THP-India

The Hunger Project Online Briefing Program  THP in India - Empowering Women Panchayat Leaders  Page 11 of  23

Women

The Hunger Project takes strategic action in each of the 11 states where it works.  THP-India combines leadership development, grass-roots mobilization and innovative strategies to result in concrete and lasting improvements in people’s lives. You can visit the India pages of The Hunger Project's website for more information on this work.

Andhra Pradesh: In five districts, The Hunger Project works with thousands of women to improve incomes, with training in mushroom cultivation, leaf-plate making, handicrafts, nutrition gardening and vermi-composting.

Bihar: The law in Bihar prevented women from forming fishing co-operatives. The Hunger Project council got the law changed, and provided training to enable women to form 60 co-operatives.

Gujarat: A Hunger Project mobile training center is bringing health and income-earning skills training door-to-door to 9,000 below-poverty-line families in 100 villages.

Karnataka: By mobilizing logistical support from Escorts Ltd., The Hunger Project enabled people in the drought-prone Kolar and Tumkur Districts to desilt and repair water reservoirs (tanks) so that people could re-establish irrigated agriculture. The Hunger Project brought officials to see the success, which sparked a government commitment to desilt 20,000 tanks across the state.

Madhya Pradesh: The Hunger Project works with five block-level panchayats to devise and launch new strategies for increased income through formation of self-help groups and promotion of fisheries, goat husbandry and reduction of soil erosion.

Maharashtra: Holistic, women-centered strategies — including formation of women’s self-help groups, health camps, organic farming, watershed development and vocational training — are under way in three districts.

Orissa: The Hunger Project mobilizes agricultural experts to assist people in the poorest districts in identifying, obtaining and planting improved rice seeds. Credit is provided to enable people to diversify their production, to include potatoes and onions.

Tamil Nadu: The Hunger Project has pioneered a diverse set of new, environmentally sustainable income schemes for poor women in a program that has now been adopted and expanded by the UN Development Program.

Uttar Pradesh: In 121 villages of the Brahmpur Block, Gorakhpur District, local people were mobilized to build and operate 40 primary health centers, providing primary health services to all 150,000 people of the block. The program has been so successful that it is being re-created by two other blocks in the state.

Rajasthan: A law prevented farmers resettled near a canal from gaining bank loans to enable them to level their land and utilize the water. The Hunger Project got the law changed and trained the villagers in growing high-value seed crops.

West Bengal: The Hunger Project, working with Unicef and the state government, created a training program for newly elected panchayat members on how to provide good village governance, health and education services. The state has delivered this training to more than 100,000 local leaders.

THP-India

The Hunger Project Online Briefing Program  THP in India - Empowering Women Panchayat Leaders  Page 11 of  23

Women