:: Women in Governance

APMSS has attempted to create time and scope for rural women to critically analyse and understand the factors influencing their lives. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment in the year 1994 further strengthened these facilitative processes. During the intial stages of the Sanghams, discussions were centered on Panchayat systems, entitlments and the role women could play especially within the Panchayat in the light of the opportunity provided through the provision of reservations. As a result, Sanghams realized that women's political participation is an important aspect of Women's Empowerment. Questioning the general belief that Panchayat is a place of men, Sangham women made their entry into political domain, though it was not a smooth process without any challenge. Towards this APMSS supported them by various initiatives as the following: Perspective building on the role of women in governance and generating awareness on the functioning of local bodies Pre-election voter awareness campaigns Training for elected women representatives for various bodies on roles and responsibilities Sangham as a pressure group at village and mandal level to ensure effective functioning of GP Capacity building to issue committees and elected women representatives in three-tier Panchayati Raj institutions  Capacity building and gender sensitization to Grama Panchayat members Facilitating Sanghams work with GP and the community towards making the identified villages as model for development - Adarsha Panchayats Facilitating and strengthening All Women Panchayats Focussed literacy sessions and short term literacy camps to elected women representatives to build their literacy skills Networking all elected women representatives at the mandal and district level for building their skills and for creation of larger forums for action Convergence with AMR-APARD for developing material, modules and capacity building to elected representatives of PRIs Introducing governance issues in the curriculum in all educational interventions 1874 Sangham women got elected into Panchayats at different levels in 2006 Panchayat Elections. The number grew to 1926 with more elected women representatives joining the Sanghams