Pilot Convergence models for women empowerment

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Date of Issue: 02 November, 2012 Closing Date: 30 November, 2012 Reference Number: 1-100/2012/NRCW/NMEW/PA&EE

National Mission for Empowerment of Women Ministry of Women and Child Development Government of India

F. No- 1-100/2012/NRCW/NMEW/PA&EE

Date-02/11/2012

Government of India Ministry of Women and Child Development National Mission for Empowerment of Women ***
Subject: Call for Proposals from Agency (ies) for undertaking Pilot convergence models for empowerment of women

You are invited to submit proposals for undertaking Pilot convergence models for empowerment of women as per this call for proposals document (Document) on or before 30th November, 2012, at 17:00 hrs quoting Proposals for pilot convergence models for empowerment of women therein as the subject and addressed to Ms. Rashmi Singh or Mr. Pradeep Kapoor

Via post to, National Mission for Empowerment of Women, Ministry of Women and Child Development Room No 117, First Floor, Janpath Hotel, Janpath, New Delhi-110001 Or via email to rashmi.singh@nic.in, dsnmew-wcd@nic.in it-nmew@nic.in

If you request for additional information, the same shall be provided expeditiously, but any delay in providing such information will not be considered a reason for extending the submission date of your proposal. For any queries you may write to rashmi.singh@nic.in.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background The National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW), Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India (GOI) is inviting proposals for pilot convergence models for empowerment of women with thematic focus more elaborately described here

under from agencies which may include duly registered NGOs, universities, research institutions which satisfy the eligibility and pre-qualification criteria provided in this Document. The Pilots will be funded under the NMEW, Ministry of Women and Child Development.

NMEW is an initiative of the GOI for empowering women holistically. It is conceived as an umbrella mission with a mandate to strengthen inter-sectoral convergence and facilitate the process of coordinating all the womens welfare and socio economic development programmes across ministries and departments. The Mission is mandated to facilitate the processes that contribute to economic empowerment of women, eliminate violence against women, social empowerment of women with emphasis on health and education, gender mainstreaming of policies, programmes and institutional arrangements and awareness generation and advocacy for bridging information and service gaps.

The pilot convergence models are meant to demonstrate convergence of programmes and schemes in the field level. It is borne from the fact that, better convergence between the schemes, especially, flagship schemes in terms of planning, process and implementation will bring substantial improvements in overall development outcomes. Though, large public investments are made by Central and State Governments through schemes and programmes in various sectors like health, education, employment and social security etc., the primary focus is always on meeting goals of the respective ministries and departments. The pilot convergence models present an opportunity to optimize these efforts through inter-sectoral coordination to meet the larger objective of overall development and empowerment of people, especially the women.

Objective and Scope of the Assignment

Pilots are proposed to be implemented throughout the country. However, the focus will be on districts having poor indicators on variables like overall sex ratio, child sex ratio, female literacy, female work participation etc., which is a reflection of status of women. One of the standards is to use the 260 gender-critical districts (including cities/towns) identified for census 2011. These districts were identified based on low sex ratio (less than 900); low female literacy (less than 30%) or low female work participation rate (less than 20%) using 2001 census data for focused attention during the 2011 census.
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Proposals for pilot convergence models aimed towards implementing pilots in such districts are encouraged. However, since the pilots are on various themes, variables related to the concerned issues may also be used for identifying the district. Studies already conducted, baseline surveys, geographical sampling, needs assessment etc. will prove useful in understanding the rationale for selection of the geographical area for selection.

The pilot convergence models are meant to demonstrate convergence of programmes, laws and schemes of Central and State Governments, CBOs and PRIs for several thematic areas of action, an illustrative list of which is as follows: Economic Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation which may involve, inter alia any of the following Skill up-gradation for gainful employment for women through sustainable market linkages Employment & Self Employment promotion for Women Livelihood Promotion for Women Promotion of Asset creation for Women Financial Inclusion of Women Transfer of Technology for Drudgery reduction for Women Health & Nutrition which may involve, inter alia any of the following Demonstration of processes for improving health & nutritional status of women (with a focus on malnutrition & anaemia) Empowering Adolescent Girls and Boys for improving reproductive and social health through convergence Gender Rights, Gender Based Violence and Law Enforcement which may involve, inter alia any of the following Violence against women - Crisis redressal & intervention Secure and Enabling Environment: Pilots demonstrating safe public spaces for women & girls. Understanding Laws impacting women and girls and Capacity Building of stakeholders (including but not limited to functionaries, community resource persons, women, girls and men) Empowerment of Vulnerable and Marginalized Groups and Women in Difficult Circumstances which may involve, inter alia any of the following

