MILESTONES
The vision of the founders of AIWEFA was to promote education for women in both urban and rural environments to provide a scientific basis for their understanding of themselves, their multifaceted roles and responsibilities in their communities. Ahead of their times, they designed curricula which emphasised the importance of women as educational catalysts. Today AIWEFA strongly supports the high academic traditions of excellence at Lady Irwin College. In addition, AIWEFA develops and sponsors educational activities to foster awareness of women’s legal and human rights, vocational training for economic self reliance and development education to build healthy vibrant communities
Since the year 1995, AIWEFA has achieved a high profile among organisations in the NGO field.
1995:
- AIWEFA was invited to attend the 4th UN World Conference on Women in Beijing as UN observers representing NGOs.
- Developed a comprehensive capsule course to train NGOs involved in dissemination of health and nutrition First workshop was held in February1995.
- “On Common Ground” a directory (1st edition) of women in development was released in December 1995. It lists over 1000 organisations and donor agencies in India.
- Organised a Book Fair & Art Exhibition (by women artists) as part of a fund-raising drive.
1996:
- Organized a seminar ‘Strengthening Leadership – Focus on Rural Women’s Panchayati Raj Sammelan”. Delegates were women achievers from rural areas in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
1997:
- An exhibition of jute products was held in aid of Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims, in coordination with GOI/UNDP.
1998:
- Legal Literacy Programme was organised in 5 schools in Delhi, as a pilot project for imparting legal education through lectures and plays.
- Convened an international conference ‘Women on the March’ attended by 150 delegates from 3 SAARC countries and 19 states of India.
1999:
- AIWEFA was granted Special Consultative Status (ECOSOC) by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
- AIWEFA was represented at the ‘Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship’ held at Seoul, S. Korea and sponsored by UNIFEM to attend the CAPWIP Conference ‘From Rhetoric to Reality’
1999-2000:
- “Ford Foundation – Legal Awareness Programme for Rural Women” was implemented in Haryana, involving 19 centres in 18 villages using innovative methods.
2000:
- AIWEFA members attended UN 44th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at New York & organised a panel discussion ‘From Words to Action’ (drawing active participation of more than 45 international members)
- Family Counseling Centre was opened at AIWEFA office.
- AIWEFA members participated in NGO deliberations of Commonwealth Heads of States meeting at Delhi.
- UNIFEM & UNDP sponsored AIWEFA members to attend the 23rd Special Session of the UN General Assembly (Women 2000 Gender Equality Development & Peace for the 21st Century).
2001:
- Legal counseling centre started at Nuh (Haryana) by master trainers from the legal literacy project.
- AIWEFA in collaboration with Women’s Coalition and other NGOs set up a series of Consultationsto address the needs and rights of the Girl Child
2002:
- Sponsored training of women from Chattisgarh at Annapurna Mahila Mandal, Mumbai.
- Participated actively in seminar on National Policy 50/50 Gender Balance,organised by members of National Forum of Women’s Rights. Set up meetings of NGOs to discuss Gender Budget Analysis.
- AIWEFA became Charter Founder Member of IACR-Indian Alliance for Child Rights and attended 27th General Assembly of the UN on Child Rights at New York. Took part in Strategy Planning of IACR and finalisation of document on children- “A World for the Children”
- Instituted ‘Stree Ratna Award’for outstanding achievers in the field of women’s empowerment. Award was presented at Women’s Day Celebrations. Danseuse Sonal Mansingh gave stunning dance performance on a women’s theme.
- A Joint Programme was started with Sat Krishna Trust at Narsinghpur, Gurgaon.AIWEFA provided the expertise and facilitated the teaching in a programme for empowerment of women.
- A Joint project was started with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) to introduce computer literacy in 5 Nagar Palika Primary Schools under Delhi Bhagidari Scheme.
- Under the sponsorship of Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) AIWEFA adopted three villages in Gurgaon district, for holistic development.
- Initiated All India dialogue on the Information Technology Revolution. Regional workshops were held in Delhi, Bangalore, Indore & Mumbai, culminating in a technology session “Role of Information Technology in Sustainable Development” held during the seminar “Building Partnership towards Achieving Development Goals in India”
- AIWEFA was represented at the 27th Special UN General Assembly Session on Children UNGASS at New York and at the “World Summit on Sustainable Development” at Johannesburg.
