Stories of Change: Samta Sakhis of Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh: English

The Case Studies Report provides a documentation of the journeys of change of the Samta Sakhis, a name given to Community Resource Persons (CRPs) for Gender, appointed as part of the Gender Justice Program (GJP). They were meant to work closely with community institutions of Madhya Pradesh State Rural Livelihoods Mission—such as Cluster Level Federations (CLFs), Village Organizations (VOs), Self-help Groups (SHGs) and their Social Action Committees (SACs)—to give gender training to their members and facilitate discussion and action on gender and social issues at the village and block levels.

This report analyses the changes Samta Sakhis brought about in their lives and in the lives of women in their community, thereby transforming the role that institutions like SHGs, VOs and CLFs play in the rural community. The report also documents narratives of change in the voice of four Samta Sakhis and one Master Trainer. These are the stories of their struggle and survival and how they led the process of change in their own communities.

Publication Rights:

The research reported in this publication has been conducted as part of a study undertaken by ICRW Asia, Testing and scaling approaches and interventions to support gender transformative work with NRLM, and supported by IWWAGE. The facts and information in this report may be reproduced/quoted/cited only for non-commercial use and with appropriate attribution.