Partnerships in development cooperation

Over the last two decades, microfinance in India has shifted from small, NGO-led programmes to a highly commercialised system dominated by private Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), NBFC-MFIs and, increasingly, digital microloan platforms. While the policy narrative continues to frame microfinance as an instrument of ‘financial inclusion’ and women’s empowerment, a large body of feminist and political economy scholarship now documents its predatory, financialised character, especially for rural women. Our field-based reports show that MFIs charge effective interest rates that can reach 48–60 per cent, extend multiple loans to the same woman, and rely on coercive recovery practices, in Andhra Pradesh this model, for instance, has been directly linked to a wave of borrower suicides.

However, most critical research and documentation focus on southern and eastern states like Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu. There is limited systematic evidence on how private microfinance targeted at individual women borrowers outside SHG structures, which is unfolding in Northern India, particularly in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh,Jharkhand, West Bengal and Maharashtra states is marked by agrarian distress, informalisation, and deep caste–gender hierarchies.

The research will explore the private microfinance to individual women borrowers. It will (1)
map the credit and debt ecologies of women borrowers, (2) analyse the gendered mechanisms of discipline and coercion used by private MFIs and digital lenders, (3) assess the social, psychological and economic impacts of over-indebtedness, and (4) identify viable policy and regulatory interventions, in dialogue with women’s organisations and regulators.

The research will generate policy and practice tools, state-level briefs, advocacy materials, contributing to global debates on the financialization of poverty and to national struggles for gender-just regulation of microfinance.

This study examines the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006 with a particular focus on the recognition of Community Forest Rights (CFRs) and habitat rights for vulnerable groups, especially Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), De-notified Tribes (DNTs) and nomadic and pastoralist communities. Despite its transformative intent, implementation of the FRA remains uneven, with less than 3% of the potential area officially recognized for community forest resources. Ongoing challenges include high rejection rates, bureaucratic bottlenecks, limited recognition of community rights, and slow progress in granting habitat rights to PVTGs. The study critically examines the structural, procedural and institutional factors that shape these outcomes, including the failure to recognize habitat as a socio-cultural landscape that encompasses traditional practices, mobility and collective governance systems. It also identifies facilitative practices across states to understand differences in implementation. By combining empirical evidence with community perspectives, the research aims to generate policy-relevant insights and recommendations to strengthen inclusive and effective implementation of the FRA, with a particular focus on advancing the forest and habitat rights of the most vulnerable forest-dependent communities.

This study addresses both the challenges and ecological responsibilities of inland fishing communities. While small-scale inland fishers face significant socio-economic and environmental pressures, they are not merely users of resources - they are custodians of freshwater ecosystems. Recognizing their role and empowering them through sustainable policies, fair access to resources and environmental incentives is crucial for the future of both inland fisheries and overall freshwater biodiversity and ecosystems.

This research project investigates the impacts of climate change on vulnerable urban communities in five different climate zones in India: mountain ecosystems, drylands, the Gangetic Plain, Peninsular India and coastal areas. The aim is to understand the specific challenges, losses and damages faced by these communities, especially marginalized groups such as informal workers, slum dwellers and fisherfolk. Through participatory action research, the project will document lived experiences, co-design community-based solutions for mitigation and adaptation, and build evidence-based knowledge to support policy advocacy. By engaging diverse stakeholders, including community members, researchers, and policy makers, the project seeks to bridge the gap between science and policy, promote participatory decision-making, and empower communities to lead climate action and advance climate justice. The research will help strengthen climate resilience in cities, promote sustainable development and ensure that the voices of the most vulnerable people are heard in the planning and implementation of climate action.

India has the largest adolescent population in the world with 253 million adolescents aged 10-19 years. The 4th National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) estimates that there were 11.8 million teenage pregnancies in India, while the NFHS-5 shows that 6.8% of women aged 15-19 years in India were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey.

