www.womenscollective.net
Women's Collective, working in 22 districts of Tamilnadu with the headquarters based in Chennai. Women's Collective has been working in the development field for the last 30 years focussing on all round empowerment of the marginalised communities especially women.
We initiated our work through issues of violence against women and Children. We moved on to the issues of livelihood through self help groups in the late nineties. This paved the way to enter into the farming sector and the issues connected with it, as 70% of the rural poor are still dependent on farming and allied activities and there is increased feminization of farming and poverty.
The IPCC reports, GEAC approval of GMOs deepened our understanding and the focus on this sector.
We facilitated women farmers from the villages to come together mainly after the 2007 National Farming Policy which referred to all who were involved in farming activities as farmers. Our main demand is recognizing women farm labourers as farmers, extending all facilities and access & control over means of production, climate resilient farming trying to ensure nutritious food security of the marginalized communities. Ten years
back, we facilitated a separate women farmers association at the State
level which is a network member of the All India Millet Sister.
Regards,
Sheelu
www.womenscollective.net