Martha Farrell Award Ceremony to Honour “Most Promising Individual” and “Best Organisation for Gender Equality”

Martha Farrell Award Ceremony to Honour “Most Promising Individual” and “Best Organisation for Gender Equality”
Nandita Bhatt, Director, Martha Farrell Foundation

As a part of celebrating women’s month, Martha Farrell Foundation in association with Rizwan Adatia Foundation and Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) is organising the 3rd Martha Farrell Award Ceremony on March 27 in New Delhi.

The Martha Farrell Award honours individuals and organisations from various sectors - government, business, industry or civil society - from any part of the country - rural or urban - who work with the belief that attaining women’s empowerment and gender equality is an everyday goal.

“There are many women and organisations who have dedicated their life’s work to creating a gender equal society. Their everyday commitment, in the face of opposition from India’s deeply patriarchal society, needs recognition,” says Nandita Bhatt, Director, Martha Farrell Foundation. “Such recognition deepens and creates excellence in the efforts toward women’s empowerment.”

“Awards give me, and other women in Kashmir, the strength to continue to work even more forcefully on empowerment of girls and women of my region,” says Nadiya Shafi, winner of the 2018 Martha Farrell Award in the “Most Promising Individual” category. Supported by the Award, Nadiya continues to raise voice, in spite of censorship, ridicule, patriarchy and indifference, through her community videos on the abuse and violence women and girls face in Kashmir.

Nandita adds, "Many young men and women have been devoting their time and effort to first struggle to become empowered themselves; and, then, to support other girls and women to do so. Such champions need recognition and support, so that they can expand their efforts in the long road to achieving women’s empowerment and gender equality."

The Martha Farrell Award for Excellence in Women’s Empowerment has been instituted to honour Dr. Farrell and her ideals. Launched in October 2016, it is a First-of-its-kind initiative to discover, recognize and honor mid-career individuals and committed institutions, which have made valuable contributions in the areas of women’s empowerment, gender equality and feminism in everyday life.

Martha Farrell was a passionate civil society leader, renowned and respected in India and around the world for her work on women's rights, gender equality and adult education. She was among 14 people killed in a terrorist attack on a guest house in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 13, 2015. She had been leading a gender training workshop with the Aga Khan Foundation in Kabul at the time of the attack.

She began her career in 1981 as a literacy worker at Ankur, an NGO working for women’s literacy and empowerment in Delhi. She broadened her focus into adult education, where she began her lifelong practice of participatory learning methodology. In 1991, she Co-founded Creative Learning for Change, an NGO consisting of development professionals involved in research, training and documentation of learning materials for students, teachers and facilitators in non-formal settings. She remained connected to this initiative throughout her career.

Established in September 2015, the Martha Farrell Foundation continues the same values that Dr. Farrell strove for. It focuses on gender mainstreaming and adult education. The Foundation supports practical interventions towards achieving a gender-just society. Some of these are,

Kadam Badhate Chalo: Working across 27 locations in 7 states, it is a youth (both boys and girls) led programme to end violence against women and girls.

Making Workplaces Safe: Training & development programmes facilitating safe workplaces for all women workers in both the formal and informal workplaces.

Scholarships & Fellowships: The MFF-NAPSWI & the Martha Farrell Memorial Fellowship are awarded to develop new knowledge and professional practices for promoting gender equality, women’s leadership and prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace.