National Commission for Women

Last updated: November 6th, 2024

Given the evolving needs of women in the country, the National Commission for Women has set up a New Initiatives Cell to broaden the scope of its work and to take up various new initiatives focusing on empowerment of women in the country. Activities Undertaken Empowering Women Through Entrepreneurship Program The Commission aims to create a lasting impact for women across the country by providing women entrepreneur’s access to knowledge and skills required to grow and sustain their entrepreneurial ventures. NCW collaborative program ‘Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship’ aims to digitally train aspiring women entrepreneurs as well women entrepreneurs who wish to expand their business ideas. Under this program, NCW has collaborated with premier Management Institutes like IIM Bangalore, IIM Jammu, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Shillong, etc for delivering the course and for mentoring and handholding of participants. Around 2682 aspiring women entrepreneurs were trained in different batches in collaboration with different IIMs These courses were fully sponsored by NCW Training of Protection Officers appointed under DV Act, 2005 The Commission has realized the pivotal role of Protection Officers, who are appointed  by  the State Governments under Section 8 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA, 2005 in facilitating legal and other assistance to aggrieved women. In order to building the capacities of Protection Officers, the following measure have been taken  by NCW so that they can effectively deal with the incidents of domestic violence against women:- NCW had collaborated with Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), the premier administrative training institute in India, for undertaking ‘Capacity Building and Training of Protection Officers appointed under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005’ across the country. 5 day long online training programmes for 87 Protection Officers appointed by the States Uttar Pradesh and Haryana in different batches were conducted from June 2021-September 2021 A standardized module has also been developed in collaboration with LBSNAA to carry forward these training programmes at pan India level. NCW also collaborated with India Institute of Secretariat Training (ISTM) and conducted 5 day physical training Trainers- Training Programme for Protection Officers and trained 46 trainers across the country in December 2021. Under this programme Master Trainers were trained, so that these experts can, in turn assume the responsibility of organizing training courses for the Protection officers within their States/UTS in an expanded form. The Commission has shared the Module with the State Governments and Has been continuously following with concerned States/UTs to check status of training programs conducted in their respective States/UTs with the help of Master Trainers trained by NCW and Module developed by NCW Scheme for Rehabilitation of Survivors of Domestic Violence Worldwide over a quarter of women aged between 15 to 49 years who have been in a relationship have been subjected to physical and sexual violence by their intimate partners. As per the National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS 5, 2019-2021) “29.3% married Indian women between the ages of 18-49 years have faced domestic violence/or sexual violence. Not only does domestic violence prevail, but it is also highly normalized as well. With the aim to offer a more comprehensive legal response to the issue, the Parliament enacted the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, in the year 2005 (PWDVA). However, the prevailing institutional framework does not provide for a well targeted and holistic rehabilitation of survivors of domestic violence. NCW has collaborated with NLU, Dehi and proposes a specialized  scheme “ Sanjeevani- A ‘Scheme for Rehabilitation of Survivors of Domestic Violence’. The proposal is preceded by a  study  of  the existing structures that support the survivors of domestic violence to examine ways in which deferent laws and schemes  respond  to  the needs of the survivors of domestic violence. It was a pan-India study covering 83 districts all over the country where 273 support structures like One Stop Centres, Swadhar Grehs, Family Counselling Centres, Protection Officer, Women Police Stations and few  survivors  of domestic violence were covered. Implementing PM’s vision of Women-led Development through NCW ‘She is a Changemaker’ Program  Considering that the full and equitable participation of women in public life is essential for building and sustaining strong, vibrant democracies, National Commission for Women has collaborated different training institutes at pan – India level under its programme ’She is a Change maker’ for imparting training to women in politics at different levels. The aim of this programme is to improve leadership skills of elected women representatives and active women politicians at all levels. The main objective behind running this training program is to strengthen the capacities of elected women representatives in order to enhance their knowledge and understanding on influencing public policy, gender responsive governance/ mainstreaming, leadership and communication skills. The 3 days training programs are  being conducted through different interactive sessions. Under this program so far 172 training programs have already been conducted and 5666trainees trained and; out of which 169 programs have been conducted for Women Representatives of Panchayati Raj Institution (PRIs), Urban Local Bodies and Office Bearers of Political Parties in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Haryana. Himachal Pradesh , Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur,  Madhya  Pradesh  ,Meghalaya, Mizoram, Odisha , Punjab, Rajasthan,  