Women are already running the economy. They are simply not on its books.
A mandate an institution can attach itself to: enterprise, trade and technology; a neutral knowledge hub; public-private partnerships; global convening; and recognition for grassroots excellence.
Across India, women hold together decentralised micro-economies and the local value chains that feed them — farm to mandi, kitchen to counter, hand to market. They carry the work. What they do not carry is the title deed, the credit line, the technology, the buyer relationship or the seat at the table where the rules are made.
The Nari Shakti Forum exists to close that gap — not by asking for concessions, but by putting women into the economic architecture they are already holding up.
Our mandate rests on five pillars. Each is a place where an institution can attach itself and see a measurable result.
For each kind of institution
- Governments — a live, party-agnostic, state-wise grievance and service dashboard, built to be adopted.
- Corporates — CSR with a countable outcome, and a supply chain at the end of it.
- Banks and capital — a verified, recurring cohort rather than a lead list.
- Institutions and researchers — our data, our methods and our failures, published open.
What each one aims to do — and what we actually do about it
| Pillar | The objective | What the Forum does about it |
|---|---|---|
| I. Enterprise, Trade & Technology | Infrastructure growth, start-up frameworks and sustainable cross-border market channels | Directs growth capital and technology into women-led micro-enterprises; builds gender-focused capital structures down the distribution line to reach rural women entrepreneurs |
| II. The Knowledge Hub | A neutral platform for ideas, innovations, policy and trade paradigms, in service of secure livelihoods | Documents and mainstreams the traditional and indigenous practice held by women's networks; equips grassroots women with digital, crop and climate-data literacy |
| III. Public-Private Partnerships | Collaborations that carry path-breaking innovation and corporate-backed sustainable models | Brings institutional purchasers and state agencies behind Women Farmer Producer Organisations and self-help collectives; channels CSR and public resources at the structural blocks — cold storage, sanitised processing, transport |
| IV. Convening Global Stakeholders | Summits where leadership converges, regulatory momentum builds and agendas are reshaped | Guarantees distinct pathways for women community leaders into the core roundtables; turns institutional attention onto hidden and informal women's labour and onto formal asset ownership |
| V. Grassroots Excellence | Recognition for extraordinary contribution to sustainability, field execution and economic development | Institutionalises global recognition categories for women scientists, natural resource managers and local change-makers |