 Developing Relief and Rehabilitation Model for Women in Disturbed Areas: A study of North East India. Mainstreaming of Homeless/Destitute Women through Convergence Mainstreaming of Women Safai Karamcharis Social Empowerment and Education which may involve, inter alia any of the following Convergence model for demonstrating NGO-PRI partnership for promotion of quality education for women. Action Research on the impact of Right to Education (RTE) in gender critical areas with focus on marginalized community. Others Proposals for any other thematic areas that contribute to empowerment of women through convergence initiatives can be submitted stating clearly the outputs from the pilots.

Proposals on the themes specified above are strongly encouraged. A more detailed description of the specified themes and guidelines in this regard are at Annexure C. The pilot convergence models (Models) should attempt to i) synergize the stand alone efforts of departments through inter-sectoral coordination to meet the larger objective of overall development and empowerment of women; ii) iii) create awareness about entitlements flowing through schemes and programmes; harness strength of collective bargaining for rights, strengthen community involvement in monitoring mechanisms, involve and train relevant functionaries and, iv) Where applicable, energize the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) and build their capacity for sustaining the Pilots.

The Models need to involve LSG institutions and existing functionaries and government institutions in the various phases of implementation and should involve multiple level interventions. They must be innovative models reflecting convergence and must provide for documentation of the process and learnings and indicate measures for up scaling and replication.

Eligibility and pre-qualification criteria 1. The Models will be implemented within the geographical jurisdiction of a district for rural areas while being limited to a Corporation or Municipality boundaries in case of urban regions. (One Model should not cover more than one district, municipality, corporation etc.) A minimum coverage of 10 panchayats is essential. Also, while intensive work may happen at the panchayat level, linkages at district and block level and engagement of such higher level institutions is essential. The scale and scope of intervention will vary according to thematic area and geographical variations. The models will be for a period of 1 year from initiation of Project, which period may be extended at the discretion of NMEW. 2. The eligibility and pre-qualification criteria for the selected agencies are:
a. Agencies engaging or having engaged in the relevant thematic area; b. Agencies with experience in the following: i. ii. Womens development and empowerment; Convergence issues, especially with central and state government programmes; and iii. Projects that are multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral,

c. Agencies having at least 5 years of legal existence, and d. Agencies having executed projects of at least 10 lacs of value in the past 5 years.

3. The proposals should be in the format provided at Annexure A. 4. The proposals should conform to the financial norms provided at Annexure B. 5. In case of submission of proposals for any of the themes specified herein above, it would be useful if the proposals also address and provide for the brief project descriptions provided for each theme as attached herewith at Annexure C which is indicative in nature. 6. One concept proposal may cover more than 1 theme and submission of such proposals is strongly encouraged. 7. Separate proposals should be submitted for separate pilot convergence models proposed. Each pilot convergence model proposed should be specific to at least 2-3 geographical locations where it is intended to be implemented. Such geographical locations must be mentioned in order of preference. 8. Proposals should reach NMEW on or before 30th November 2012, at 17:00 hrs. on the postal or email address provided herein above.

Shortlisting/Selection of Proposals

Prior to evaluation of Proposals, NMEW will determine whether each proposal is responsive to the requirements of this Document. The proposals will be examined to determine whether they are complete, whether any computational errors have been made, and whether the proposals are generally in order. Invalid or incomplete proposals will be rejected.

Valid and complete proposals would be evaluated with emphasis on the following:
Previous work experience of the Applicant (relevant to the theme identified), Previous work experience in the identified geographical areas that proposal is submitted for, Quality of work plan and methodology.

Shortlisted Agencies will be called to make a presentation before the Selection Committee. The selected agencies will be required to enter into a contract with NMEW for implementation of the pilot convergence model.

