Role of Income Generation Programme in Women Empowerment

Abstract

The connection between poverty and women's lack of power over resources and decision-making has now
caught the attention of policymakers in government and mainstream development all over the world. Women
empowerment issues perceived nationally or locally are being addressed by both state and non-state
agencies. Beside the government intervention, NGOs are implementing various types of Women
Empowerment Programmes including IG Programmes. Women Empowerment Programmes in India
include livelihood support Programme, rehabilitation and job placement for rescued women, safe
motherhood Programme and so forth. In spite of involvement of various NGOs in women empowerment
through Income Generation and Skill Development Programmes, the status of women is still not satisfactory
in India as various official as well as unofficial reports claim and the outcomes against the stated objectives
of the NGOs' Women Empowerment Programmes are often questioned. Therefore, the present study is
focused in assessing the impact of IG Programmes run by non-government organizations in empowering
women. The researcher hypothesizes that IG Programme with its components viz., skill training, resource
inputs of loan and equipment help to increase income to the women through independent business or work in
the related field; the increased income lessens their dependence on family heads and enables to spend for
personal expenses; gives them certain freedoms as individuals; enables them to contribute to family affairs
financially, which creates an environment in the family in favor or the women to accept her views and
participation in family matters like education, marriage, purchase etc.