Almost 335 women from Raipur District from five Gram Panchayats took part in a day-long workshop on “Enhancing the Capacities of the Women in Panchayati Raj Systems” in Raipur Chattisgarh on January 20, 2020 organised by the Naveen Ankur Mahila Mandal in association with the GSDS. The chief guest on the occasion was Shri Sanjay Srivastava. The other guests included MS. Savita Parate, Sarpanch Dhamat Gaikwad from Mandir Hasood, Advocate Mrs. Tuli Majo Madar and CO Nagar Nigam Raipur, Ms. Usha Rai. Smt Meena Gautam of Naveen Ankur Mahila Mandal was also present on the occasion.
The discussion focused on these key factors:
1. Education for girls
2. Build capacities of Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) for effective functioning and setting of women’s agenda.
3. Institutionalize mechanisms to strengthen capacity building of EWRs to better understand and perform their functions.
4. Mobilize community and strengthen processes of constituency building to enable women to articulate their voices and participate in the electoral process.
5. Mobilizing people to participate in gram sabha meetings
6. Strengthening women’s collectives and building networks
The speakers felt that experience sharing of EWRs needs to be actively encouraged, wider publicity to success stories and greater exposure for women’s groups though visits and sammelans is required. Documentation and record keeping are additional areas that require attention. Another major component that needs to be strengthened is the interventions that are specifically targeted at women belonging to marginalized sections.
Interactive sessions with the participants were also organized. Cultural presentations by local artists added colour to the programme. Earlier children from the primary school led the invocation. 50 women from different Gram Panchayat who have done commendable work in their area and have made themselves self empowered were felicitated by the guests with mementos.