Reporting and Monitoring Arrangements The Applicant will prepare a monitoring design which, inter alia, should reflect that, a. The selected agency (ies) will report to the NMEW on administrative and technical issues and progress. b. The selected agency (ies) will also be required to report to a joint committee comprising of some representatives of the NRCW, relevant SRCW and line departments in the State (as applicable) on technical issues. c. The selected agency (ies) will be required to produce the indicated deliverables (as reflected in contract terms based on proposal submitted) and submit these to NMEW for approval in accordance with the indicated timelines.

Right to reject any or all concept proposals Notwithstanding anything contained in this document, the NMEW reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal and to annul the Selection Process and reject all proposals, at any time without any liability or any obligation for such acceptance, rejection, or annulment, and without assigning any reasons thereof.

General Terms 1. All documents, data and other information provided by the NMEW or submitted by the agency to the NMEW shall remain and become the property of the NMEW. Applying agency has to treat all information as strictly confidential. The NMEW will not return any Proposal or any information related thereto. All information collected, analysed, processed, or in whatever manner provided by the agency to the NMEW in relation to the study shall be the property of the NMEW. 2. The applying agency (ies) warrants that no official of NMEW has received or will be offered by the agency any direct or indirect benefit arising from this contract or the award thereof. The agency agrees that breach of this provision is a breach of an essential term of this contract. 3. The agency shall not in any manner whatsoever use the name, emblem or official seal of NMEW in connection with its business or otherwise, without written approval from the concerned party. 4. All maps, drawings, photographs, mosaics, plans, reports, recommendations, estimates, documents and all other data compiled by or received by the agency under this contract shall be the property of NMEW, shall be treated as confidential and shall be delivered only to NMEW authorized officials on completion of work under this contract. 5. The agency may not communicate at any time to any other person, government or authority external to NMEW, any information known to it by reason of its association with NMEW which has not been made public except with the authorization of NMEW; nor shall the agency at any time use such information to private advantage. These obligations do not lapse upon termination of this contract. 6. The parties shall use their best efforts to settle amicably any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of, or relating to this contract or the breach, termination or invalidity thereof. Unless, any such dispute, controversy or claim between the parties arising out of or relating to this contract or the breach, termination or invalidity thereof is settled amicably under the preceding paragraph of this article within sixty (60) days after receipt by one party of the other party's request for such amicable settlement, such dispute, controversy or claim shall be referred by either party to arbitration in accordance with the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The parties shall be bound by any arbitration award rendered as a result of such arbitration as the final adjudication of any such controversy, claim or dispute.
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Annexure A: Template for Proposal

National Mission for Empowerment of Women Proposal template

SECTION A 1 Name of Agency, contact person, address, contact numbers and email. If in collaboration specify all agencies and provide details for all 2 Legal Status (NGO / CBO / Producer Co. /Section-25 Co. / Pvt. Co/ Other Please specify) 3 Registration No. & Date of Registration

Details of relevant projects worth Rs. 10 lakhs and above handled by the agency in the past 5 years (2007-2012)

No.

Project Name/ Title

Project Area

Supporting Agency/ Govt. Ministry/Department

Brief description of project(not more than 75 words) Please provide date of commencement and completion

Value of Project (specify Rs.)

Note: Only projects that are relevant to the thematic area for which proposals are being submitted or are relevant to convergence or are multidisciplinary or multi-sectoral need to be mentioned.

Other details: 1. Annual Turnover of Applicant for the last 3 years (2009-2012) Note: Provide supporting documents for all the details furnished above.

Human Resources

(Give details of team that shall execute the Project with relevant experience proposed for deployment towards the proposed project.)

Name (Please highlight name of the Team Leader)

Sex (M/F)

Position (Please specify if full-time or part-time)

Educational qualification

Relevant Experience (Years &Sectors)

Please attach following as Annexures (i) Last three years audited financial statements (ii) Description of training resources and infrastructure available with and to the Applicant which is proposed to be deployed for the Project
(iii) State the following information: Has the Applicant or any of its collaborating partners been penalized by any organization for poor quality of work or breach of contract in the last five years? Yes/No Has the Applicant or any of its collaborating partners ever failed to complete any work awarded to it by any public entity/ Planning Commission in last five years? Yes/No Has the Applicant or any of its collaborating partners been blacklisted by any Government department/Public Sector Undertaking in the last five years? Yes/No

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SECTION B I II Project Title Proposed Thematic Area of

Action (As provided in the main Document) III If project belongs to others category, explain clearly in 2-3 lines the proposed area of action.

