Intern or Volunteer with a Grassroots Women's Empowerment Organization in India

  India

• Other Cities in India: 
Jodhpur,  Udaipur

Term: Throughout the year 
Durations of Program: 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months, 7-12 months and 1-2 years
Typical Duration of Program: 3-6 months
Dates: Varies

Description: Examples of how you can support Women's Empowerment in India:

* Empower women by helping to create village self-help groups in which women independently create financial institutions that manage profit-making programs.

* Support a Women's Empowerment Project that provides training for members, holds quarterly meetings and provides vocational support. Educate the public about women's issues to ensure local women receive equal opportunities and compensation, while promoting gender sensitivity.

* Support an organization's Community Action for Safe Motherhood program which provides training and ongoing technical support to NGOs on community-based information and service for adolescents. This program educates women on primary health issues so as to combat common health problems. They also work to train traditional birth attendants.

* Assess the success of past women's leadership programs and make suggestions for improvements.

* Assist project that focuses on mobilizing local women to protect natural resources by controlling farmland development, composting, and preserving water.

* Create workshops to introduce micro-enterprises to those in tribal communities; help provide skills training to increase levels of employment and reduce migration; and empower women to create their own income generating activities.

For more women's empowerment opportunities in India, visit our website or contact us directly.

About FSD

The Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1995 to support underserved, international communities in a collaborative and sustainable manner. Our model incorporates three overlapping programs:

1. Sustainable Development Training Programs for Interns and Volunteers
FSD provides comprehensive training and immersion programs for interns and volunteers seeking hands-on experience in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Program participants come from countless professions and more than 300 universities worldwide to collaborate with our partner organizations on community-driven projects that reflect sustainable practices.

2. Grantmaking to Projects and Initiatives Led By Our Partner Organizations
Donations and grants given to FSD are used to support projects and initiatives implemented by our partner organizations, site teams, interns, and volunteers.

3. Sustainable Development of Community-Based Organizations
Our professional field staff, consultants, and program participants provide on-site technical training and capacity building to more than 200 community-based organizations.

Highlights: Community Issues Addressed by FSD in India
Gender discrimination continues to be an enormous problem within Indian society. Traditional patriarchal norms have relegated women to a secondary status within both the household and the workplace. This drastically affects womens health, financial status, education, and political involvement. Women commonly marry young, quickly become mothers, and are then burdened by stringent domestic and financial responsibilities. They are typically the last members of a household to eat and the last to receive medical attention, often-times causing them to be malnourished. Women also receive less schooling than men. On top of all this, they suffer from unfair and biased inheritance and divorce laws which prevent them from accumulating substantial financial assets. All of these issues combine to make it difficult for women to establish their own security and autonomy within Indian society.

In Rajasthan, several FSD partner NGOs have been instrumental in providing opportunities for women. These organizations build networks among women to create financial self-help groups. They introduce ideas about microfinance, allowing women to participate in management activities. Other local non-governmental organizations implement projects that export the skills of women abroad to generate significant income. Projects have enormous potential to improve the financial and social status of Rajasthani women. Organizing change at a local level and planning participatory action will help to eliminate bias and stereotypes, and generate awareness of the significant gender divide that exists in India.

Additional Programs are Available in: Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, Uganda, and Kenya.

Program Work Addresses Issues in: Health, Community Development, Youth and Education, Micro-enterprise, and Environment and Conservation.

Minimum Education: High School

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: FSD supports participants who boldly wish to initiate the change they believe is necessary in the developing world. Interns are passionate about sharing their practical knowledge, heart-felt enthusiasm, and economic resources with communities abroad that suffer unnecessary hardship. They wish to gain hands-on, grassroots development experience because they believe change is most powerfully cultivated on a community level. The aim is to experientially learn how their work can empower the community toward applying sustainable development solutions, rather than increasing reliance on foreign aid. Participants choose FSD because the program structure enables them to design and implement their own sustainable projects in collaboration with their host organization. They are able to test their ideas and theories in the most direct way possible, giving them the experience and knowledge they seek. The flexibility of the host organizations allows for participants at all stages and levels of experience in international development to participate, thus opening the programs to a diverse group of capable applicants.

Age Range: 18-75

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants.

Participants Travel to India Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently or in Groups of 3-10

Application Process Involves:

• Letters of Reference
• Phone Interview
• Resume
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Alumni Network
• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Job and Internship Network

Foundation for Sustainable Development's Mission Statement: FSD supports the efforts of grassroots organizations in the developing world that are working to better their communities, environments, and the economic opportunities around them. We believe community development is only sustainable if it empowers the people to effectively use and cultivate their own resources in a conscious manner. Through our programs, we aim to raise international awareness of the economic challenges in developing countries and to support cross-cultural communities in finding more effective solutions to development issues.

Year Founded: 1995