Teenage pregnancies in India impose lifelong and intergenerational health costs that significantly affect the lives of a large proportion of the adolescent girl population [Lancet 2019], emphasizing the need for in-depth study of the factors that determine teenage pregnancies and their outcomes. Higher rates of adolescent pregnancy are due to the entrenched practice of child marriage, poor access to health care, poverty and low literacy rates in India [Medhi R, Das B, et al. 2016] and have been shown to have a significant impact on women's health, educational opportunities and population growth. Despite wide regional variations in rates of adolescent pregnancy in India, there is insufficient epidemiological evidence for India.

There are numerous programs and initiatives to support adolescents in the country as well as pregnant women and young mothers. These programs include educational services, nutritional support, skill development opportunities, etc. One example is the 'Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana' (PMKVY), which aims to impart relevant vocational skills to youth to enhance their employability and enable them to earn a livelihood. However, a gap arises where these programs do not take into account the special situation in which adolescent mothers and pregnant adolescents find themselves. Many programs that provide nutritional benefits to pregnant women base their eligibility criteria on age, thus excluding girls who need this support. While the age-based criteria are seen as a deterrent to teenage pregnancy and child marriage, they actually have the effect of limiting support for girls who are in a difficult situation through no fault of their own. It must also be noted that including teenage pregnancies and victims of child marriage in the provision of these programs is unlikely to promote child marriage, but rather provide girls with the support they need.

In addition, evidence on factors associated with adolescent pregnancies would help inform policymaking and programmatic development while addressing adolescent pregnancies and monitoring progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.7. Given the poor maternal and child health outcomes and high adolescent population in Indian states, this study aimed to understand the contextual factors that determine adolescent pregnancies and motherhood and uncover the policy gaps to generate sound evidence that can inform policy to create an enabling environment and address issues related to early marriages, child and/or forced marriages or relationships in five Indian states - West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.

At 23.4%, the female labor force participation rate in India is one of the lowest in the world. The gendered division of labor in the labor market and various forms of patriarchal control have pushed women into the informal economy. Their work is usually unpaid or underpaid and takes place in precarious and discriminatory conditions, making them particularly vulnerable to violence and harassment. Due to the insecure and informal nature of their working environment, they have no access to legal protection.

The proposed research project will (a) gain insights into the different forms of gender-based violence faced by informally employed women and how these can be addressed, (b) explore different forms of cooperation and dialogue between different actors such as civil society organizations, employers and governments with regard to the formal recognition of informal women workers and the creation of gender-equitable workplaces, (c) analyse the effectiveness and challenges of organizing marginalized and vulnerable groups to ensure their access to rights and protection in the workplace, (d) develop best practice recommendations on how civil society actors can contribute to changing the norms that underpin gender-based violence (GBV) against informal women workers, and (e) develop recommendations on how civil society actors can contribute to changing the norms that underpin gender-based violence (GBV) against informal women workers.

informal women workers and close the gaps in the implementation of laws promoting their labor rights.

The proposed research project focuses on collectives of women workers in three different sectors of the informal economy in three states - domestic workers in West Bengal, agricultural and other migrant workers in Bihar, and home-based workers in Delhi. Through this research, we will highlight specific forms of gender-based violence faced by informal women workers in the workplace and analyze the gaps in laws such as the Prevention, Prohibition and Punishment of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 (POSH Act) in protecting these women. We will generate insights and evidence to substantiate the role of collectivization processes in reducing gender-based violence in the workplace and in bringing about critical policy changes. We will document the role of worker registration and the facilitation of migration processes in ensuring women workers' access to rights and entitlements, thereby reducing the risk of violence and changing gender norms over time.

While racism is increasingly recognized as a constitutive element of the current climate crisis and imperial patterns have been analysed and critiqued in the COP process, there is a dearth of research that focuses on the ways in which climate negotiators and experts who are Black, Indigenous and/or People of Colour experience the co-constitutive dynamics of racism and the climate crisis in the context of climate negotiations and international and multilateral climate policy making. The project fills this gap by analyzing the experiences of BIPoC climate negotiators and experts, whose perspective is unique in that it allows for a combination of structural, institutional and interpersonal dynamics of racism in climate negotiations and policy. Their experiences, analyses and strategies will be collected through expert interviews and focus groups, which will be analyzed using qualitative coding. The project aims to gain empirical insight into how racism operates, how it is experienced by BIPoC climate negotiators and climate policy experts, and what counter-strategies they have developed.

According to UN Women, women do at least two and a half times as much domestic and care work as men. The gender gap in the labor force is more pronounced than ever in India. The trend shows a rapid masculinization of the workforce, with the female participation rate falling to a historic low of 23.3% in 2017-18 (PLFS data from NSSO). This is despite the fact that various flagship programs have been implemented over the years to empower women. Further analysis shows that women belonging to marginalized communities such as Dalit, tribal, DNT and Muslim communities are exposed to various manifestations of patriarchy. The increasing number of assaults against these communities recorded by the NCRB bears testimony to this fact. Experience shows that women belonging to these communities have less access to education, government programs, skills, credit and other factors required for entrepreneurship. They are usually employed in low-paid jobs that require longer working hours and have no social protection.

The cooperative movement is of great importance in India and is even mentioned in the Indian Constitution. It has touched various spheres of life, from agriculture, fertilizers, banking, dairies, sugar, housing to modern sectors like information technology. Women's cooperatives have a long history in India. They have a direct and indirect impact on women's employment. Their economic success and their role in women's empowerment have been the subject of various studies conducted over the years. However, an examination of the role of cooperatives in the empowerment of women belonging to marginalized communities such as Dalit, tribals, DNTs and Muslims is a research gap. In the proposed study, the women's cooperatives in Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Gujarat and some other Indian states are studied to assess the involvement of women belonging to marginalized communities in particular.

Women face severe violence, discrimination and injustice when they assert their rights to productive resources. It is not surprising that women own less of all productive resources such as land and housing. Despite numerous rights and laws enshrined in the constitution, administrative units fail to implement women's rights and grant them equal rights.

The research proposal aims to reflect on one of the most common forms of violence experienced by tribal or Adivasi women in India - witch hunting and witch branding, where women are accused of possessing occult powers to harm others. A combination of superstitious beliefs, religious practices and patriarchal norms mean that women accused of witchcraft experience a lifetime of suffering, leading in many cases to their murder and lynching.

The roots of this violence lie not only in specific religious or cultural beliefs and superstitions, but also in the cold calculation of patriarchal mindsets, in the collusion to deprive women of land and property, to take revenge when women refuse sexual advances, and to punish women for petty disputes. Inadequate health care in rural areas and lack of sustained awareness programs, implementation of laws and informed government intervention exacerbate the problem.

The complexity of this problem and its penal dimensions are evident in the blurring of the lines between protector and perpetrator. As in other cases of lynching, it is difficult to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Survivors of these acts of violence are deeply scarred as the perpetrators are often members of their own family, neighborhood and community.

In addition, single women are more at risk of being stigmatized and women who own land are even more vulnerable. Land rights play an important role in women's struggle for survival, dignity, respect, safety and economic security. However, social norms, customary laws and legislation do not allow women to have easy access to and control over land and other productive resources. In many cases, attempts are made to appropriate women's land resources by branding them as witches, which is accompanied by violence. Women carry out most agricultural activities but are not recognized as farmers if they have no ownership and control over land and no access to credit and other inputs. All these situations, which show the disadvantage and unequal position of women in society, are due to discrimination against women, gender-specific policies, legislation and socio-cultural norms and practices.

Apart from this, it is evident that when women's sexuality is not under control in a patriarchal world, attempts are made to desexualize them by branding them as widows, witches or having a bad eye.

The proposed research study will also make a systematic attempt to understand the problem and find out the structures and practices that prevent or help women from sexual autonomy as well as economic resources, and establish the close link between the two.