GUIDE the beginning

• Started on Oct 2, 1985
• Concentrates on addressing women’s issues: felt needs and strategic needs.
• Mode: Empowerment of women through Informal  education and collective action

Justification for Emergence

• Emerged due to the ill effect of green revolution on rural poor women
• Based on the understanding of reducing agricultural work.
• Study on ‘women’s participation in paddy agriculture’ by Dr. Joan Mencher Southworth.

Major Focus

Over the years, our major focus has crystallised into:

Fighting Violence of all type: physical, mental and sexual:

At Home

At Work Place

At Public Space

Asserting Rights over the Common Resources:

In one’s village

And at State Level.

Attaining space for participation in decision making:

At home and

At village and Local administration

The Four Literacy

Asserting Rights over the Common Resources:

In one’s village

And at State Level.

Attaining space for participation in decision making:

At home and

At village and Local administration

GUIDE Stage One

1985 to 1995: Empowering women in the communities to assert their rights. Creating Political space for women. Economic Venture: organic farming. Intervention in the International and National  conferences with the grass root experiences.

GUIDE Stage Two:

1996 to 2004

• Becoming resource group to encourage network among small NGO and their federation.
• Developing pressure group for macro policy interventions
• Macro level intervention: in state and national policies.
• Campaign activities along with other women’s groups to force introduction of new legislation such as sexual harassment, rape, eve teasing, female infanticide. Assuring women’s involvement in contesting in the local self governance elections. (2001 election of panchayat: 8 rural women – dalit and adivasi – contested, as a tool to demystify and break the custom of only education elite contesting.
• Development of River Basin Network, as a means to ensure that the rights over the resources as livelihood for the dalit and adivasi women.
• Promotion of LEISA network

GUIDE Stage Three

2005-2014

• Reconstruction of the coastal communities: Developing women’s federation among the coastal women and developing into movement to work towards assuring rights.
• Campaign against CZM: ensured women’s role.
• Continuous campaigning and action towards protecting the common resources (including the sea).
• Emergence of women’s watch to monitor violence against women in the coastal villages.

GUIDE Stage Four

2015 onwards

• Systematic concentration of educating adolescent girls (both studying and working) towards protection against GBV
• Developing support centers and Helpline for adolescent girls who want to take legal action
• Developing next generation leadership among village women associations
• Sharpening skills for women on sustainable development based livelihood
• Efforts to access and control of local women over local commons to continue