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New Initiative Cell

Last updated: September 15th, 2023


Given the evolving needs of women in the country, the National Commission for Women has been broadening its scope by taking various new initiatives. This Commission is taking various initiatives to empower and impress needs of women in different aspects. 

       NCW ‘She is a Change maker’ Program for Women in Politics

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.

The programs have been conducted for women leaders in  Panchayati Raj Institution(PRIs), Urban Local Bodies and Office Bearers of Political Parties across the country. NCW also collaborated with Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, LBSNAA and has so far conducted 3 training programs for women MLAs from different States. 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.

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. These courses are fully sponsored by NCW. So far NCW has collaborated with IIM Bangalore, IIM Shillong, IIM Jammu and IIM Kozhikode and sponsored these programs. Now these programs are being extended at the Mentorship level 

Gender Sensitization for Police Personnel

It has been experienced that gender-based discriminations exist throughout society, from organizational planning to the everyday interactions at the workplace and public space. Not surprisingly, the major grievances of the women were against the law enforcement agencies, the police, the judiciary, the administration, the media and finally the societal norms. The Commission annually receives a huge number of complaints related to apathy of the police towards women complainants. It is in this light that National Commission for Women, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)  with the  Bureau of Police Training Research and Development ( BPR&D)  on July 15 the 2021 for  conducting 3-5 days training  programme on gender  sensitization for police officers of all levels.   NCW has further extended this MoU and now holding trainings for Gender Sensitization & Forensic Training of Police Officers.

Taking forward this initiative, NCW has also conducted a Gender Sensitization Training for BSF troops being deployed for UN Peace making Mission to Congo in March 2023.

Training of Protection Officers appointed under DV Act, 2005

Domestic violence affects women from every social background irrespective of their age, religion, caste, or class. To minimize the cumbersome position of law, be it procedural or substantive, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 was enacted to protect the women from acts of domestic violence.

The National Commission for Women has collaborated with Lal Bahudar Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) and conducted 5 day online training programmes for Protection Officers appointed by the States Uttar Pradesh and Haryana during June- September 2021 in different batches.  A standardized module is also developed in collaboration with LBSNAA, for conducting these training programmes. To carry forward this project at Pan India level, NCW has  also  collaborated with India Institute of Secretariat Training (ISTM) has conducted a 5 Day physical Trainers-  Training  Programme for Training of Trainers (TOT).  In this training program, 46 officers across the country have been trained so that they can conduct training of Protection Officers in their respective States. The standardized module developed for conducting these training programmes, is also shared with these officers and State Governments and status reports are sought from the State Governments from time to time.

Development Of A Scheme- Shelter, Care And Rehabilitation Of Domestic Violence Victims

The Commission strongly felt that to cater the special needs of survivors of domestic violence; a specialized Scheme is required to be formulated and share with the Government.  The Scheme so formulated is to provide   holistic approach as per the mandate of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and  provide institutional support and rehabilitation set up to cater all the needs of such women and their dependent children to ensure they live with dignity.  This will take care of Shelter, counselling, medical support, legal and supportive services, emergency shelter and long-term housing assistance, case management along with educational and other needs of dependent children.

 For this the Commission has collaborated with Premier Institute like NLU Delhi to undertake the Project for Development of a Scheme– Shelter, Care And Rehabilitation Of Domestic Violence Victims. Under this project there will be Impact Assessment of existing infrastructure like Shelter Homes, One Stop Centres, Mahila Shakti Kendras etc. and assess and frame a Specialized Scheme for Shelter, Care and Rehabilitation of Domestic Violence Survivors.

Seminars To Address Women Farmers / Daily Wage Laborers In Relation to Migration

Women farmers/ Daily Wage Laborers play an important role in the agriculture sector and development of rural economy. Agriculture, the single largest production endeavour in India and contributing substantially to the GDP, is increasingly becoming a female activity.  One day regional Seminars are being organized by NCW focusing on issue of Women farmer / daily Wage Laborers.

The first Seminar was held at Deen Dayal Upadhyay State Institute of Rural Development, Lucknow on 27th July, 2023 which was attended by approx 250 participants. The event was also graced by the esteemed presence of Ms. Baby Rani Maurya, Hon’ble Minister, State of Uttar Pradesh and Ms. Meenakshi Negi, Member Secretary, NCW along with other dignitaries.

POSH Awareness Workshops

The Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, 2013 and POSH Act amendment, 2019 (‘POSH’ or ‘the law or Act’) is an enabler that ensures creation and maintenance of a workplace safe from sexual harassment for all. December 2023 will be the 10th anniversary of POSH, yet compliance data is scattered/unavailable, while penalty for non-compliance is a non-deterrent and sporadically used. Most Institutions do comply with the Act but awareness of what constitutes sexual harassment and redressal of complaints is poor and largely viewed as ‘nuisance value’ or ‘tick in the box’. NCW has signed an MOU with different organizations for the purpose. 

  1. POSH WORKSHOPS FOR GOVT. EMPLOYEES- NCW has collaborated with Jet Social Impact Private Limited and signed an MoU to organize  25 POSH Awareness Workshops at pan India level to train nearly 5000 Govt. employees. As a pilot 3 workshops have been conducted in UT of Ladakh in July, 2023.
  2. POSH WORKSHOPS FOR CORPORATE SECTOR- NCW has collaborated with Jet Social Impact Private Limited and Bhartiya Institute of Research& Development(BIRD) to organize POSH Awareness Workshops at pan India level to create awareness among corporate sector employees and improve compliance of the Act. As a pilot one woekshop has already been conducted at Mumbai by Jet Social Impact Private Ltd.
  3. Penalty Grid and POSH FAQs NCW has collaborated with Bhartiya Institute of Research& Development(BIRD) to develop POSH Compliance Penalty Grid and FAQs to create awareness amongst stakeholders to improve the compliance of the Act. These will be available on NCW website