Federating Elected Women Representatives of Local Bodies in India

Federating Elected Women Representatives in Rural Local Bodies is a current subject in the domain of new local governance paradigm. It was initiated first in South India with the support of the Ford Foundation. Subsequently many donor agencies evinced keen interest in federating the Elected Women Representatives in different parts of the country. As a result many civil society organizations have involved in forming federations among the Elected Women Representatives in their respective areas. The federations have produced results of varying intensity. Having seen the larger implications, the Government of India has adopted this as a major exercise and supported those initiatives. Yet sufficient academic attention was not given on this subject. Worthwhile publications have not been brought out barring a few and they are also not exhaustive. A few documents are available but they are based on the experience of the project activities in the given state, hence this attempt. This book is a compilation of the experiences of the institutions and individuals involved in federating the Elected Women Representatives in different states in India. Along with above articles a report prepared by SDC based on the experience shared in a workshop distilling the major achievements and weakness in those project activities in federating the women leaders is attached which gives an overall picture about the trend in federating the Elected Women Representatives in rural local governance in India.