State your project description and work plan (3000-5000 words) under the following heads (Please note the detailed description and guidelines provided in Annexure C for specified thematic areas of action in this regard and reflect, as necessary and applicable)
Goal, Objective District/ Block area identified with rationale for selection of thematic area of action and geographical area (which may include geographical sampling, baseline assessment etc. already conducted in the area) Description of existing processes which you plan to engage Areas of convergence opportunities identified (please indicate where convergence will be in terms of a) institutions/agencies, b) schemes/ laws and c) resources Coverage of the Pilot (eg. number and type of beneficiaries, stakeholders, respondents etc.) Methodology (Step wise activities that will be undertaken) Outcome/Output/Deliverables Sustainability Replicability/ Scaling up Indicators of M & E (impact) for the Pilot Limitations Timelines

Also provide the following: Proposed monitoring and feedback design (for monitoring of the Project by NMEW) with qualitative and quantitative indicators (Please note details in main Document) Expectations or deliverables from NMEW for implementation and execution of the Pilot

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ANNEXURE B: FINANCIAL NORMS FOR PILOTS

Total cost of the Pilot should not exceed Rs. 40 lakhs for 1 year. The ratios provided below should be followed S.No 1. 2. 3. Cost components Administrative and Overall Costs Project Activity Cost1 Service Tax and other taxes@12% or as per rules % of the total cost 20% 68% 32%

The Budget Narrative should be an item-wise break up and include (indicative list) a. Cost elements (natural heads of accounts) under each budget line item. b. Explanation of Cost Elements including description of capital expenditure items/ with break-up and unit cost for all items/ components

The Budget should also mention the recurring, non-recurring cost; the human resource and operational expenses under recurring expenses should be clearly mentioned. Similarly, the expense for training & capacity building, awareness generation etc. has to be mentioned. Costs for documentation and IEC should be provided for. Plan for leverage other sources of fund in the proposed project e.g. NRLM/ MGNREGS/ SGSY/ Donors should be reflected.

This may (illustratively) include Costs of personnel and TA/DA for implementation of the model, situational analysis etc., trainings, awareness generation, meetings, workshops, IEC material, report generation, coordination, monitoring, service delivery, research and documentation.

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ANNEXURE

C:

DETAILED

DESCRIPTION

AND

GUIDELINES

FOR

THEMATIC AREAS OF ACTION (stated in the main Document) 1. FINANCIAL INCLUSION OF WOMEN The financial inclusion of the poor women particularly vulnerable and marginalized women remains a continuing question. The existing bank linkage models does not seem to suit far-flung thinly populated areas. Therefore, the pilot project on financial inclusion of women would attempt innovative mechanisms for bringing vulnerable and poor women into the fold of formal financial institutions. The pilot therefore would lay focus on reaching out to areas and groups that have remained outside the ambit of bank linkage program and will explore various options such as use of technology to enable access, setting up of banking Mitra in each branch etc. The expected outcomes of the pilot would be to make available quality of service delivery to this segment of women consumers of financial services and thereby providing financial access to the poor. The proposal should address total financial inclusion of the poor in a particular area of operation of the pilot covering full range of financial services; ensure financial discipline and financial management capacity of the poor families and enhancing capability to repay and address risk aversion among the poor and demonstrate convergence with various stakeholders. The proposal should focus on convergence of services offered by various stakeholders to reach vulnerable and marginalised section of women. Innovative proposals would be given preference. 2. TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY FOR DRUDGERY REDUCTION OF WOMEN And Livelihood Promotion Rural women work for long hours and are employed mostly in drudgery prone activities at home and in fields. They are unable to attend formal training courses leaving their domestic responsibilities leading to obstruction of their livelihoods opportunities. Along with drudgery, they also face problems related to health and energy efficiency with use of tradition technologies (cook stoves & chulhas) at the household level. Since women have different ergonomical characteristics then men, it is necessary to develop technologies to suit them and reduce their drudgery especially for small holders & marginal women farmers. The main objective of the pilot would be to demonstrate drudgery reduction technologies for rural women especially belonging to vulnerable and marginalized communities. This would involve skill up gradation through training & capacity building for the proper use of these technologies to these women. Expected outcome of the project are drudgery reduction and livelihood promotion through the use of women friendly tools and technologies. Convergence of PRIs and line departments should emerge as a key innovation feature of the pilot.

