.

These initiatives in India and Bangladesh are at the forefront of society-wide change at an almost unprecedented scale. This is the kind of opportunity that I live for!

This is why the new Women’s Leadership Fund we launched in October is so important. To have $4 million committed by Charter Level Investors can give us a new level of financial strength we need to launch these new programs and further expand the African Woman Food Farmer Initiative.