Award Ceremony at Minneapoli​s : Nov 2011

Regional Conference in Chandigarh: March 2012

http://www.indianewscalling.com/tip.php?tipid=21785

Hooda today urged both the men and the women to change their mind set towards women so as to ensure empowerment of women in its true perspective


Chandigarh March 20: Haryana Chief Minister Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda today urged both the men and the women to change their mind set towards women so as to ensure empowerment of women in its true perspective and added that desired results could not be achieved by only enacting laws and formulating schemes.

Mr. Hooda was addressing the Northern Regional Conference of Chandigarh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Haryana on “Convergence for Empowerment of Women” here today. Mr. Hooda inaugurated the two day conference being hosted by the Haryana State. He also released a booklet “Mission Puranshakti….hum sunege nari ki baat” published by State Women Empowerment Mission, Women and Child Development Department, Haryana.

While making a clarion call for a mass movement for women empowerment, Mr. Hooda said that the empowerment of women was not just a responsibility but should be adopted and implemented like a mission. The National Mission for Empowerment of Women should be carried out with a missionary zeal as the objectives could not be achieved without public involvement and participation. He said that the female feticide should be condemned by one and all as this is a blot on the society. He also stressed for women education.

While elaborating various schemes implemented in the State for the empowerment of women, Mr. Hooda said that Haryana Government has taken up many initiatives in this regard, which were showing results as the sex ration has improved over the last five years. He also thanked the UPA Chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi for implementing the Haryana Scheme namely Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojna throughout the country. He said that the State Government has allowed two years’ child care leave to the women employees. Rs. 31,000 are given to the families belonging to Scheduled Caste category and widows on the marriage of their daughters under Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Vivah Shagun Yojna and Rs. 11,000 to the families having agricultural land less than 2.5 acres and annual income of Rs. one lakh. Two per cent concession in stamp duty on registration of property in the name of women is granted by the State Government. Similarly, 10 paisa per unit concession in electricity bill is also given to women. The Government has reserved 30 per cent seats for admission in Technical Education Institutions. Under Ladli Social Security Pension Scheme, Rs. 500 per month are given to the parents having two daughters only from the age of 45 years onwards, he further added.

Haryana Women and Child Development Minister, Mrs. Geeta Bhukkal said that the State Government has been working with a clear vision for the women empowerment. She said that the benefit of the schemes should reach the real beneficiaries. She said that the aim of the schemes whether of State or Central Government was to make the women socially and economically empowered. She said that the evil of female feticide was a matter of grave concern and needed introspection. The Government was strictly implementing the PNDT Act in the State, she added. She hoped that many useful resolutions would come out in this two-day conference.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mrs. Anita Yadav, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary Women and Child Development,Mr. S.S Prashad and Additional Secretary and Mission Director of National Mission for Empowerment of Women Mr N. Sanyal also spoke on the occasion.

Ms Rashmi Singh, Executive Director of National Resource Centre for Women/National Mission for Empowerment of Women gave presentation on National Mission for Empowerment of Women. About 200 representatives from six Northern States representing various departments like Finance, Education, Health, Labour, Legal Services Authorities, Women Commission and NGOs are participating in the conference. There will be six technical sessions of this conference which include Women’s Health and Nutrition issues, Women’s Education Issues, Economic Empowerment, Access to Justice, Gender Budgeting and Gender Mainstreaming, Issues and Challenges and Strategies for Convergence for Vulnerable and Marginalized Women and Women in difficult circumstances.

With Women of Village Guda-andla Panchayat, Rajasthan, 2011

With the Women Who have the Last Word

Global Times: Empower Her, Empower Nation

A New Ray of Hope : Woman Sarpanch at Pali Takes the Lead

Nari Chaupal@ Vatsalya Mela, 2011

Leadership Summit: Amity International School, 2010

Hon'ble President Reviews Progress of National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW), 2012

NDTV - Matters-Identity-and-Dignity-for-Homeless/173812

Memoirs of a great soul: Gary Decramar

Gary Decramar, Sandhya and Nasir at High Tea

“Throughout my two weeks in India I was regularly assisted with travel arrangements, hosted at dinner parties and tours of Delhi and surrounding area.  Mr. Nasir Ali Kahn from Sajjan Yadav’s office and Goldi the driver were always a phone call away should I need help or a ride.   Their assistance was invaluable.