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3. SKILL UP-GRADATION FOR GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT THROUGH SUSTAINABLE MARKET LINKAGES The National Skill Development Policy quotes a figure of 8 crores in the number of skilled persons that will be required to meet the demand for people in various sectors to fuel growth in Indian economy. The proposal on skill development for enhancing employability is invited which the objective of help address vulnerability of women workers in the unorganised sector and help poor women enhance their value in the job market. The proposal invited should clearly state the strategies proposed for placement in any of the sector be it construction, retail or service sector enterprises and also enhancing artisans skills while providing marketing linkages to them. The proposal should be innovative and should address how the pilot project would converge with existing scheme and programmes of Central/State governments, link with the National Skill Development Corporation and the State Skill Development Council for creating appropriate institutional mechanisms for skill development programmes. Enhanced income and employment through sustainable market linkages is the key outcome expected from the pilot. 4. MAINSTREAMING OF DESTITUTE/HOMELESS WOMEN THROUGH CONVERGENCE Homeless and destitute is one of the most vulnerable groups in the society. In India, homeless/destitute constitute 1.94 million of the total census (2001) population of whom 1.16 million live in villages, and only 0.77 million live in cities and towns. According to the Census of India, homeless population is considered as those who are not living in a structure with a roof. Most often this group is likely to live on the roadside, pavements, in pipes, under the flyovers, temples, mandaps, platforms and the like. The group is highly invisible, isolated; sometimes nomadic and demands case specific attention. Women in this group face multiple vulnerabilities. On one hand, these women are at the bottom strata as they are not aware about their rights and entitlements while on the other hand, the women have to prove about their existence and identity. Notwithstanding the complex character of the group, Government and Civil Society Organisations have come with different measurements for suitable interventions through shelter based and community based rehabilitation strategies. Government of India has been initiating policy interventions for the social inclusion of Destitute/Homeless. However, lack of universally agreed definitions, lack of efforts to map this group and over thrust on welfare schemes and measures have limited their scope for mainstreaming. Intricate processes and systems further complicate the rehabilitation available to them. The rationale of the pilot is to develop a suitable convergence approach and demonstrating the same in selected district/districts. The project highlights on the assessment of existing interventions for mainstreaming, understand barriers to access, identify gaps as well as the activities considered as best practices in the existing interventions. Further, the pilot may be able to suggest/facilitate suitable strategies for mainstreaming/social inclusion of homeless/destitute through convergence of schemes and programmes and participation of multiple stakeholders.

