Background
The Beed District, in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra State, is a drought-prone and one of the poorest districts in the State. With no major industry and monsoon- dependent, Beed District has recently emerged as the killing field of female infants. Its current sex ratio is the lowest in the country, 769 females : 1000 males. Deserted and destitute women are a common phenomenon in Beed. With female illiteracy at 70% and desertion of married women at 30%, it is a common phenomenon that destitute women are subject to physical and mental violence, liquor abuse and dowry harassment.
Objective
Self-sustaining and socio-economic empowerment of deserted women in 35 villages of the Beed District.
Activities
Baseline surveys were run to identify the initial situation of the beneficiaries. Following the survey results the follwing activities took place:
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Formation of Self Help Groups (SHG) focused on financial assistance: Self Help Groups to acquire income-generating skills (for deserted women), provide financial orientation and provision of information on government schemes, establishment of bank linkages.
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Women as co-owners: orientation and assistance for the application of womens registration as co-owners of their property (with husband).
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Pregnancies: awareness raising campaign "Save the Girl " as to conscientise the population on limiting sex selective foetus abortion. Use of posters, organisation of village meeting (gram sabha) and village rallies
Results
General result (participation in the SHG): Women have raised their social and economic status and villagers have positively changed their attitudes towards them otherwise unseen or neglected, in particular deserted women. Women have become bold, daring participating in village assemblies and putting forward their problems.
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Financial assistance: assisted and guided a total 257 women to avail financial assistance under various government schemes.
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Women as co-proprietors: among 643 applications submitted for registering the names of wives and the co-owners of husbands property, 208 names were registered. Becoming joint owners of their households has ensured womens security. Now husbands cannot simply throw wives out of the house nor can they sell the jointly owned property without the consent of the wives.
People being served
People being served : Women
Age group : Adults 26-60
Number of participants : >500
Schedule
Project status : Completed
Project is for three years.
Images
Overview
Society presence : India
Focus of the project : People
JPIC Imperative : Transforming and Being Transformed
UN Sustainable Development Goals : 1 No Poverty, 17 Partnerships for the Goals, 5 Gender Equality