Travel to Moradabad, Rampur and Haridwar

Rashmi’s husband and MPA grad Manoj Singh has become the Commissioner for the Moradabad region about 3 hours east of Delhi.  (Rashmi and Manoj were among the first India MPAs.)  He had not been able to attend any Delhi functions so Manoj’s driver and an armed security guard came to Delhi to take us to Moradabad where Manoj is stationed.  After another grueling car ride with horns honking and sirens blasting, Rashmi, her son Shivam, and I got to Manoj’s compound.  A farmsite surrounded by walls.  A leftover from British rule.  A sprawling house, large irrigated vegetable and flower gardens, trees everywhere.  I was greeted with a bouquet of flowers and a big smile. 

Dr. Abhay Singh, Shivam, and Manoj in front of Manoj’s home

We went inside where I was offered a glass of Black Label Johnnie Walker.  Joining Manoj was a young medical doctor Abhay Singh (no relation) who became an fond acquaintance after Abhay had pestered Manoj about gaining information when Manoj was at his previous post.  Abhay and Manoj were meeting to formulate a scheme to eradicate polio in the state of Uttar Pradesh.  I thought we were settling in for the night when Manoj asked me to join him in going to a “mushairah” in Rampur.  This was to be an Urdu cultural festival that was to start around 9 or 10 PM.  So, off we went.  Coming into the town center, I was shown a large sprawling red building and was told this private library housed the largest collection of Arabic writings outside of Persia.  Upon arrival in front of the large community center, we were greeted by local dignitaries. I was decorated with a lovely shawl and large colorful badge when introduced as Manoj’s American guest.  Now most of the time in India I heard only Hindi or Punjabi; little English.  But here this tall gentleman approached me and spoke in English.  He said he had an architecture degree from Princeton.  He asked if I saw the family library on the way to the event.  I could say yes.

The mushairah is a song contest; men get up to a microphone and sing their own composition… lyrics and melody.  It was amazing.  A local police officer topped them all, with each cadence in his tenor voice, there was more and more murmuring of approval from the packed house in the auditorium.  His song became more and more grand.  Great experience in a Muslim culture I did not know existed before.  Then we drove home to eat a very late supper and celebrate.

The next day, off to the banks of the Ganga River for the every sixth year “kumbh”.  We joined a million or more Hindus who gathered for the cleansing of their sins and the celebration of the sun moving into Capricorn.  Manoj arranged for Rashmi’s Hindu priest to surprise her and meet her for the kumbh ceremony.  I too joined in, splashed some of the Ganga river on me, sat beside the river sprinkling flower heads from dahlias, marigolds, and various flower petals into the river as Rajesh Agnihotri, the Hindu priest, chanted the ancient songs associated with this day.  My forehead was marked with vermillion tilak and my wrist tied with red and saffron yarn.  Rashmi went into full submersion in the cold waters of the Ganga three times and came up each time with a smile that matched the setting sun. 

A glorious cultural experience made possible by being in the right place with the right people.  Much like my entire two weeks in India.”

NDTV - Idenity & Dignity for Homeless

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/india-matters/india-matters-identity-and-dignity-for-homeless/173812

http://southasia.oneworld.net/weekend/on-a-mission-to-empower-the-urban-poor

On a mission to empower the urban poor

Anna Nath, OneWorld South Asia

26 June 2010

 

Mission convergence, is a unique initiative by the government to bring about qualitative improvement in the lives of the urban poor. Rashmi Singh talks about the convergence model applied to bring various beneficiary and welfare oriented entitlement schemes to the urban community at the district level and to help them find their identity.

Rashmi Singh is heading a unique initiative of Delhi Government namely the Mission Convergence-a programme for social justice and empowerment. A 1989 batch UTCS officer, she has been instrumental in several policy level changes for social development in Delhi. Her Public Private Community Partnership modules for social development have been hailed as replicable models of inclusive governance and adopted by the centre & several state governments.

She has won several awards including the Stree Shakti Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award 2009 by the President of India on International Women’s Day, 2010 this year for her unique contribution to the field of gender empowerment, the Women of Excellence Award by FICCI in 2009, Commonwealth Association Silver Award in 2006.