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The project looks at the possibilities of innovation through convergence of institutions and resources, capacity building of stakeholders, sustainability, replicability and scalability of comprehensive rehabilitation and mainstreaming process. 5. MAINSTREAMING OF WOMEN SAFAI KARAMCHARIS IN NORTH WEST DISTRICT OF DELHI Safai Karmacharies are associated in cleaning jobs and some of them opt the occupation by choice. However, manual scavengers, sewer workers and sanitation workers are more vulnerable and in need for intervention. These Safai Karmacharies undertake this job not by choice, but due to compulsion as it is a caste-based and hereditary occupation, so closely interlinked with untouchability. Though they do a noble work in the society, many of them live in vulnerable conditions and mostly prone to health hazards. The women from this group are more vulnerable due to poverty, gender and patriarchy. The multi-fold vulnerability further ignited to despise and helplessness due to other castebased societal conditions of relative deprivation. The traditional beliefs, norms and values work as addendums to their marginalisation and deprived situation. Thus, the scope for choice, equity, mobility, rights & entitlements and human dignity undermined under the pretext of societal laws based on norms and values. In addition, illiteracy, lack of awareness, lack of any other skill on market-oriented trades etc., left no choice for them to even think of a better life. Significantly, women Safai Karmacharies as associated with low-paid jobs, hence gradually dragged into the trap of vicious poverty with less scope for development. On this backdrop, it is proposed to undertake a demonstrative pilot project with some innovation and positive discriminatory approach covering a comprehensive package for gender mainstreaming and holistic development of women Safai Karmacharies. The focus of the pilot project is to capacitate the women Safai Karmacharies in other incomegeneration activities through skill-building trainings. It will help them to opt for other occupation and earn their livelihoods as per their suit-will. Therefore, the occupation should not be caste-based or hereditary one, rather it should be open for anyone as a matter of choice. As the occupation is prone to health hazards, there should be preventive measures taken in this regard to improve the working conditions of the Safai Karmacharies. Provision of incentives for Safai Karmacharies could be incorporated to motivate them to work professionally. Institutional facilities and linkage building need to be strengthened to ensure women Safai Karmacharies access to resources and realization of services, entitlements as matter of their right. In order to ensure the above mentioned components, the demonstrative pilot project is planned with three-fold major objectives to strategise their inclusive development. The objectives are; to assess the existing Government(s) schemes and programs related to the welfare and development of this group; to undertake skill-building program to improve their capacities in other income generating activities and improve their bargaining capacity in getting better wages; and to facilitate and strengthen linkage building with local institutions/actors. As the project is proposed for demonstration, elements of innovation, sustainable development, scalability & replication, convergence means etc., with adequate monitoring indicators are to be incorporated as in-built components of the project.

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Approaches to be considered for this demonstrative pilot project are multi-stakeholder approach, participatory and community based approach and right based approach. The women Safai Karmacharies in the project would not remain as mere beneficiaries, rather they are supposed to play the role of the key stakeholders and their needs and expectations need to be considered priority and prior to the project planning. They need to be associated in pre-planning, planning, designing and implementing the project as equal stakeholders. 6. DEVELOPING RELIEF AND REHABILITATION MODEL FOR WOMEN IN DISTURBED AREAS: A STUDY OF NORTH EAST INDIA The states in North East India have been facing the onslaught of multiple armed conflicts since several decades. No other part of India or South Asia has been subjected to such a prolonged violent unrest, which has held development to ransom, as the Northeast. As a result womens are the most adversely affected. Women are often at risk in conflict situations. They are susceptible to marginalisation, poverty and suffering engendered by armed conflict. Their experience in very difficult circumstances is multi-faceted: means separation, loss of relatives, physical and economic insecurity, an increased risk of sexual violence, wounding, detention, deprivation and even death. In all these disturbances, women suffer in ways specific to women. Therefore, the Government of India has been commencing numerous policies for holistic empowerment of women in general and vulnerable & marginalised women in particular but many a times these programme do not reach the actual entitlement holders due to series of impedments. The project expects to develop holistic relief and rehabilitation strategy/model for mainstreaming of these women through convergence who are living in difficult circumstances in North-East India. A comprehensive model, combination of immediate relief and long term intervention in terms of phyco-socio care, education, health, economic to ensure their better access to services, social and economic empowerment, gender justice & equality, right to life with dignity through capacity building, awareness generation; linking them to various suitable and existing government schemes and programmes. It also expects to bring convergence of schemes, programmes, strategies, information for convergence at various levels. The project can help to create models of change which can be replicated and up-scaled in larger network for mainstreaming of women in difficult circumstances in Northeast States in particular and conflict or disturbed areas of India in general. 7. DEMONSTRATION OF PROCESSES FOR IMPROVING HEALTH & NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF WOMEN (WITH A FOCUS ON MALNUTRITION & ANAEMIA) A proposal is invited on Demonstration of processes for improving health & nutritional status of women (with a focus on malnutrition & anaemia) targeting Children (0-6 Years) with an emphasis on under 3 year children, Adolescent Girls (10-19 years, Pregnant and Lactating women. The proposal should focus on facilitating the processes of convergence among concerned departments for improving service delivery system, generating demand and increasing access & utilization of healthcare facilities, improving nutritional status, sanitation & hygiene practices through local governance.

