How Indian women have transformed rural communities

In a recent Global Policy Engagement Forum on India's Rural Transformation, India's Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development, Amarjeet Sinha, described women as our "biggest consultants—the drivers of change." Globally, women make up 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force. India recognizes that women have become the backbone of agricultural work in rural communities, and that with support and investment, they can transform their communities and continue to reduce India's chronic poverty rates.

Between 2005 and 2016, India halved its multi-dimensional poverty rate from 635 million to 364 million people. According to Sinha, this reduction required consistent, concerted, and community-led action. In India, community-led action seems to also be women-led action. In rural areas, due to the out-migration of men seeking opportunities outside of their rural communities, agriculture has increasingly become a woman's occupation. This new trend has shown a light on how women can beat the odds and shape a better future in their communities.

In India, there are 60 million women in Self Help Groups (SHG). For those not familiar with the term, Self Help Groups were introduced by the Government of India in 1999 to promote self-employment in rural communities. Women-led collectives are the real change makers in rural India, innovating in areas ranging from custom hiring centres (providing greater access to equipment like tractors) to solar lamp production and women-led public transportation. Rural women are revitalizing their communities, creating new enterprises and opportunities that extend past agricultural work. India's rural economy is changing, and there is a growing demand for goods and services in rural areas. While women-led collectives have continued to work to meet this demand, Sinha emphasized the need to continue investing in these enterprises, as well as creating more opportunities for women to innovate in areas that promote rural poverty reduction and sustainable developments.

During Sinha's keynote presentation, he poignantly said, ''The world becomes one family when you look at rural poverty and how to address it." Poverty must be tackled through a range of dimensions, and rural women have proven to be a positive investment in India's attempts to reduce rural poverty. Globally, there are 1.7 billion women and girls living in rural areas. What has worked in transforming India's rural communities has the potential to work on a global scale.

That is why campaigns like IFAD's Real Groundbreakers are so important—they raise awareness about the challenges rural women face due to gender inequality as well as their triumphs in creating new enterprises and innovating to create change within their communities. As IFAD's Associate Vice-President of IFAD's External Relations and Governance Department, Charlotte Salford, said, "They farm, produce food, start businesses and innovate, despite living in some of the world’s most challenging conditions while facing extreme inequality and poverty.” Rural communities depend on greater investment in rural women and India's rural transformation serves a strong example of the progress we can make globally by investing in women. As we work toward our 2030 agenda, we need to continue to invest more in rural women and provide them with the support and empowerment they need to improve their communities.