All throughout India, there are tremendous forces of opposition to women's leadership and the success of panchayati raj.   

At the local level, the entrenched subjugation of women makes it challenging for women to participate. Women representatives  must take action despite significant constraints on their time, opposition from husbands and family, and social customs that confine them to the home.

Women representatives risk harassment, violence, and even death, all for their willingness to serve their community. 

At the state and national level, there is resistance to the idea of decentralized democracy, since it requires that power and resources shift hands from national leaders and bureaucrats, to local people.

Throughout society, there is insufficient recognition of the extraordinary social experiment that panchayati raj represents.

The Hunger Project is committed to take the actions that will transform this situation and overcome the obstacles.

Panchayati raj is not a "quick fix."  It will take years of hard work. For individual women representatives, it requires the confrontation – day, after day, after day – with the social forces that try to suppress their contributions and their leadership.

Yet, Indian activists, thinkers, and women representatives themselves have said, women and panchayati raj is the pathway to a new future in India – of social justice, economic prosperity, and human development.

The efforts of 1 million elected representatives, over many years, will add up to a true social revolution, the greatest social experiment of our time.

On September 23rd, The Hunger Project will launch and unveil its strategies to support the great opportunity for ending hunger that this revolution represents.