This interview is part of a special series of interviews “Behind the City Lights’ brought to you as a collaborative initiative of OneWorld South Asia (OWSA) and Urban Health Resource Centre (UHRC). The special series is aimed to  enhance focus from different quarters on the subject of equitable health provision in cities in the international year of ‘Urban Health’
OneWorld South Asia: What are the reasons that results in large proportion of urban poor- finding it difficult to access services?
Rashmi Singh: Large numbers of urban poor are the migratory population who come in search of better life and job to cities. First of all, finding their feet in a big metro like Delhi becomes very difficult, as they have to struggle with the basics and are sometimes not able to meet two square meals in a day.
They are mostly engaged in the unorganised sector and live in slums or in the resettlement colonies. The crucial aspect missing is the social bonding and the absence of a governance structure, unlike in rural areas. Whether strong or weak, the presence of local governance structures, local panchayats help the rural communities raise their issues, and community channels through which they feel counted.
In the urban system people do not have a voice mechanism and they become invisible. There is the whole question of identity and being rooted to the community to which they belong. When the first step is itself weak, the question of being able to navigate into the second step, into governance structure becomes difficult.
The urban poor also face the problem of proving their identity that becomes one of the major bottlenecks in accessing services. Getting their ration cards, election and other identity proof means producing many more documents which is like a vicious cycle. So while they may exist physically their problem to the accesses is compounded by facts each of them related to the other. They are fighting a battle to count. The absence of traditional institution mechanisms, community channels also makes the process more cumbersome and difficult for the urban poor to access benefits.
OWSA: We understand that Mission Convergence is surveying the poor habitation of the Delhi Urban Poor. Please throw some light on this and give an estimate of the vulnerable population in Delhi?
Rashmi Singh: Under Mission Convergence for the first time in Delhi we did the exercise of the identification of the vulnerable population. So far the system in the capital was not based on the identification of the counting at the household levels, based on survey methodology. The BPL list which one would find existing in many states has been based on some survey, in Delhi it was not. Those who wish to apply; fill up a form and given income certificate, they would be considered whether entitled to a BPL ration or not.
So the food and civil supplies department has largely been the custodian of data meant for poor and also for many of the other departments, and so if they have to ride on the scheme meant for BPL they would have to ask the civil supplies department. But here again there was no identification done in a proactive manner.
While conducting the exercise of identifying the urban population we found that many deserving people who should have been classified as BPL were actually left out of the system and ironically were drawing the ration which was meant for above poverty line, whereas many drawing ration under below poverty line were actually ones who should not have qualified. So we decided to go to the field and cover the areas of geographic vulnerability. And it was not difficult to do that because we mapped off the areas looking at all our slums and Jhuggi Jhopri clusters, FG and H category of clusters, and found 90% of the urban poor reside in these areas.
We conducted the survey in two phases and covered 9 lakh household and then 5 lakh more households-in total 60 lakh people. In the first two phase of survey of the 9 lakh we saw around 5 lakh were in social and occupational vulnerability. Later when we did this estimation five lakhs were in the broad category of vulnerability and there were around two and half lakh households which were classified as most vulnerable equated with the Antyodaya. One lakh homeless people are still in the process of being surveyed, after which we will be able to clearly come up with a figure.
OWSA: What value do civil society organizations add to the government initiatives by providing social benefits to the vulnerable sections?
Rashmi Singh: The government has its strengths and limitations. It can provide regulatory mechanisms, funding support, resource support, linkages, technical support, over site mechanism. The civil society organisations, on the other hand have a lot of strength in terms of bringing to the government certain areas of flexibility and outreach in terms of community participation, engagement, and mobilisation.
When it comes to actual mobilisation of the community and reaching out to those who are most vulnerable, going door-to-door, bringing people into the folds, spreading information and awareness, doing counseling, and doing a need assessment, we found that engagement of civil society organisations has been far more beneficial than a normal governmental channel. Also these civil organisations have managed to reach out to such areas which were not covered in government system.
The solution couldn’t be that we add more staff and more departments and have more offices; rather we decided to adopt the public-private partnership model which was cost effective also. There was the flexibility that we provide them funds, and they could rent out spaces, going into the interiors right in the midst of the community. On the other hand if we would have had to do it alone like for capital assets, buildings, creating structures, and hiring people, then it would have taken five years. So the flexibility in the operation and cost effectiveness was what made us engage the NGOs and other community organisations.
So we see the civil society engagement very important in Mission Convergence as it is been all about GON, NGO and community and private sector partnership. This is a unique model in which there has been the spirit of partnership between all the sectors. So it brought out lot of innovative elements, strength of each of these partners into the programme which has added to the strength of the programme as a whole.
OWSA: We are aware that Mission Convergence has proactively set District Resource Centers in all nine districts (Samajik Suvidha Sangam Kendras) of  Delhi. Please tell us what progress has been made and the challenges faced during implementation?
Rashmi: There are these district resource centers at district levels and these are housed in the office of the Deputy Commissioner. The Deputy Commissioners were earlier doing revenue related work and regulatory work. But with Mission Convergence the government has given them a developmental approach, where they would also be looking at the social developmental needs of a community living in the particular district. These district resource centers were actually provided to be run by district nodal NGOs.
The Nodal NGOs were not only housed in the office of the Deputy Commissioners but they also became a kind of regular partners in this exercise which meant that in every district they had to call and organise a collective forum of the various departments involved which were basically looking at any welfare schemes.
This means involvement and coordination of departments like social welfare, health, education and women and child, labour and urban development, and food and supplies. All these departments were sitting together in the district convergence forum meeting which is organised every month. This is a break from the usual. Earlier people at district level were not talking to each other; every department was doing its own thing. Bringing the entire department together became a very powerful tool for us where the problem was raised department wise, and the NGOs, the resource center became a coordinating body.
The resource center became a body where the information of the district regarding the vulnerable people is housed and then they do the district level planning as to what programmes can be targeted and to look at the eligibility of the family to the specific programme looking at the vulnerability and matching it with the different programmes. It has become a very important institutional mechanism to actually reach out and give a response which is need based.
In terms of challenges, since it has been a major departure from departmentalised functioning that we have been used to, the transition has not been easy and there has been a lot of resistance, there has been the huge problem of changing the mindset of stakeholders. Also people look at their own small little role, but not at the broader vision, of what we are trying to do as a family. It has been a huge challenge, rather then scheme wise how to make all the departments look at it like a family. The transition has been very challenging.
There are three-four models that are being followed:

