The Ministry of Rural Development, in collaboration with IWWAGE, held a two-day Consultative Workshop on the Gender Resource Centre in New Delhi. During his keynote speech, Shri Charanjit Singh, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development, highlighted that DAY NRLM has been actively focusing on integrating gender considerations into its program since 2016.
The primary objective is to empower women by enhancing their voice, choice, and agency. Recognizing the need to address issues related to gender-specific entitlements and rights, the establishment of a Gender Resource Centre was deemed necessary. This centre would offer solutions to a diverse range of complex cases that require coordination with other government departments.
In her introductory remarks for the workshop, Smt. Smriti Sharan, Joint Secretary, highlighted how the DAY-NRLM has initiated a significant transformation in the country, operating on the core foundation of empowering women through the establishment of women-led and women-owned institutions. She emphasized that the DAY-NRLM program is built upon two fundamental principles: promoting social empowerment and economic empowerment for rural underprivileged women.
The establishment of the Gender Resource Centre (GRC) was acknowledged as a milestone achievement, affirming DAY-NRLM's unwavering dedication to advancing women's empowerment. Additionally, Sharon Buteau, Executive Director of LEAD at Krea University, emphasized the importance of evidence-based research in identifying essential elements for effective interventions.
The workshop saw active participation from 75 attendees representing 15 states, including CSO partners and gender experts. The discussions during the workshop brought to light the key aspects for enhancing the Gender Resource Centre through collaborative group efforts. The valuable insights shared by participants from various states, such as Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Nagaland, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Kerala, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Tripura, served as a reaffirmation of the necessary endeavors to strengthen the Gender Resource Centre in the nation.
In her concluding statement, Joint Secretary Smriti Sharan expressed that the discussions had provided an opportunity to contemplate the current scope of the Gender Resource Centre (GRC) and the tasks that lie ahead. She also emphasized that if GRCs are envisioned as the highest authority among community institutions at the Block level, then their role should reflect a higher level of significance. Furthermore, she underscored that the GRC's purpose extends beyond simply addressing individual cases; it is a holistic endeavor to combat gender inequality in its entirety.
