District Level Convention cum Training for Women Panchayat Presidents 

To provide skills for elected women representatives, to improve their efficiency in Panchayat administration, to empower them as leaders of Panchayat Government to strengthen gross root democracy, district level training cum conventions for women Panchayat presidents were organized.  In the year 2014- 2015, upto December 2014, 4 such conventions was organized in Vellore, Kancheepuram, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore and Tirupur.

Around 200 women president participated in these conventions. The experts in the field of decentralisation and local government, senior trainers who are dealing with gender sensitive issues and activists were involved in training the Panchayat presidents shared their challenges, achievements in the experience sharing session.

Some of them include,

• The intervention of political party functionaries especially of the ruling party in the state in finalizing the beneficiaries for housing scheme and other schemes is a major problem in many panchayats.

• The noncooperation of revenue officials including village Administrative officer in identifying, retrieving the common land belongs to the Panchayat is another issue.

• Gender discrimination in terms of council members particularly vice president and Panchayat president’s own family members (that is in most case it is their husband domination/ intervention in PanchayatFederation of Women Presidents of Panchayat Government [TNFWPPG] was elected. Finally some of the following resolutions were adopted by the delegates.