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The expected outcomes are establishing and strengthening the convergence processes towards improved health & nutritional status of the target population, enhanced community engagement, strengthening of the Village Health, Sanitation, Nutrition Committee and Panchayats involvement in monitoring & reviewing the progress of the programme for sustainability. 8. EMPOWERING ADOLESCENT GIRLS AND BOYS FOR IMPROVING REPRODUCTIVE AND SOCIAL HEALTH THROUGH CONVERGENCE A proposal is invited on Empowering Adolescent Girls and Boys for improving reproductive and social health through convergence targeting Adolescent Girls (10-19 years). The proposal should focus on to build the life skills needed by AG to avoid risk behaviours, obtain counselling, especially during crisis situations, have access to health services and acquire accurate information about their health needs. The expected outcomes are to strengthen convergence of efforts to improve the reproductive and social health of adolescents; increasing knowledge among adolescent girls and boys in the area of reproductive health leading to increase in number of adolescents accessing reproductive and sexual health services from public sector, community level functionaries (FHW, ASHA, AWW) and other grass root workers capacitated on adolescent reproductive and social health communication and counselling and youth friendly health services are available to adolescents. 9. GENDER RIGHTS, ENFORCEMENT GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AND LAW

The envisaged Pilots on the themes stated below are encouraged to incorporate existing initiatives from the Government, Community Based Groups, Non Government Organizations and other actors. Provisions for networking with existing Government bodies (for e.g. Shelter Homes/ Short Stay Homes) could be a substantive part of the Pilot design. It is suggested that after identification of the districts/ blocks for the Pilots the same be classified as urban/ peri-urban/ rural. As we are focusing on multiple level intervention, a Pilot Design for the District/ Block identified is encouraged from the Applicants for inclusion in the project description in a flow chart in the following manner (as applicable):
State

Rural

District / Zilla

Taluqs/ Tehsils

Urban Mahanagar Palika/ Municipal Corporations

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Blocks Village

Nagar Palika Wards

In the flow chart the nature of intervention or activity at each level with regard to: 1) Institutions/agencies (police, WCD, Municipality, Gram Panchayats, DC) 2) Targeting which schemes/ laws and 3) Tapping which existing resources may be indicated. We encourage the Pilot design to highlight a multi stakeholder response to cases of violence against women and girls; with outputs or outcomes such as encouraging safety and security for women and girls; rescue and rehabilitate the survivors of violence; improve accessibility to various government services available for women at the various levels; encourage effective public private partnership; reduce gap between complaints on violence against women and girls and response from the police redressal; documentation, training, sensitization, awareness generation and research on processes initiated to fight violence against women; capacity building and networking multiple stakeholders to fight for violence against women; empower communities, especially the youth and men to fight for violence against women; challenge conventional patriarchal mindsets; engagement with the law and finally reduce violence against women. 10. VIOLENCE AGAINST INTERVENTION WOMEN, CRISIS REDRESSAL AND

Violence against women and girls is manifested in various forms in the society we inhabit. Broadly it encompasses [violence due to development, displacement, communal violence, violence against women in conflict situations by State machinery, sex selective abortions, physical violence, mental violence, economic violence, emotional violence, domestic violence, rape /sexual abuse, sexual violence (special emphasis on child sexual abuse), trafficking and violence in public places] but not limited to. Crisis redressal and intervention is a one crucial intervention strategy when it comes to addressing concerns vis--vis violence against women and girls. Pilots should assume different strategies to address this theme. 11. SECURE AND ENABLING ENVIRONMENT: PILOTS DEMONSTRATING SAFE PUBLIC SPACES FOR WOMEN & GIRLS Safety and security are important underlying parameters to ensure a violence free environment. Initiatives such as these have to be well planned and executed through a multi pronged strategy to enable women and girls a safe atmosphere to live, work, study, and move around. Overall the issue of safety for women in public spaces can be ensured by strategies devised by several Departments/ Ministries (Police, Transport, Education, MCD, Home Affairs, Law and Justice, and others etc) in the following intervention areas (public transport; civic awareness and partnership building; education; urban planning and design of public spaces; provision and maintenance of public infrastructure and services; legislation, justice, and support to victims; policing and others etc ) on a convergent framework. Pilots should assume such strategies.