- AIWEFA was nominated by DESA to participate in the “Capacity Building Workshop” (of the Global Forum) ‘Citizen Business and Government’, High Level Segment Meetings in Geneva, to Conference for NGOs at Bangkok.
2003:
- Instituted the Annual Nina Sibal Award for the most outstanding NGO working on disability
- Held a 3-day seminar ‘Building Partnerships towards Achieving Development Goals in India’.
- AIWEFA was designated Regional Coordinator for the United Nations NGO Informal Regional Network (UN NGO IRENE) for India by the Department of Economic & Social Affairs Section of the United Nations.
- The HRD standing committee, at the instance of AIWEFA, held a meeting on the issue of Gender Analysis of the Budget.
- The Parliamentary Standing Committees on HRD invited AIWEFA to make a presentation on Gender Budget Analysis – Micro-credit facility to Women’s Self Help Groups.
- Continued training for sustainable & holistic development in villages of Daboda, Traipari and Pataudi the activities included formation of Self Help Groups, youth clubs;organisation of medical camps, eye camps and nutrition camps;orientation to water conservation and sanitation and training programmes for literacy, legal awareness and nutrition.
- Continued the Computer literacy programmes in 5 Nagar Palika Primary Schools under Delhi Bhagidari Scheme.
2005:
- Continued training for sustainable & holistic development has been carried out in the three adopted villages. Ms. Sharmila Tagore presided over the programme of activities at the villages adopted by AIWEFA and arranged for a picnic for the women at her Palace.
- Platinum Jubilee Celebrations were held on 22nd – 23rd March’05. A Seminar on the Millennium Development Goals and an Exhibition and Workshop on Science and Technology towards “Reduction of Drudgery in House Work” were organised. The Stree Ratna Award as part of the Platinum Jubilee event was given. Also a lifetime achievement award was presented in the AIWEFA Platinum Jubilee Year to a person who had done outstanding work in the field of water, fuel or sanitation. Celebrations included Street Plays as well.
- The Parliamentary Standing Committees invited AIWEFA to make a presentation on Prevention of Child Marriage Bill, 2004.
2006:
- A new project funded by FAO started in Daboda and Tirpari (villages in Gurgaon district of Haryana), aiming at enhancement of nutritional levels of women in this area.
- The village adoptation project was continued at Pataudi (Haryana). In this project primary education for children, tailoring and embroidery classes for women were carried out
2007:
- Two new projects started.One was the Gender Resource Centre at Geeta Colony, Delhi, funded by the Delhi Social Welfare Board. Another project funded by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), GOI in five villages of Haryana.
2008:
- AIWEFA’s ‘Gender Resource Centre’ became the “Sarmajik Suvidha Kendre (SSK) ” under the “Mission Convergence Plan” of Delhi Government.
- From January to April 2008, AIWEFA held six worksops on “Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS” in Delhi slums, Haryana Villages and Delhi University Colleges, under the sponsorship of UNIFEM.
2009:
- A five member Chinese delegation from Guagdong People’s Association visited AIWEFA in June 2009 to discuss as how the two organisations can work together for Women’s Protection & Education.
- All the vocational courses at GRC, Geeta Colony were collaborated with Jan Shikshan Sansthan
2010:
- GRC Project was successfully completed on 30th September 2010.
2011:
- DST project the “Women’s Resource Centre” was successfully completed on 31st March 2011.A follow up on -site inspection of the Bee-Keeping part of the project was conducted by AIWEFA team at Dehra Dun, Uttrakhand.
- A written Statement was filed by AIWEFA to the 2011 High Level Segment of the ECOSOC which was accepted by the NGO branch of the UN.
2012:
- A training workshop was held in March,2012 for about 30 young girls, beneficiaries of AIWEFA from village Daboda, Gurgaon, at Lady Irwin College, New Delhi.The workshop was conducted by Dr. Bhawana Chanana & her team on making of Sanitary Napkins under a DST project.
- Four ”Solar Fairs & Training Workshops” were organised by AIWEFA and sponsored by MNRE, GOI in four villages, namely Daboda, Basunda, Tirpari and Khera Khurrampur of Farukhnagar block of Gurgaon in April, 2012.
- A National Seminar on “Green & Solar Energy in Rural Areas”, was organised by AIWEFA, and sponsored by MNRE, GOI at India International Centre, New Delhi on 10th July, 2012.