• One is the public-private partnership and community partnership
• Use of information-technology, to be able to provide better sense of transparency and accountability into the system, to track the development, the outcomes
• The integrated approach, the inter-sectoral which we call the single-window, intervention which range across various issues.

 

"The National Mission for the Empowerment of Women."

http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/wpp/events/past_events.html

Past Events

The following recent events are representative of the types of convenings the Center on Women and Public Policy sponsors in order to advance understanding of and action on issues facing women and girls.

Women in Afghanistan: Securing their Future

In honor of International Women's Week 2012, the Center on Women and Public Policy teamed up with Women's Action for New Directions, Women Legislators Lobby to present David Cortright on the future of women in Afghanistan. He was joined by Congressman Keith Ellison and Advocates for Human Rights Executive Director Robin Phillips. Cortright directs Policy Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and co-authored Afghan Women Speak: Enhancing Security and Human Rights in Afghanistan "The prospect of a political solution to the Afghan war has generated much public debate about the fate of Afghan women. Since the overthrow of the Taliban by U.S.-led forces in 2001, the promotion of Afghan women’s rights has been a highly politicized appendage of the military intervention. International efforts to assist women have produced mixed results: while Afghan women have achieved improvements in their health, education, and economic and political participation, escalating violence has eroded those gains in many provinces. Women exercising leadership abilities or pursuing opportunities provided by Western donors have been accused of being anti-Islamic and subjected to threats, attack, and assassination. Because of the symbolic and cultural value of women in Islamic society, differing views on women’s roles have been a battleground over which competing visions for Afghan society and claims to power have been fought. Women — so often objectified in times of war — have been at the frontlines of the Afghan conflict." Full report

The program aired on MPR News Presents.

Advancing Equality for Minnesota’s Immigrant and Refugee Women: Integrating Gender Equity in Programming and Organizational Practices

This March 9, 2012 workshop for Minnesota nonprofit leadership and staff in recognition of International Women's Day featured opening speaker State Senator Patricia Torres Ray, the first Latina elected to the Minnesota Senate.