Sikkim, Tamil  Nadu,  Telangana,   Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and UT of Jammu & Kashmir and three programs have been conducted for Women Legislators in collaboration  with  LBSNAA,  Mussorrie; 2 2 nd–24th Jun 2022 at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh , 21st -23rd Sep , 2022 at Udaipur ,Rajasthan and 04th -06th Feb, 2023 at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh wherein training were imparted to women legislators of  sixteen different States. The main objective behind running this training program is to strengthen the capacities of elected women representatives in order to enhance their knowledge and understanding on influencing public policy, gender responsive governance/ mainstreaming, leadership and communication skills. The 3 days training programs are  being conducted through different interactive sessions. As per the feedback received through training institutions, these training programs are welcomed and well received by the participants. NCW strives to hold such training programs to accomplish its objective to  improve leadership skills of elected women representatives and active women politicians at all levels to ensure equal and effective participation of women in Indian democracy. She is a Change maker – Panchayat se Parliament Program As a way forward of NCW pan – India level capacity building program ’She is a Changemaker’ for women in politics  at  different levels , NCW in collaboration with the Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies (ICPS), Lok Sabha organized a one day specialized program for 500 selected participants, who were women Elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies from different States/UTs, who had already trained under NCW “She is a Change maker program”  on 5th  January, 2024  at  Central Hall Parliament House, New Delhi. The primary objective of this program titled “She is a Changemaker – Panchayat se Parliament” was to significantly deepen participants’ comprehension of constitutional provisions, parliamentary procedures, and related subjects. As an integral component of this initiative, an exclusive guided tour of the New Parliament Premises and Sansad Sadan was arranged to further enrich their experiential learning. Regional Seminars on “Women Farmers / Daily Wage Labourers in relation to Migration” Considering that economic empowerment of Women Farmer and Daily wage labourers is essential for development of Country, NCW is collaborating different training institutes for organizing Seminar on Women Farmers / Daily Wage Labourers . The aim of this Seminar is to awareness about Crop Diversification and best practice of farming Strengthening and Supporting Women Farmers Institution & Agri – Enterprises. Four Regional Seminar on “Women Farmers / Daily Wage Labourers in relation to Migration” had been conducted in collaboration with different training Institutes: 27 th July 2023 at Lucknow , Uttar Pradesh, 21st September 2023 at Pant Nagar, Uttarakhand, 03 r d November 2023    at  Guwahati , Assam and 14 th   February 2024 at Thane, Maharashtra. Participant was Women Farmer, Aazivika Sakhi, MGNREGA Women Laborers, Women Members of Self Help Groups and Women representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions. One Seminar on Empowering Women in Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities has been organized at College of Forestry, Rani chauri , TehrI  on 22 ^nd July 2024 in collaboration with  Uttarakhand University of  Forestry and Horticulture , Pauri Garghwal .  Progressive Women Farmer participated. Approx 200 participant participated. Public Awareness Workshop on Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace for Government & Corporate Employees- To create awareness and prevent incidents of sexual harassment at workplaces, the Commission has been conducting awareness programmers on Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 for both government and corporate employees.  Around 30  workshops have been conducted since the year 2023-24 under which approximately 4000 participants have been made aware about the POSH Act as per the details below:- Public Awareness Workshop on Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace for Corporate Employees NCW conducted Public Awareness Workshops on Prevention       of               Sexual                Harassment   at           Workplace      for         Corporate Employees in Northern, Eastern, Western and Southern Regions  of India in collaboration with selected organizations. So far 9 Awareness programs on POSH were conducted for Corporate employees in the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Bengaluru, Pune, Ahemadabad, Indore, Chandigarh and Goa. Around 1500  participants attended these workshops. Public Awareness Workshop on Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace for Government Employees  NCW conducted Public Awareness Workshops on Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace for Government Employees all over India. Since the year 2023-24, a total of 19 workshops have been conducted for Government Employees of UT of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Tripura, Rajasthan Department of Justice ( Ministry of Law and Justice), Department, CERT-in (Ministry of Electronics), BPR&D (Minisstry of Home), NDMA and Supreme Court of India, and with police departments of Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Amritsar and Faridabad A series of creatives have been developed by the Commission in PoSH Awareness Week. Additionally the specialized training programmes for Internal Committee Members are also conducted by the Commission from time to time. Recently such trainings are conducted at Airport Authority of India, National Institute of Sales and Marketing (NISM), Mumbai, Jawahar Lal University, Prasar Bharati, All India Radio, Christ University, Airport Authority of India etc.

NCW- Mission  Karmayogi  Training  Programme  At  IGNFA:- The National Commission for Women organized a two day training programme for its officials in collaboration with Kaizen Institute. Process Improvement Of Complaint Management Of National Commission For Women The objective of the Process Improvement for Complaint Management is to drive operational improvements and build organizational capacity, in meeting its objectives and to suggest measures for midcourse correction for system improvement and better utilization of resources. Two nationwide DGP meetings were also  conducted in  Goa and Faridabad   by  the  Commission in  order  to  improve  the complaint management system under NCW. A training of C&I staff and JTEs was also conducted in order to further this project. Two Day Conference on Women Entrepreneurship in Natural Resources on 10-11TH October 2023 at NIAS, Bengaluru. A two day conference on Women Entrepreneurship in Natural Resources was conducted by NCW in collaboration with National Institute of Advance Studies (NIAS)on 10-11TH October 2023 at NIAS, Bengaluru. The conference was attended by  114 participants, experts from Government, Academics, Civil Society and women entrepreneurs already engaged in the field of health related natural resources. The conference aimed to initiate a conversation and suggest effective avenues ahead around the possibilities, challenges, structures, and potential of women’s entrepreneurship in health-related natural resources Gender Sensitization Workshops for Police Officers As crime against women manifest in various forms and the police may often be the first point of contact for the distressed, their role and handling thereafter, is critical in responding to preventing violence against women. Being frontline functionaries, the police are expected to respond in an empathetic and sensitive manner It is imperative that all police organisations undertake suitable initiatives to periodically train all personnel at all levels to sensitize them on gender issues. By observing higher sensitivity, the police can play a pro-active role in preventing violence against women. NCW collaborated with Police Training Institutes, State and District Police authorities to conduct one day workshop for field police officers at different level To make this training program more interactive and simple, NCW also trained its in house trainers for imparting the training sessions so that issues faced by women complainants can be discussed in a more simple and casual manner for better understanding. In these workshops emerging issues like Handling of Cyber Crime cases, Different MHA and Court guidelines to handle crime against women, Forensic Training etc  were  also dealt by conducting sessions by the experts. Under this project, started in the year 2017, and till the year 2020 before nationwide lockdown, around 26 workshops were held across the country. NCW is replicating this project from July, 2024, five workshops have been held across the country National Commission for Women MoU with Bureau of Police Research and Development NCW has been regularly organizing gender sensitization programs for police officers to achieve the objective of building trust of women complainants in police. It is with this objective that NCW has decided to launch a programme across the country to sensitize officials on gender related issues and empower them to perform their duties effectively, without prejudice and bias especially in cases of gender- based crimes. NCW has signed an MoU with Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) for gender sensitization of police personnel across the country on 15th July 2021. Under this project 03 day to  05  day intensive training programs are to be held both in offline and online modes. The objective of the programme is to ensure  gender sensitization of police personnel with respect to legislation and policies concerning women and bringing attitudinal and behavioral changes in police officers while dealing with crimes against women. So far, under this project, 34 Gender Sensitization Programs for Police Personnel had been organized at pan India level in association with Police Academies / CDTIs and approximately 1031 police officers are trained till date. This project has further been extended till the year 2025 and Forensic Training Program for Police Personnel has been included in the scope in addition to Gender Sensitization with the intention to enhance their capabilities to deal with crimes against women more effectively. Gender Sensitization Training for BSF Troops- Deployed for UN Mission to Congo NCW has specifically designed and conducted training programmes for 16th and 17th battalions of BSF who are deployed for UN Mission to Republic of Congo. These programmes are conducted on the request of BSF Directorate keeping in view the guidelines of United Nations Mission on Gender Sensitivity. These trainings are conducted in assistance with Centre for United nations Mission (CUNPK) who have provided experienced resource persons. Two programs so far have been conducted under this project.

Capacity Building Program for Women in domain of Geospatial Spatial Technology in collaboration with Rambhau Mhalgi  Prabodhini The Commission has been organizing capacity building program for Women Officers/Officials, Elected Women Representatives and Women Working in Voluntary Organization in domain of Geospatial Technology at pan India level. Five Capacity Building Program for Women in domain of Geospatial Spatial had been conducted in collaboration with Rambhau Mhalgi  Prabodhini in North , South , North East , West , Central region of the country. 296 trainees have been trained.