*************************************************************************** The electronic version of this document has been prepared at the Fourth World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women Secretariat. *************************************************************************** AS WRITTEN Statement made by Dr. NANDINI AZAD, Chairperson, GROOTS Delegation Speech(10. 9.1995) at the Plenary of the Fourth World Conference On Women Beijing, China September 4-15 1995. May I thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak on behalf of GROOTS International (Grassroots Organisations Operating Together in Sisterhood) a network of social movements in 24 countries reaching over 4 million poor women The major contribution of GROOTS is that through a collective vision, micro level information has been able to influence macro policy and place the voice of grassroots women on the global agenda. We define grassroots women as those living at the base encompassing rural and urban areas in the developing and developed world. Economically vulnerable and socially exploited, j' we demand that their life, dignity and livelihood be ensured. This statement is the product of inputs received during 70 international grassroots forum meetings held around the worldand through our focal points in variouscontinents ie., Africa, Asia/Pacific, Latin America, Europe, North America etc. and also the Grassroots Organizations Caucus convened at the Official Conference site and at the grassroots tent at Hair in September 1995. In terms of the Platform For Action, it no doubt verifies a decade of increased impoverishment amongst women particularly the macro structural origins and depth of global feminization of poverty. Yet ,the failures of macro economic market and neo-liberal political systems have not warranted for a call to alternative approaches that are poor women led nor those that highlight creative/longterm development strategies by the grassroots sector to cope with or offset these forces. In contrast, GROOTS gives center stage to strategies that organise women across regional divisions to take up leadership and to radically transform structures that consistently favour markets over people, the rich over the poor, men over women, shortterm advantage over sustainable development, and commodities over communities. The decade has proven to grassroots women everywhere that our platform for action must be to mobilize to hold macro institutions accountable toimproving conditions amongst the poor through empowered participation. Simultaneous is the need to organise to make micro institutions such as the family and community, democratic, gender equitable and sustainable. Achieving women' s equality, developmentand Peace requires grassroots women' s organisations to be fully involved and resourced to build effective communities and thier infrastructures that reflect their priorities. Fundamental to this development and the full implementation of the Platform For Action is the thorough support and involvement ofgrassroots women through their organsiations/networks, the autonomy of which, Groots reinforces that the declaration must surelv recognize. We. further need n now emphasis on community organizing, capacity building and true partnership. GROUTS consists of organizations like the Working Women' s Forum (India), Organization of Rural Associations for progress, Aliens de Mujeras Costarricanses, National Congress of Neighbourhood Women (USA ), Sistrene Theatre Collective (Jamaica), etc. Groots is unique in its diversity and in some cases difference of opinion and priorities. Although common in many elements, models of development differ by region in their economic, social, cultural and political specifics and require a range of alternative forms and methods for outreach to indegenous grassroots women and their organisations. Our view is that Grassroots women are neither weak nor defenceless but are constantly confronted by structures that compartmentalise /fragment their lives and multiple roles. What they need therefore is self initiated, integrative and gender equitable planning instead of protection. Especially in the face of worsening economic policies on their conditions and social policies that contradict these outcomes with shrinking funds. Resources thus have to be used differently and will in turn increase the return on social investment. Secondly, Groots believes in linking grassroots women to the global agenda. Thus in terms of multinational institutions, we need to create transparent, democratic processes for discussing terms of foreign loans, debt. To the extent adjustment involves making decisions about how to mortgage a country’s s future, grassroots women that are the largest in number must evaluate which risks are the safest and most dangerous. Structural adjustment policies in the developing countries increase prices, removes subsidies to vulnerable groups, erodes accumulation / livelihoods and cannot "make the grassroots fodder" for the elites of some countries Third, although all Grassroots groups beleive that pro-poor strategies are needed and governments must guarantee a commitment to certain basic needs, we challenge the way these support programs are structured and the the scapegoating of poor women that usually accompanies them. Thus policy makers should study poor women’s s initiatives to pinpoint what kinds of resources and types of solidarity make these models work. Allowing the micro to redirect the macro will help clarify common and distinct objectives and contribute to policy makers understanding of how measurements of efficiency, productivity, and value adding should be adapted to reflect micro realities. We also wish to point out that the implementation section of the Platform For Action will not be a reality without the participation of women at the grassroots. Therefore ,the role of grassroots organizations in implementation must be clearly recognized and supported with financial commitments. It is importantant therefore to: 1. Redirect social expenditures and policy initiatives so that they empower poor women. 2. Direct social service expenditures to build capacities of community-based grassroots organizations by funding social mobilization even before the provision of services. 3. Transfer resources to grassroots women' s direct control. 4. Recognize alternative development models and social movements, based on their capacity to enhance grassroots women and their families. 5. Housing as a women' s issue seems to have been left to the Habitat Conference and mustbe a critical concern in this Conference on women. 6. Assisting mainstream financial institutions to learn from alternative grassroots organizations is essential. I come from the land of Mahatma Gandhi whose conribution to voluntarism and social movements has been legendary. yet in countries like India where traditional values are strong, our patriachal cultures often negate the little progress we have achieved in this direction. These are very evident from the treatment of girl children, occurence of female foeticide, infanticide, dowry deaths and many other forms of exclusions that women/children undergo in powerless communities. The position of 600 million women workers is still despicable in the informal sector. They form over 89% of India' s and 90% of world' s working population and are excluded from the labour market. Policy options, protective measures, welfarebenefits are all denied to them, since tere is little solidarity with the male dominatedcentral trade unions. Consequently there is no recognition from respective national governments too. The resultis ignoring both their valuable economic roles and permanent exclusion from thelabour market. In contrast, the Working Women's Forum, the S. Asia focal point of GROOTS that I come from has reversed the pillars of Indian culture on their heads. 3,40,OOO poor women from the Working Women's Forum have challenged class exploitation, caste inferiority, male dominance, isolation, and physical weakness through small groups of 10 members with leaders that are counter cultural agents. WWF' s strategies are successful as poor women's priorities came first, promoting leadership from below, working only with the poor and excercising clout to claim the poor their rights. WWF has provided credit loans worth 140 million rupees through its Indian Cooperative Network For Women, an alternative banking system. Its 1000 heal; th cooperatives reach a population of nearly 1 million. The end result is a mammoth social platform of 30,000 aware groups inroading into the local self-governments, challenging power structures and spearheading social action. Women have assumed leadership in the family and community, accumulated capital/ savings/ assets nsured household food security and are vanguards of social integration through this new model of development based on "Gender and Equity" created and managed by poor women. Finally as part of the new generation that learnt feminism in the womb, having been born to an admirable feminist, I believe as do million others like me around the world that the Platform For Action will herald a new era wherein grassroots women that are in the periphery will march to the center stage and the "Last" will finally be "The First".