Poor Women and Community-Based Participation in Literacy Work in India

Abstract

Participation in civil society represents a key strategy for achieving Education for All in international policy discourses (The Dakar Framework for Action, 2000; World Declaration on EFA, 1990). While the concept of participation in development terminology is not new, its usage in the global context of neo-liberalization imbues it with new meaning. Within the neo-liberal paradigm, economic and political policies have advocated an increased role for markets, privatization, and reduced social sector spending, accompanied simultaneously by deregulation and democratization (Afshar and Barrientos, 1999; Zaidi, 1999). Restructuring of the political economy along these lines has set in motion a reorganization of the civil society–state relationship. Governments are beginning to perceive their role as that of facilitator rather than provider, thus “creat[ing] conditions where agents other than those of the state can become efficient and effective direct providers” (Zaidi, 1999, p. 7). Participation in civil society assumes importance in this context, because the notion of citizenship appears to be redefined as “the active exercise of responsibilities, including economic self-reliance and political participation” (Schild, 1998, p. 94).