National Workshop on Strengthening Women’s Leadership in Panchayats

Building further on the efforts on Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership (WPEL), PRIA organised a national workshop on "Strengthening Women’s Leadership in Panchayats" at the India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC), New Delhi, on 9-10 March 2010.

The objective of the workshop was to provide a national platform to the women leaders in Panchayats from the states to exchange their leadership experiences and learn more on political leadership. Discussions at the two-day event focused on topics and issues pertinent to political leadership like constituency building, issues and challenges during elections, constituency building skills, besides communication and interaction skills. A group visit was also organised to the Office of Rashtriya Sahara, where the women participants interacted with media personnel.

Women panchayat and community leaders from the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand attended the event. The participants have been associated with the WPEL programme and have either recently contested panchayat elections (in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan) or will be contesting panchayat elections in the near future (in Haryana and Jharkhand).