Context: In this article we discuss how Leverage women’s collectives and the Panchayati Raj system helps in achieving our SDGs .
Note: Women's collective is a group of women who meet regularly to achieve a shared purpose. For example: In India’s rural areas, SHGs are an example of women collectives.

• However, these groups take many forms across the world, with women coming together for different economic, legal, health, and cultural reasons. 

Key Points

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global effort that has one major objective — achieving a better future for all. To achieve these global and national targets, localisation is a crucial lever.
• It correlates how local and State governments can support the accomplishments of the SDGs through bottom-up action, and how the SDGs can provide a framework for local policy.
• If India is to achieve its goals by 2030, it must build a mechanism for effectively localising the SDGs — one that leverages and integrates the social capital that exists in women’s collectives and with the local self-governance of the Panchayati Raj system.

Significance of Women Collectives

Overcome Social Inequalities: Women collectives have successfully overcome the deep-rooted bias of caste, patriarchy, and wealth by challenging norms and unequal social relations.

• They encourage collective efforts for combating practices like dowry, alcoholism etc.

Paving Way For Gram Swaraj: Women collectives have created conditions for social equality and ultimately, paving the way for Gram Swaraj.

• The women of Kudumbashree in Kerala exemplify this.
• By articulating the aspirations of the local community, the women were able to engage elected representatives in a two-way process — complementing their efforts while also holding them accountable.

Gender Equity: Women collectives empower women and inculcates leadership skills among them. Empowered women participate more actively in developmental processes, gram sabha and elections.

• There is evidence that formation of Self-Help Groups has a multiplier effect in improving women’s status in society as well as in the family leading to improvement in their socio-economic condition and also enhances their self-esteem.

Financial Inclusion: Women collectives reach to the poorest of the poor section of society further financial inclusion.

• The financial inclusion attained leads to reduced child mortality, improved maternal health and the ability of the poor to combat disease through better nutrition, housing and health – especially among women and children.

Challenges

• Challenges of LImited Resources: Undoubtedly, there are inherent challenges associated with involving community institutions like SHGs in developing the Gram Panchayat Development Plan, including human resources, capacities, and disaggregating department budgets.
• Lack of knowledge and proper orientation among SHG-members to take up suitable and profitable livelihood options.
• Patriarchal Mindset: Primitive thinking and social obligations discourage women from participating in women collectives (SHGs) thus limiting their economic avenues.
• Lack of Rural Banking Facilities: Many public sector banks and micro-finance institutions are unwilling to provide financial services to the poor as the cost of servicing remains high.
• Sustainability and the quality of operations of the SHGs have been a matter of considerable debate.

Suggestion

Leverage the Strength of Women Collectives: Today, 76 million women have been mobilised into SHGs under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission and there are 3.1 million elected panchayat representatives.

• For localisation of SDGs to truly work, there is a need to leverage the strength of both (PRIs & SHGs) these institutions through a partnership.

Reinforcing the Panchayat: To truly localise the SDGs, the route ought to be taken within the framework of the Constitution.

• Any action should not form a parallel track, but become a way of reinforcing the institutional capacity of panchayats.

Learning From the Experience: The five southern States — Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana — have done better than the others when it comes to poverty reduction.

• There are five things that these States did that seem to have played a significant role in curbing poverty.
• The participation of adolescent girls in secondary, higher secondary, and higher education.
• The decline in fertility has a far greater correlation to the participation of adolescent girls in secondary, higher secondary education than any healthcare and family welfare services.

The formation of collectives: when women came together to form SHGs it created an identity outside of the house.

• Since these women over time had had basic secondary level education, their collectives or SHGs could leverage skills and diverse livelihood opportunities better than others.
• The decision that permitted lending of up to Rs. 10 lakh without collateral for women SHGs, has recently been raised by the RBI to ?20 lakh.

More Responsibility For PRIs: The 73rd Constitution Amendment transferred 29 subjects to PRIs. For successful localisation of development, PRIs need not only emphasise their governance role but also focus on their developmental role.

• The entire discourse should focus on how to enable PRIs to focus on their leadership role in achieving the SDGs.
• This would need work on many leadership traits — visioning, mobilising and seeking partnerships, among others.

Leveraging Social Capital: There are not many conversations about social capital being a strong foundation for economic activity. Ultimately, localisation efforts should lead to transformation not in social relationships alone, but also the level of economic activity in villages.
Road Ahead

• Innovation and collaboration through engagement with community foundations must be advocated for achieving the SDGs . Localising the SDGs at the rural level will not only challenge existing unequal relations but also provide an institutional framework that is in sync with national and global priorities. There’s a need to look at these small collectives as the root of more shared growth.

By: Shubham Tiwari