7th Martha Farrell Award Ceremony

The Martha Farrell Award for Excellence in Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality has been instituted to honour Dr. Martha Farrell and her ideals. It is a first-of-its-kind initiative to discover, recognize, and honor mid-career individuals and committed institutions that have made valuable contributions in the areas of women’s empowerment, gender equality, and living feminism in their everyday lives and practices. 

The Award offers nominees and winners a platform to grow and network with like-minded professionals and institutions working in the space of gender empowerment and equality. Winners also receive a prize money component of INR 1,50,000 each.

The 7th Martha Farrell Award ceremony, jointly organised by PRIA, Martha Farrell Foundation, and Rural Development Trust was held on October 16th, 2023 at KE Auditorium, Christ University (Hosur Main Road, Bhavani Nagar, S.G. Palya, Bengaluru, Karnataka).

Ms. Deepthi Bopaiah (CEO, GoSports Foundation) presented the ‘Most Promising Individual’ award to Ms. Mohini Devi. Ms. Mohini is a women's rights and Dalit rights activist from Karnal, Haryana. She is the founder of Avira Foundation, a lawyer, and a core member of Dalit Women Fight. Mohini identifies and advocates for justice in cases of sexual harassment, rape, and caste-based atrocities. She collectivizes and mentors women and girls as community leaders, through community-based Youth Groups, and has also worked to facilitate girls’ leadership and educational attainment, and to identify and mitigate caste-based and gender-based violence and discrimination.

Mr. Mohan HL (CEO, Karnataka Health Promotion Trust) presented the Special Jury Award (Individual) to Ms. Dipika Thakur. Ms. Thakur is a Transgender rights advocate from New Delhi, whose aim is to create a rights-based, stigma-free, and inclusive society for the holistic development of the Transgender community through proper implementation of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, with full and active support from the government and social sector. Dipika is a National Program Officer at the India HIV/AIDS Alliance. She builds the capacity of Transgender rights community-based organisations, and advances the educational attainment, skills building, and employment of Transgender individuals. Additionally, Dipika is a gender sensitization trainer for the All India Institute Of Medical Science and has undertaken sensitization initiatives on gender and LGBTQ+ issues in schools, colleges, and corporations.

The Award for ‘Best Organisation for Gender Equality’ was presented to Nari-o-Sishu Kalyan Kendra by Ms. Sudha Srinivas, who's the CEO of The/Nudge. Established in Howrah, West Bengal in 1979, NOSKK works to mitigate Gender-based Violence and Discrimination and to facilitate and advocate for the socio-economic empowerment, political inclusion, and rights and welfare of women, children, migrant workers, minorities, and other vulnerable groups in West Bengal and Jharkhand. NOSKK is a women-led organisation, with a Governing Board composed of seven women, all of whom have decades of experience in working on NOSKK programs on the ground. They continue to provide consistent opportunities for capacity building and leadership positions to their predominantly female and locally recruited team and have implemented comprehensive policies and best practices to ensure the welfare and safety of their team members.

Following this, the final ‘Special Jury Award’ (organisation) was presented by Padma Shri Aloysius Prakash Fernandez, Member Secretary to Myrada, to Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal. RMKM, established in Ajmer, Rajasthan in 1975, works to empower socially deprived communities, especially women and disabled persons, through education, awareness building, natural resource management, health education, capacity building, formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs), microcredit programs, and the implementation of a school for Persons With Disabilities (PWDs). RMKM’s team is largely made up of women who are recruited from amongst SHGs members, mothers of children with disabilities, and past graduates of RMKM's school for PWDs. They have made significant gender mainstreaming efforts through the implementation of policies and practices that ensure the well-being and build the capacity of their predominantly female team.