WomenPowerConnect

Women Power Connect (WPC) is a national level organization of women's groups and individuals. We work together to create a process for legislative coordination in order to generate awareness about women's issues and influence legislators and policy makers so that they devise and implement gender friendly policies.

WPC was founded in 2004 and is now a coalition of approximately 500 women's groups and individuals. It has organizational as well as individual members, including national and state level organizations, as well as grassroots representatives. WPC works actively with members of Parliament to protect the interests of women in India. The core idea of WPC is to bring activists and social thinkers on a common platform so that there can be a collective effort towards better legislative coordination. By doing this WPC aims to make the government accountable and transparent so that the gender commitments made by it get translated into action.

Economic networks or business interest groups have been successfully representing the interest of their members in India for years. Today, the government tries to seek the views of these bodies before declaring any policy or a regulation targeting their sector. Similarly, there are agricultural interest groups, lawyers and doctors associations and trade unions which are all able to raise their members concerns.

However, when we look at the situation of the NGO/not-for profit sector, similar forums are missing. There are some organizations more proactive than the others, that may raise issues and try to influence the decisions of the policy makers. However, without a concretized effort, the whole exercise becomes a waste. WPC therefore, is a response to the need to create such a body, which will raise the unheard voices of NGOs in India, specifically those working for the empowerment of women.

WPC has five priority lobbying concerns:

• Implementation of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005

• Passage of the Women's Reservation Bill

• Gender-just Budgets

• Passage of the Sexual Harassment Bill

• Problem of Declining Girl Child Sex Ratio

For more information, please contact WPC at: T-6, First Floor, Green Park Extension, New Delhi 110 016 Ph: 91-11-41705270/71/72, or visit: www.womenpowerconnect.org

JAFW was initially formed in 1984 as a collective to launch a struggle against "sati" (the burning of a woman on her husband's funeral pyre) and dowry deaths. Since 1990, it has been working actively for education, equality and empowerment with special focus on violence against women. The front has also focused on the issue of good governance through political empowerment of women. It has constantly demanded reservation of seats for women in Parliament and State legislatures.

JAFW focuses on initiatives that will unlash economic, social and political changes which will ensure a transformation of politics, equal access for women to education, health and basic services, and bring about a gender equal and gender just society. For this transformation women need to participate in nation-building by entering political decision-making structures and putting women's issues onto the national political agenda. To achieve these objectives, JAFW has held several seminars, conferences, and dialogues with different stakeholders.

CSR is the founder member of JAFW and its Director is the Coordinator of the Front.