The objectives included (1) Sharing tools designed by Refugee and Immigrant Women for Change: “Toolkit for integration of Gender Equity into an organization’s programming and organizational practices”; (2) Engaging the nonprofit sector, especially organizations working with women in substantive actions, to build gender equity in their organization and in their programs; (3) Identifying local organizations that have a record of good practices and are committed to build gender equity in their organization and through their programming; and (4) Exchanging best practices for addressing gender equity.

The Center partnered with Refugee and Immigrant Women for Changea coalition of seven agencies whose goal is to work across cultures to shift attitudes and behaviors about gender equity in refugee and immigrant communities.

Rashmi Singh on "The National Mission for the Empowerment of Women."

On November 1, 2011, Rashmi Singh presented on "The National Mission for the Empowerment of Women." Rashmi Singh was one of Delhi’s first administrative officers selected to study in Minnesota through the Government of India’s Ministry of Personnel and Training. She was back in Minnesota to receive the University of Minnesota’s prestigious International Leadership Award for her work in the poorest neighborhoods of New Delhi. Her latest effort, the National Mission for the Empowerment of Women, builds on the game changing initiative she founded, Mission Convergence, to substantially e-engineered the delivery of human services in New Delhi. Presentation co-sponsored by The Center on Women and Public Policy and the Freeman Center for International Economic Policy. Other resources here: Singh_Nov3_2011

Click on image to play video of talk

Rashmi Singh visited and inspired

http://www.leadership.umn.edu/news/newsletters/jan2012.html

	Highlights from 2011 2011 was a terrific year for CIL as we launched important new initiatives, strengthened others, and expanded our partnerships with communities across the country and colleges across the University of Minnesota. We welcomed University President Emeritus Robert Bruininks to the Center, and invited Rashmi Singh, recipient of the University of Minnesota's Outstanding Leadership Award for Internationals, to return to campus for a week-long fellowship with our faculty and students. Most importantly, CIL continues to expand and deepen our understanding of how acts of integrative leadership—leadership that fosters collective action across boundaries to achieve the common good—can make a positive difference in our world. In fact, it is essential.
	In 2011....CHANCE turned five
	2011 was a landmark year as CHANCE celebrated its five year anniversary with a neighborhood celebration on November 6th. The Cedar Cultural Center was the perfect setting for the celebration with music provided by musicians from the West Bank School of Music and food catered from the Afro Deli. Read more, see pictures, view timeline...
In 2011...Rashmi Singh visited and inspired
	Cross-Sector Collaboration Helps the Urban Poor in India A CIL signature event this fall was Rashmi's Singh's visit to receive the 2011 University of Minnesota International Leadership Award on November 3rd for her work founding Mission Convergence, a game-changing initiative that has substantially re-engineered the delivery of human services to literally millions of Delhi's poorest and most vulnerable citizens through a unique blend of public-private partnerships. We were delighted to welcome her back to campus to receive her award and share her insights about integrative leadership. Rashmi's accomplishments are a shining example of how integrative leadership can make a profound difference across the word and we took full advantage of her visit for current students to hear how she introduced a collaborative approach of shared power and authority. She had a full scheduling including her participating in a Women in Public Policy and Global Public Policy student discussion, presenting to the Leadership for the Common Good Class, and a lunch and roundtable discussion with Humphrey Fellows and MPP partners. Read more or view Rashmi's presentation..
	Back to top»
	In 2011...CIL launched a research initiative on "Creating Public Value in a Shared Power World"
	In 2011 CIL faculty and partners launched a year-long exploration into what it means to create public value in an integrative leadership environment. This exploration began with commissioning 16 foundation papers and the launch of a call for papers and will culminate in a national research and practitioner conference September 20-22, 2012: Creating Public Value in a Multi-Sector, Shared-Power World. We're just getting started! Join us in this exploration by submitting a paper abstract for the conference and possible inclusion in a special issue of Public Administration Review. Deadline for abstract submission is February 3, 2012.
	Back to top»
	Back to top»

Rashmi Singh: University of Minnesota International Leadership Award Winner

http://www.leadership.umn.edu/news/newsletters/Rashmi_Singh.html

Looking back at her graduate studies at the University of Minnesota from 2005-2007 Rashmi Singh credits her exploration of integrative leadership and strategic planning for helping her to conceive of a new way to support low income women, children, and families in her home country of India.