2013:
- Five ” Solar Fairs & Training Workshops” were organised by AIWEFA,sponsored by MNRE, (GOI) in five villages, namely Mehchana, Alimudinpur, Garhi Natthekhan, Khandewla and Jhataula of Farukhnagar block of Gurgaon during January-February, 2013.
- A National Seminar “Use of Green & Solar Energy For All” was organised by AIWEFA, and sponsored by MNRE, (GOI) at Lady Irwin College, New Delhi on 25th March 2013.
2014:
- Six ”Cyber Crime Workshops” were held by AIWEFA in Colleges of University of Delhi and other institutions between December 2013 & February 2014.
- A “Parenting Workshop” was held at RWA -Shivalik, New Delhi in February 2014.
- Started “85th Foundation Year Celebrations” from 5th December 2014 on wards
2015:
- Got 350 women from underprivileged families trained in safe car driving by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.(MSIL)
- Got 150 girls trained in Self Defence by Delhi Police.
- Got some women mobilized to be trained as OLA cab drivers for women.
- Organised the XIII AIWEFA-Nina Sibal Memorial Award function for 2015 on 2 August, an annual feature.
- Launched 100 Cyber Security workshops in Delhi NCR colleges at India International Centre, New Delhi and completed 19 workshops.
2016:
- Organised a National Consultation prior to CSW60.
- Organised the event “A World We Women Want” at CSW60, at New York on 15, March 2016.
- Organised the XIV AIWEFA-Nina Sibal Memorial Award function on 2 August 2016.
2017:
- National launch at Delhi of Global South Website ” A World We Women Want: Economic Empowerment”
- Organised the event “A World We Women Want” at CSW62, at New York on 13, March 2017.
- Organised the 15th AIWEFA-Nina Sibal Memorial Award function on 2 August 2017.
- School and College workshops on ” Promoting Intergenerational Bonding”.
- College workshop on “Awareness and Prevention of Drug Addiction”.
- Project : Promotion & Development of Handicrafts from locally available resources” at Port Blair with the Government of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Khadi & Village Investitures Board.
2018:
- Promotion and Development of Local Handicrafts using locally available resources from Andaman & Nicobar Islands Artisans Exposure Visit to Delhi from 9 February to 16 February 2018.
- Workshops on “Promoting Intergenerational Bonding” in Five Colleges ” sponsored by National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment held from January 2018 to March 2018.
- Workshops on “Promoting Intergenerational Bonding” in Five Schools sponsored by National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment held from January 2018 to March 2018.
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“AIWEFA-Nina Sibal Memorial Award”, 2 August 2018 at IHC, New Delhi.
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Organised the 16th AIWEFA-Nina Sibal Memorial Award function on 2 August 2018
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Workshops on “Promoting Intergenerational Bonding” in Five Schools sponsored by National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment held from August 2018 to October 2018.
- Two day national stakeholder conference and exhibition to build the road to lifelong health, happiness and engagement “ENSURING HEALTHY LIVES AND PROMOTING WELLNESS IN OLD AGE” supported by NITI Aayog, HelpAge India, National Institute of Social Defence (NISD). 1st and 2nd November 2018 at Lady Irwin College, 4 Sikandra Road, New Delhi-110001.
2019:
- Khadi Goes Global: A Conclave Celebrating 100 Years of Khadi”Moving towards Global Sustainable Development Goals for thefuture of Manking” on Thursday,21st Feburary 2019 at Handicraft and Handloom Museum of India, Pargati Maidan, New Delhi-110001
- National Khadi cultural promotion was held in partnership with FICCI Ladies Organisation. At the United Nations headquarters, New York, the CSW63 events in March 2019, included a Side Event in partnership with the Permanent Mission of India and the KVIC sponsored Khadi fabrics were promoted at the Artisan Fair and Parallel Event.
- North East Expo 2019, Press Conference & Curtain Raiser on 15 October 2019 at Civil Services Officers’ Institute (CSOI), Vinay Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, Chief Guest Hon’ble Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of Development of North Eastern Region.
- “NORTH EAST EXPO -2019” Promoting North East Handlooms, Handicrafts, Preservation of Distinctive Arts, Natural Foods, Farm Sector , on 02-03 November 2019 at Lady Irwin College , New Delhi-110001.
2020:
- Indigenous Women’s Narratives in the Time of the COVID19 Pandemic: Webinar on 23 May 2020 spearker Ms. Asha Chandra , President AIWEFA.