For nearly three decades, the organisation Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) has been working in the central Indian tribal heartland, to address chronic and abject poverty. The project explored how Adivasi Gond women in India understand and experience gender inequality and the extent to which current interventions around self-help groups of women address the same. It also aimed to identify emergent pathways to engender processes of change. This project not only helped in rethinking practice but also aimed to contribute to the growing concern amidst academia to bring subaltern voices (such as the Adivasi) to the forefront. Additionally, it is envisaged that findings from the research could inform policy within ongoing government programs for impact both on poverty and gender inequality.
This project was a collaboration between Professor Naila Kabeer (LSE Department of Gender Studies) and the PRADAN team who were part of the visiting Atlantic Fellowship 2017-18.