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12. UNDERSTANDING LAWS IMPACTING WOMEN AND GIRLS AND CAPACITY BUILDING OF STAKEHOLDERS (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO FUNCTIONARIES, COMMUNITY RESOURCE PERSONS, WOMEN, GIRLS AND MEN) The constitution of India guarantees Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles to all citizens of this country. In the broad ambit of legislatures there are many laws which directly help us address issues on violence against women and girls. The predominant gap between existing policies and their effective implementation; loopholes in existing legislatures; inadequate laws to address issues around violence against women and girls; capacity building of communities and government machineries on understanding legislatures are some of the challenges we face today. Overall there is a general ignorance regarding constitutional guarantees, the knowledge of which would have the potential for empowerment and change. The focus of such pilots would be to bridge such gaps and also create protocols for multisectoral functioning by authorities. 13. CONVERGENCE MODEL FOR DEMONSTRATING NGO-PRI PARTNERSHIP FOR PROMOTION OF QUALITY EDUCATION FOR WOMEN. Education is the single most important instrument for social and economic transformation. It empowers citizens with analytical abilities, leads to better confidence levels and fortifies one with will power and goal setting competencies. The National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 emphasizes the need to use education as an agent of basic change in the status of women. The NPE proposes national education system to play a positive interventionist role in the empowerment of women, fostering development of new values, removal of womens illiteracy and obstacles inhibiting their access to, and retention in elementary education is our priority. The National Policy of Empowerment of Women endorses the policy prescriptions of NPE and inter-alia emphasizes access to quality womens education without discrimination, increase enrolment and retention rates of girls, development of occupation/vocation/technical skills by women. There are high drop-out rates from school of female students in many parts of the country, especially at the secondary level, owing to multiple discrimination and factors that impede girls participation in education. The project proposal may be designed focusing on strengthening the convergence mechanism incorporating the participation of all the wings of the PRIs with the NGOs for the promotion of the functional literacy skills of adolescent girls and women, addressing the barriers to equal access of women and girls to education, life skill training/vocational training and value education. The project may also focus on the activities that promote the girls in the formal school system for motivating them to pursue their education without any difficulties, and thus, enhancing the retention rate and reducing the dropout rate. The aim of the project may be to strengthen the NGO-PRI convergence for empowering women by promoting female education. The outcome of the project may be enhanced literacy skills of women in the targeted area, coverage of girls/women in the quality education

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system, vocational training and value education, the number of agencies/ departments of the PRI, involved in the convergence model.

14. ACTION RESEARCH ON THE IMPACT OF RIGHT TO EDUCATION (RTE) IN GENDER CRITICAL AREAS WITH FOCUS ON MARGINALIZED COMMUNITY. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), which was passed by the Indian parliament on 4 August 2009. The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies norms in elementary schools. It requires all private schools to reserve 25% of seats to children from poor families (to be reimbursed by the state as part of the public-private partnership plan). It also prohibits all unrecognized schools from practice, and makes provisions for no donation or capitation fees and no interview of the child or parent for admission. The Act also provides that no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary education. There is also a provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them at par with students of the same age. A report on the status of implementation of the Act was released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development on the one year anniversary of the Act. The report admits that 8.1 million children in the age group 6-14 years remain out of school and there is a shortage of 508,000 teachers country-wide. A shadow report by the RTE Forum representing the leading education networks in the country, however, challenging the findings pointing out that several key legal commitments are falling behind the schedule. The Supreme Court of India has also intervened to demand implementation of the Act in the Northeast. It has also provided the legal basis for ensuring pay parity between teachers in government and government aided schools. The project proposal is required to be an action research concentrating on assessing the impact of the implementation of RTE in gender critical areas (preferably in one rural and in one urban district) with focus on girls from the marginalized community i.e SC/ST and backward population, minority etc. The project design may also emphasize on conceptual analysis of relevant issues and availability of information on practice among the stakeholders (children, parents, community and service providers) and in anticipating the effects of the proposed action. Assessment is not just to describe achievement but as instrument of change in education systems focusing RTE leading to improved quality and higher standards of learning, consideration will be given to the effects of assessment as action research. The aim of the project may be to assess the effectiveness of the RTE act at the implementation level. The outcome of the project may be to use assessment to improve the educational quality related to the provisions of RTEimproved access, adequate infrastructure, quality learning process and accountability of the stakeholders. The outcome may provide the opportunity of collaboration/ convergence, proposing corrective actions at implementation and policy level.

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