Uttarakhand Mahila Parishad
Women’s
Literacy
Adolescent
Education |
Uttarakhand Mahila
Parishad
(Uttarakhand Women’s Federation) |
Uttarakhand Mahila Parishad-UMP, which means
Uttarakhand Women’s Federation, was set up
in 2001 at Almora, with the joint efforts of
our partner organizations and rural women to
provide a state level organisation promoting
collective action to achieve gender equality
and justice. Spread over nine hill districts
of the state of Uttarakhand, UMP consists of
490 groups with approximately 16,000 rural
women as members.
In a village, all women are members of a
single group called the mahila sangathan
or the whole village group-WVG. Efforts are
made to ensure that irrespective of caste,
class and other disparities, all women join
together to form one group and a sense of
bonding and solidarity prevails. Each WVG
has an elected female president, and
sometimes, a secretary.
UMP is the largest network of rural women’s
groups in Uttarakhand, and hosts programmes
that enable women to invest in social
relations to gain access to and to have
control over resources at household,
community, regional and state level. The
network brings together WVGs of each cluster
of villages to form kshetriya mahila
sangthan (regional federations) which
consolidate at the state level to form UMP.
Though WVGs and the regional federations
take decisions on initiating any activity in
the community and manage their resources -
for example, time, natural resources,
village funds etc., a support system is
required to provide information and new
ideas and to coordinate activities that WVGs
take up from time to time. UMP raises the
required funds, organizes workshops and
training programmes and monitors activities.
Depending on their needs, WVGs take up the
following activities:
• Organize regular monthly meetings in the
village
• Raise awareness on education, especially
schooling and retention of girls
• Literacy and education for adult women
• Protection, conservation, regeneration,
sustainable management of forests, land and
water
• Access to safe sanitation facilities to
poor, widowed, deserted women and others
• Preventive health care and nutrition of
women and girls
• Cleaning of the village
• Prevention of violence against women and
children
• Action against alcoholism, illegal mining,
deforestation etc.
• Action to demand appointment of teachers,
doctors and for regular supply of
electricity, water etc.
• Access to government programmes on
development
• Representation and participation of women
in Panchayats and other committees
• Exposure tours for rural women
• Documentation of women’s experiences
• Annual publication of a women’s magazine
called “Nanda”, with contributions by the
village women.
Every year the UMP organises over 15
regional congregations of women in villages
spread over Kumaon and Garhwal regions of
Uttarakhand. Congregations provide a forum
to rural women to raise their concerns,
share experiences and plan for the future.
Research Project
In 2013, an ICSSR sponsored 2 year research
project on disaster and gender was entrusted
to USNPSS, addressing two themes:
1. Gender issues in the development of
ecologically fragile zones, a case study of
the village communities in Uttarakhand and
2. Gender and Disaster: Women affected by
disasters and their coping strategies in
Uttarakhand.
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