Meena Bilgi ()

Ms. Meena Bilgi has been working as Gender, Water and Agriculture Specialist since more than two decades in India and overseas. She has contributed by extensive grass root, managerial and advisory inputs in natural resources management projects especially water, land and forests in drought prone, water scarce areas as well those areas witnessing over exploitation of water sources in a number of States in India.

Her major areas of thrust has been on integrated approaches to water management by ensuring recruitment of gender sensitive and gender balanced multi-disciplinary project staff, induction and trainings in participatory planning, designing, implementation and management of projects using social and gender sensitive approaches, strategies and policies including firming up of gender indicators, gender budgeting and auditing, reflections for understanding impacts, strategic and effective partnerships with stakeholders through consultations, networking, advocacy and policy influencing.

During her tenure with Agakhan Rural Support Programme (India), and Western India Rainfed Farming Project, she ensured that drinking water project is taken up extensively with due focus on water management, health and hygiene.

In other donor funded projects, she focused on ensuring that women’s contribution in food security, household as well national economy is ‘visible’ and ‘well recognized’ by devising relevant strategies for community’s participation in institutional building, conflict resolution, social reconciliation regarding land, water, forests and disasters; for extension services and delivering of inputs to women farmers, capacity building in improved agricultural technologies and practices that are relevant to their land holdings and water availability, sensitizing men especially policy makers and increasing women’s access and control over the resources. She has also helped projects in designing and developing information, education and communication materials for local communities across Drinking Water, Sanitation, Health, Agriculture, Education etc. and has undertaken capacity building measures for staff as well communities across these sectors.

She provided inputs on gender and social perspective in various project formulation Missions; Water sector reforms including Sanitation, forestry development, reproductive health etc also in some urban/township development projects; assessed watershed externalities and role of local institutions, hazard and vulnerability assessment and preparation of composite risk Atlas for Gujarat etc. She has contributed in raising funds for poor communities in Gujarat, India by participating in partnership walks and interacting closely with the Donors.

She has many papers published and presented in National and International forums. She provided inputs and represented WOCAN (Women organizing for change in agriculture and Natural Resources) on women major group’s stand/statement on women in agriculture in Conference on UN Commission for Sustainable Development, 16 and 17.

She presented an analysis of a research on ‘use of guidelines and manuals in gender, agriculture and environment’ as part of the project “effective mainstreaming for sustainable livelihoods from Guidelines to Practice”, a collaborative effort between Comprehensive Assessment, Both Ends and Gender and Water Alliance in Water Seminar on Capturing the Big Picture of Gender in Water in World Water Week, 2006, provided inputs for Reader on Gender and Water Issues in South Asia compiled under the Crossing Boundaries Project, SaciWaters, reviewed chapter on Water Management in Rain-Fed Agriculture from Gender Lens for Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, IWMI etc.

Meena Bilgi has represented GWA in various National and International Forums. Examples are; as Gender Ambassador in “2nd Australasian Natural Hazards Conference 2008, from warnings to effective response and recovery, New Zealand; WWF5-2009 in Istanbul; World Water Week in Stockholm, represented as Steering Committee member in 2009 Water Links Forum and UNFCCC, Sept-October, 2009 in Bangkok. She is actively participating in CSD 18 processes and will represent WOCAN in Women Major Group in CSD 18, New York, 2010 She has teaching experience in India and Abroad.

While overseas, she taught multi-disciplinary group of students about social work practices in different settings in India and encouraged exchange programmes. In India, she takes up course on Poverty and Gender, Project Management, Proposal writing etc. for students perusing Post Graduate Diploma course in Management of NGOs from Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India apart from undertaking research and training activities related to Gender issues in business promotion and Entrepreneurship.

She is chair-person on Committee of Gender Sensitivity at the Entrpreneurship Development Institute of India.