JEEVAN-Women Led Empowering Action (WLEA) programme implemented by 11 partners in Maharashtra empowered rural women of Maharashtra to demand and organize 88 special Gram Sabhas in the last six months. Apart from this, JEEVAN increased women’s leadership in grassroots-level democracy and agriculture by creating solidarity and experience exchange platforms. This was shared during the 3-day review-cum-reflection meeting held in Mumbai during 14-16 February 2023.

Fr. (Dr.) Paul Moonjely, Executive Director of Caritas India, in his address, lauded the substantial contribution that JEEVAN has made to the empowerment of women of marginalized communities. “The impacts of the Jeevan programme prove that empowering women with information and capacities works wonders. Special Gram Sabha is a true expression of the empowerment of communities, especially women”, Fr. Paul said. He expressed satisfaction that JEEVAN has also contributed to the better delivery of government welfare and development services by increasing women-led transparency and accountability initiatives. “JEEVAN needs to further intensify the mission of helping women get their rightful position in all spheres of society. We need more women participation in governance and more decision-making powers for women in agriculture”, Fr. Paul added. He appreciated the partners for sustaining the empowerment processes in communities and continuing the legacy of the impactful two phases of the Jeevan programme.

Fr. Paul suggested conducting a vulnerability mapping and identifying the most vulnerable segments of society so that special efforts could be made for their empowerment and welfare. Fr. Paul also said that disempowered and marginalized sections like widows and people living with disabilities should be respected, recognized and given their due share.

JEEVAN-Women-Led Empowering Action is being implemented in 165 villages of 9 districts of Maharashtra covering 40,000 households. The programme works to increase women’s decision-making participation in governance and agriculture. Jeevan, which was launched in May 2022, has helped more than 8000 households to gain access to the benefits of government welfare and development schemes. Jeevan also empowered women to submit close to 6,000 applications at various government offices and panchayats to demand the benefits of government schemes. One of the main focuses of JEEVAN-WLEA is helping communities functionalize grassroots-level democracy systems, particularly Gram Sabha. By functionalizing grassroots-level democracy, JEEVAN fosters greater ownership and involvement of communities, especially women, in local decision-making systems.

During the 3-day review-cum-reflection, partners presented the impacts that were achieved in the last ten months. Addressing the review meeting Fr. (Dr.) Jolly Puthenpura said that JEEVAN needs to respond to the empowerment needs of communities. While socially and economically empowering communities, JEEVAN also should strengthen the livelihood and food security of communities. “For achieving food security of communities, especially Adivasi communities innovating measures need to be adopted including millet promotion. We need to join the Government of India in its mission of promoting millets and organize joint programmes with the district government for promoting millets”, Fr. Jolly opined. He underscored the need of helping farming communities gain more self-reliance in agriculture. While appreciating partners for the illustrious programme achievements, he urged them to also work on promoting amity and peace in communities.

JEEVAN programme has so far groomed 1200 women as lead farmers who conduct peer learning sessions on various sustainable agriculture practices of integrated pest management, integrated nutrient management, crop diversification, crop intensification etc. During the review partners informed that 160 women belonging to the community-based organisations had emerged victorious in the recently held panchayat elections.

The review meeting also featured an exhibition and exchange of indigenous seeds that JEEVAN-WLEA programme had conserved and promoted. Dr. Saju MK, Zone Thematic Lead and Mr. Melvin Pangya, State Programme Associate of Maharashtra, facilitated the three-day workshop.