 To support women’s work by providing a range of inputs, with especial focus on training for skill upgradation, and marketing linkages, in 8 sectors in which there is a high proportion of women workers: Dairy, agriculture, small animal husbandry, fisheries, handlooms, handicrafts, khadi and village industries, sericulture. Later, two more sectors, social forestry and waste land development, were added.

 Mobilising into groups to better address patriarchal constraints  Training, credit, marketing linkages – integrated package of inputs – to enhance productivity of women’s work and self employment  Higher incomes /economic empowerment will open up a pathway to overall empowerment

 Covering a large number of women and drawing more public resources towards them would change their role and status within the sector - move up the value chain, increase women’s overall contribution to sectoral output  Largely echoes the analysis in Shramshakti, National Commission for Self Employed Women and Women in the Informal Sector

 Over 55 percent of the total budget allocated to projects in 5 states (UP, Rajasthan, Orissa, Karnataka, and West Bengal)  In the period , 44 percent went to dairy projects: share went up to %.

 : by Planning Commission  Concluded that ‘the programme has not made much dent on making the economic activities of the women more viable in view of the rising inflation’

 ISST 2006  Impact at level of sector only perceptible in dairying  Poorest women excluded – self employment too risky  Training focus technical, not holistic  Non-involvement of men can be problematic  Administrative issues – delays, etc

Examples: A project leads to higher income or earning potential: but does it address impact on unpaid work and care; what would change? Adult women find work, adding to household income and their own eco empowerment – but are there inadvertent outcomes – eg irregular girls attendance in school; reduced milk consumption of children? Women receive training for new forms of income generating activity: but cannot question/ change seclusion norms: eg carpet weaving for own use, not for market

 Training of adult women in growing medicinal plants for sale does not translate into actual production for the market: project did not factor in the fact of land ownership by men  Challenge: Seeking sustainable change, progress towards gender equality and ‘empowerment’ – but trajectories of change not pre-determined