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Sowing Innovation
As
recent events have demonstrated, the magnitude of natural
disasters—whether hurricane, tsunami, earthquake, or flood—is amplified
by poverty. In communities already coping with tremendous challenges,
women’s contributions to recovery can make a critical difference.
“Women’s Participation in Disaster Relief and Recovery,” the latest
issue of the SEEDS pamphlet series, underscores what local women
accomplished after earthquakes struck their communities in India and
Turkey. SEEDS is widely distributed throughout the developing
world and is available electronically online at
http://www.popcouncil.org/seeds.
The SEEDS series—now in its 25th year—was developed by the
Population Council to provide information about innovative, practical
programs addressing the economic roles and needs of low-income women in
developing countries. The pamphlets are designed to share knowledge and
to spark new initiatives guided by what works in the real world. They
describe the basis for actions and their implementation in the hope that
the lessons learned can be useful to women facing similar circumstances.
Funded by the Ford Foundation, the series is moving from its original
home at the Population Council to The New School’s Graduate Program in
International Affairs. The transition to The New School is an important
capacity-building initiative that will give young practitioners entering
the field of international development broader knowledge of strategies
and policies for strengthening women’s earning potential and improving
their working and living conditions. Judith Bruce, program director for
the Council’s Gender, Family, and Development Program, will remain on
the SEEDS advisory committee.
The impact of SEEDS is movingly described in excerpts from a July 2005
letter to Sandy Schilen, longtime editor of SEEDS, from Shivani
Bhardwaj, Program Director, Sathi All for Partnerships, and Coordinator,
Consult for Women and Land Rights, New Delhi:
I am writing to
share with you how significant and useful the SEEDS publication “Are
We Not Peasants Too?,” by Bina Agarwal, has proved for innumerable
organisations and individuals in our region. In fact, the usefulness
of this publication cannot be overstated. Our organisation—Sathi All
for Partnerships, Consult for Women and Land Rights—and our many
partners have used it like a primer for spreading awareness on the
issue of women and land rights both locally and globally.
We have used this publication in workshops at the village level, for
training NGO activists, and for lobbying the government and
international agencies, so that they take up this issue in action
and policy. Since it is available both in English and in the Hindi
translation published here (as also in Gujarati), it has had an
extensive reach and impact.
The village women consider the volume their prized possession. I
have seen them carry the booklet in their bags for months after they
have attended a workshop. They carry it around even though they
cannot read it, as they have memorized which page they may ask to be
opened in a courtroom or during a village council (panchayat)
meeting to get across the fact that women do have land rights. . . .
Some days ago our Prime Minister received a letter from the National
Advisory Council chaired by The President of Congress Party [saying]
that land rights and inheritance rights, especially on agriculture
land for women, needs to be an issue of priority for our government.
This significant move has been a result of the hard work of many
individuals which has been captured very successfully in the
SEEDS
publication. This body of knowledge has been turned into information
that could be picked up to build an action agenda for activists and
policy influencers.
The SEEDS
publication has been a pioneer. Indeed it is a jewel in the
documentation that helps strengthen positive approaches for the
realization of women’s right to agricultural land.
(Return to issue contents)
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