Hand in Hand in Chennai, South India is an international NGO ‘reaching out to people who need a hand and making a difference to their lives.’ In 2006 they hosted an international training for gender mainstreaming in micro-finance funded by Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), Chennai.
Gender Action Learning System (GALS) tools explored community indicators of women’s empowerment and happy families to use for impact assessment. A further focus were differences in perceptions of women’s empowerment between women and men members.
Participants had a strong handicraft tradition and so could draw quite easily.
The women’s concepts of empowerment involved: owning property, being able to go where they wanted, having a sense of identity and respect.
Men’s concepts of women’s empowerment were rather different. Some men thought women’s empowerment involved men buying women a cooking stove so that women could cook for the family.
For current activities and contacts for Hand in Hand Chennai see: