The Ministry of Rural Development's Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), in collaboration with the Institute for What Works to Advance Gender Equality (IWWAGE), organized the seventh edition of Gender Samvaad on the theme 'Participation to Leadership: Enhancing Women's Agency in Livelihoods.' The event witnessed participation from over 6 lakh stakeholders across India, including SHG women, State Rural Livelihoods Mission staff, policymakers, gender experts, and practitioners, providing a platform for exchange of experiences and deliberation on strengthening women's participation, leadership and decision-making in rural livelihoods and economic institutions.
In his keynote address, Secretary Rohit Kansal highlighted the event's growth from 1,400 participants in April 2021 to nearly six lakh in September 2025, reflecting growing voice and leadership. He emphasized the strength of the SHG movement with over 10 crore women being exemplary across the world as a women-led movement. He specifically highlighted that over 3.46 crore Lakhpati Didis are earning more than ₹1 lakh annually, strengthening women's economic aspirations. Kansal also shared state-led innovations including Maharashtra's Women Farmers' Empowerment Bill recognizing women farmers without formal land titles, Odisha's Bhubaneswar Declaration advancing women's land rights and representation in agricultural institutions, and Andhra Pradesh's RySS natural farming model driven at scale by women's SHGs.
Joint Secretary Amit Shukla highlighted the evolution of gender integration under DAY-NRLM from mobilisation to institutionalising gender as a mainstream concern in programme design and implementation. He noted initiatives such as the Gender Advisory issued in December 2021, Nayi Chetna as the Annual National Gender Campaign, the Gender Integration Workshop, and the Practice Guide for Gender Integration in Livelihoods have progressively strengthened this approach. Joint Secretary Swati Sharma highlighted the ongoing National Campaign on Entrepreneurship-II (21 August–21 November 2026) as an important step toward strengthening entrepreneurship among SHG women through enterprise development, value chains, digital platforms and market access.
The event featured women leaders from Assam and Maharashtra who shared their journeys from SHG membership to entrepreneurship and leadership. The Seventh Gender Samvaad, aligned with the UN International Year of Women Farmers 2026, provided a national platform to recognize and amplify the contributions of women farmers and their livelihood institutions to rural livelihoods, food systems and local economies.