(a) whether the Government has formulated a scheme to set up National Mission for Empowerment of Women for inter-regional convergence of women centric programmes throughout the country?
(b) if so, details of places where mission has been set up by the Government, State wise whether the Government is considering to launch more schemes in this regard; and
(c) the feature of the Mission along with the kind of women likely to be benefitted:
MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI MANEKA SANJAY GANDHI)
(a): Yes, Madam.
(b): At the Central Level, a Mission Directorate and National Resource Centre for Women (NRCW) with gender experts has been set up to provide technical support to Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Government of India, other line Ministries and States on issues related to women.
In the States, State Mission Authorities (SMA) have been constituted to serve as an apex body of the mission for policy guidance and oversight in the States. This body is headed by respective Chief Ministers/Administrators and includes Ministries of other relevant line departments as members with the Minister, Department of Women and Child Development as the convener. SMA has been notified by 32 States/UTs. The list of states where SMAs have been notified is at Annexure-1
The State Resource Centre for Women (SRCW) has been set up with gender experts to provide secretarial and technical support to the Department of WCD in the States. The SRCW has been set up in 31 States/UTs. This serves as the implementing arm of the Mission in States under the Secretary of Social Welfare and Ministry of Women and Child Development. The list of states where SRCWs have been set up is at Annexure-2.
At the district level, convergence cum facilitation centres for women have been set up in select districts to improve access to government schemes and programmes spread across different departments and also to generate greater awareness on social issues related to women such as issues related to violence against women, child sex ratio, child marriage, sanitation etc. Currently, Poorna Shakti Kendras have been operationalized in 33 districts as per the list is at Annexure-3
(c): The Mission aims to strengthen the processes which promote holistic development and empowerment of women, gender equality and gender justice through inter-sectoral convergence of programmes that impact women, forge synergy among various stakeholders and create an enabling environment conducive to social change. The focus areas of the Mission are to combat violence against women, improving child sex ratio, prevent child marriage, address the issues related to ttrafficking, health & sanitation, economic empowerment and financial inclusion,etc. The State Resource Centre for Women (SRCW), Village Convergence cum Facilitation Centres (VCFC) is trained to focus their efforts towards the aforesaid target groups through policy and programmatic interventions.
The Key Strategies adopted are fostering Inter-sectoral convergence on issues related to gender and women empowerment between different line Ministries, Departments and functionaries; continuous efforts for building capacities of different functionaries on gender issues through training and sensitization programmes; undertaking research, review of schemes, programmes and legislations, and gender audits to support evidence based policy making; promoting economic empowerment of women through linkages between sectoral programmes related with skill and entrepreneurship development, micro-credit, vocational training and SHG development; awareness generation on gender issues and schemes and programmes meant for women; prioritising issues related to gender through Panchayati Raj Institutions; women’s collectives and community groups; using innovative communication channels for public education with objective to bring about behaviour change; developing convergence forums for women at different levels; strengthening delivery mechanisms for improving the outreach of schemes and programmes meant for women; collection, compilation and analysis of gender disaggregated data at different levels etc.
The target group includes, economically disadvantaged women in rural and urban areas, women belonging to socially backward communities (SC, ST, OBC) and religious minorities, vulnerable & marginalised women and women in difficult circumstances, women impacted by violence such as domestic violence, witch-hunting and acid attacks, women/girls affected by trafficking, women impacted by internal displacement, disasters and migration, homeless, destitute, elderly, differently-abled & single women and transgender persons, women living with HIV/ AIDS & other communicable diseases, elected women representatives of local bodies, adolescent girls and youth etc.