Dharamsala: Workshop for improving leadership skills of women MLAs

Dharamsala, June 22

The National Commission for Women organised a workshop on Gender Responsive Governance for elected women representatives (MLAs) under ‘She Is A Changemaker’ project, a pan-India capacity building programme of the commission for improving leadership skills of women representatives at all levels.

The three-day workshop that is being organised in Dharamsala started here today. It is being organized in collaboration with National Gender and Child Centre, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). During the workshop, the women MLAs will be trained on gender-responsive governance in different sessions such as effective leadership, ‘Inclusive Governance’, ‘Overview on Gender-Based Violence’ with Special Focus on Trafficking of Women & Adolescents Gender Sensitive and Inclusive Communication and Emotional Intelligence. The workshop is being attended by 29 participants from Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Governor of Uttar Pradesh Anandiben Patel participated as the Chief Guest at the inaugural ceremony. In her inaugural address, she motivated the women MLAs with her valuable real-life examples. She stressed on the importance of discipline in the life of a public representative and said that better coordination with officials at the grassroot level, especially the gram panchayat, was extremely important to promote effective development to every person of the society.

She reiterated the commitment of the government and told the participants to strive for ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas’. Chairperson, National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma and Srinivas R Katikithala, Director, LBSNAA also graced the occasion.

While delivering her keynote address, Chairperson, NCW, Rekha Sharma said that the workshop has been organised with the thought of ‘Empowered Women Leadership, Empowered Democracy’. “You all are leaders in your own field but you must not stop here. You have to be MPs, ministers and so on. Every woman is a leader and there is no need to teach women leadership. All we need to do is polish our skills. Therefore, this program was conceptualised and developed with an aim to promote capacity- building of women leaders,” she said.

Srinivas R Katikithala, Director, LBSNAA, in his keynote address, stressed on the criticality of training in ensuring enhancement of women power. He said that it was time to break stereotypical roles assigned to women and for this women also would have to play an equal role. He expressed his delight and congratulated the team for meaningful collaboration between National Gender and Child Centre, LBSNAA and National Commission for Women for undertaking the initiative of capacity building workshop for elected women representatives.