Upon returning to India in 2007 Rashmi founded Mission Convergence (Samajik Suvida Sangam) in Delhi. This game-changing initiative has substantially re-engineered the delivery of human services to literally millions of Delhi’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens through a unique blend of public-private partnerships that are guided by the needs and preferences of service recipients. A hallmark of Mission Convergence is the extent to which citizens themselves have greater control over their lives and the services they receive. This is an innovative service delivery model never before seen in Delhi. Mission Convergence is particularly having a substantial impact on poor women and their children in Delhi.

This spring Rashmi Singh received the University of Minnesota’s prestigious International Leadership Award for her work in poorest neighborhoods of New Delhi.

Gary DeCramer, Rashmi’s Humphrey School advisor, recalls visiting Rashmi in India last year and meeting with the Chief Secretary of Delhi, who described Mission Convergence as a “world model for cross sector collaboration on a scale never before imagined”.

Richa Dhanju, a Texas A&M doctoral student whose dissertation research focuses on Mission Convergence comments that “[Rashmi] has led the Delhi government to reform its corrupt and inefficient welfare delivery system in favor of a transparent system based on people’s needs”

In 2010 Mission Convergence received the Gold Medal Award for Innovation from the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management, an organization representing over 50 commonwealth countries. Nominations for this Gold Medal award are judged by an international panel of public administration professionals representing ten countries.

Ms. Singh was one of Delhi’s first administrative officers selected to study in Minnesota through the Government of India’s Ministry of Personnel and Training. We are delighted that she will return to the University of Minnesota as a visiting fellow of the Center for Integrative Leadership this fall (October 31st-November 4th; details forthcoming).

Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award

http://iasowaup.org/Rashmi%20Singh.html

Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award to Rashmi Singh, Director, Mission Convergence (Samajik Suvidha Sangam), GNCTD It was a proud moment for all women especially those whose lives have been touched by Ms Rashmi Singh, Director, Mission Convergence, Samajik Suvidha Sangam, as she received the Stree Shakti Puraskar-Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award from President Pratibha Patil at a glittering ceremony held at the Vigyan Bhavan on March 8, Sunday, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day. Other notable personalities who were on the dais with the President included Ms Krishna Tirath, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission and Ms Girija Vyas, Chairperson, National Commission of Women. The Stree Shakti Puraskars are given by the Government of India to outstanding women for their exceptional work in fields related to women’s empowerment. Granddaughter of Shri Kamta Prasad Singh ‘Kamji’, freedom-fighter and MLA and daughter of Shri Shankar Dayal Singh, noted Hindi author and MP from Bihar, Ms Singh a native of Aurangabad district in Bihar, has inherited her passion for social service from her illustrious forefathers. A 1989 batch UTCS officer, Ms Singh has distinguished herself repeatedly through her selfless service to the masses especially the poor and marginalized women. She has also organized health camps in Deo, Aurangabad and Majhui, Rohtas districts of Bihar with the support of her father in law, late Dr. R R Singh, eminent medical practitioner. The award came with high praise from several quarters, with all those who have been associated with her appreciating Ms Singh’s missionary zeal in bringing about social justice and empowerment through a string of reforms and innovative concepts in all her assignments. It has been her constant endeavour to sensitize the government, the policy makers and the people towards various causes concerning women. Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia acknowledged the role of Mission Convergence, Samajik Suvidha Sangam, pioneered by Ms Singh as Mission Director, which as the name implies is an effort to reach out to the unreached the fruits of social security schemes of the various government departments through a single window platform with a special focus on women. Currently at the helm of Mission Convergence, a unique initiative of the Government of Delhi to reach the unreached by providing social justice to the underprivileged in an integrated manner through convergence of all existing social security and benefit schemes and empowering them to seek and demand their rightful dues thereby erasing social disparities and psychological distances within society, Ms Singh has in just two years brought the Mission closer to its avowed objectives through her dynamic leadership. The singular most significant contribution as Mission Director, Samajik Suvidha Sangam, made by Ms Singh is the development of broad based vulnerability indicators for identification of the marginalised poor of Delhi and migrants from neighbouring states like Bihar and UP living in slums and unauthorised colonies without an identity or access to welfare measures of the government. She undertook the Herculean task of leading the identification of each unaccounted poor through this unique process of door to door survey, covering a total of 42 lakh such people in a short span of six months partnering with 100 community based organizations (CBOs). The survey has laid special emphasis on the identification of widows, single deserted women, woman-headed households and homeless women staying in backward areas, slums, and unauthorized colonies under the vulnerable category. With a vision of functioning as a single window facilitation centre for reaching social assistance programmes to the marginalized community, the Mission has opened up channels for the social inclusion of urban poor through its unique model of community outreach with community participation. In her illustrious career spanning two decades, Ms Singh has consistently strived towards giving a voice to the poor and the marginalized women she came across during her tenure. Moved by the plight of the woman sweepers while working as the Director, Welfare, NDMC, in 1999-2004, she spearheaded their mobilization into an economically and socially empowered force by uniting them under the umbrella of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) Ms Singh had 200 such SHGs formed and thereby ensured that these women were now capable of raising their voices against exploitation and injustice. These SHGs were enlisted for running Mid-Day Meal Programme in NDMC schools replacing outsourced contractors. Among the welfare measures introduced by her are the mobile crèches for children of construction workers, new working women’s hostel and old age home for women and developing a new model of day care centre/recreation centre for senior citizens. Again, it was at her behest when she was working as the Nodal Officer, NCR for the GOI-UNDP project on National Strategy for Urban Poor in 2004-2006, that a dedicated unit on ‘Urban Poverty Alleviation and Livelihood’ was set up in Delhi to create an institutional mechanism for focused interventions and better linkages to various schemes on livelihood and poverty alleviation with the Government. In-charge Stree Shakti Programme and ICDS in Delhi, Ms Singh set about bringing in systemic reforms to ensure better delivery of ICDS in Delhi. She set up a model whereby community woman groups like SHGs and Mahila Mandals were actively engaged in running of the ICDS centres and its supplementary nutrition programme. This not only ensured that the supplementary nutrition meant for children and lactating mothers reached them regularly but at the same time provided gainful employment and earning opportunities to hundreds of women from the economically weaker sections. Ms Singh took the ICDS and the Stree Shakti Programme to great heights during her tenure, making them more participative and inclusive. The latter, an innovative public-private partnership programme, provided outreach services to thousands of underprivileged women of slums and resettlement colonies in the areas of health, legal awareness, vocational guidance and training AIDS counseling and testing, nutrition, sanitation and hygiene. There was a perceptible change in the health-seeking behavior of women with access to health services becoming easier. An extensive cadre of health volunteers was the result of her tireless efforts and with the involvement of 70 NGOs to bridge the gap between demand and supply, around 200 Stree Shakti health camps were organized. The NGOs and volunteers were made partners in the process to pre-register women with adverse health conditions, bring them to the camps and do follow up of those cases that needed further referrals to hospitals. Around 3 lakh women were registered at these camps during her two-year tenure in this programme. Ms Singh received the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration (CAPAM) Award in 2006 conferred at Sydney, Australia for the Stree Shakti Programme. The programme won the Silver Award out of 112 entries received from different parts of the globe. Ms Singh worked extensively to augment the status of more such women and create avenues for imparting employable skills to them through GO-NGO partnerships. The canteen at the Delhi Secretariat being managed by woman SHGs is a unique and successful model of her efforts in this direction. Ms Singh has been instrumental in institutionalizing a network of community based structures called the Stree Kosh (Gender Resource Centres-Suvidha Kendras). 100 such centres were facilitated by her that act as a bridge between the government and the community. These centres act as one-stop facilitation centre for marginalized women and provide regular vocational training courses and assist in instituting SHGs. GRCs also help in building marketing linkages, organize health clinics, provide access to counseling, legal services and access to various government schemes and programmes. This structure has been adopted by the Government of India, Ministry of Women & Child Development as a replicable model for other states in India as announced at the launch of the Mission for Women’s Empowerment by Hon’ble President on March 8, 2010. As Mission Director, today Ms Singh leads a team of dedicated women officials, social workers, specialists and community workers motivated by her vision and a shared passion to make a meaningful difference into the lives of their less fortunate counterparts. Ms Singh has won several awards including the Woman of Excellence Award from FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) in 2009. She is also a distinguished speaker and a panelist on various national and international fora on social issues including gender and the rights of the marginalized.