Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

362 SHOBHITA RAJAGOPAL
sustainable livelihoods. Capacity-building of women through continuous
interactions is an ongoing process. It is expected that these would lead to
long-term gains.
CONCLUSION
The two planned interventions discussed in this chapter were implemented
at different points in time and at different stages of development.
One was in the early 1980s when discourse on women’s equality was being
refined. The second intervention came at a time when there was a fair
clarity on what works and what does not. The WDP experience clearly
indicates that the mobilisation of women and collective action enabled
women to claim their rights as equals in society. On the other hand, poverty
reduction has been the main agenda of DPIP, and the collectives of
women and men are yet to reach a stage where they can exercise their
voice as empowered citizens.
Gaining recognition as citizens requires an active exercise of citizenship.
It implies active and organised participation in processes to strengthen
(i) public services to pay attention to women’s specific needs and constraints;
(ii) a fairer distribution of resources to women and men;
(iii) measures to progressively eliminate discrimination against girls; and
(iv) redressal of violations (Huq 2000). The Rajasthan experience reveals
that promoting citizenship for livelihood security and gender equality
would necessarily involve gendered interests being treated as important
citizenship rights and valued by policy makers. It involves creating spaces
wherein women can define and express their needs and views, and be
heard by key institutions. The challenge is to build capacities and abilities
wherein marginalised groups can become agents of social change and
action, and gain meaningful opportunities as citizens.
REFERENCES
Clarke, P. and J. Jha. 2006. ‘Rajasthan’s Experience in Improving Service Delivery
in Education’, in Vikram K. Chand (ed.), Reinventing Public Service Delivery
in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications.