Empower Women 1

A SOLUTION TO EMPOWER INDIAN WOMEN THORUGH FOREIGN AID

By Vikram Nandyala

ST16-4983 Research and Writing Seminar

Charles Bartsch and Dan Ewert

University of Florida

Gainesville, Florida

August 3, 2016

Empower Women 2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Thesis Statement: If foreign aid is to be given to India in the future since much development is still needed, this paper suggests it be used to empower women in India, something which has proved to develop economies even further and decrease the population growth rate.

The purpose of this research project is to inform international development practitioners, such as leaders at the IMF, the World Bank, and USAID, that their methods to implement foreign aid to India have not been effective in the past. There needs to be some major organizational changes to how foreign aid is conducted in other countries, constructed by very meticulous instructions so that no errors can be made. This project is not meant to support the use of foreign aid in any ways because it is a very complex process, but rather to provide a solution if a country does want to provide foreign aid to India. Another point that this project is trying to stress is that foreign aid in the past to India was primarily focused on developing the agricultural economy. Now that India’s economy has developed so much, foreign aid does not necessarily have to be spent directly on the economy to grow it even further; developing women in the country could be the next step to improving the country, economically and socially.

Methodology:In order to explain why foreign aid should be directed to empower Indian women, the

paper is split into three parts. The first section will provide background on foreign aid and economic development in general, while the second section will focus more on how foreign aid has impacted Indian economic and women’s development in the past. The third section will be a solution on how to properly implement foreign aid in India to empower women and will include a SWOT and PEST Analysis. Finally, the paper will conclude with an explanation on the importance of proper implementation of foreign aid and its effects. Resources:

The resources that I plan to use in my research project are the following: educational and governmental website articles, books that were collected from the American University Library and the Georgetown University library, JSTOR articles, notes taken at a policy forum at the CATO Institute known as the policy forum of twenty-five years of Indian Economic Reform: India’s Record and Prospects of Becoming a Major World Problem where experts like Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar and Ashley Tellis talked about India’s prospects in the future, and an informational interview that was conducted with Ian Vasquez, a director at the CATO Institute who recently moderated the same CATO institute policy forum that I attended.

Conclusion:International development and foreign aid could be a beautiful thing that can develop an

entire country and possibly eradiate many third-world problems. Unfortunately, though, people have taken abuse of the system and tried to implement it for their benefits or if they truly did it for the better of people, they did not take detailed steps to implement it properly; for example, American officials did monitor international development in India but lived in the posh areas and didn’t experience its effect on the poorer areas. Foreign aid has known to fail numerous times in the past but if a nation or organization does want to work to develop a country that has an enormous amount of potential, then this paper would recommend that they follow the solution that is outlined. If India developed so much since 1991 which is when India’s economy has been known to grow, their future can be even brighter if foreign aid was implemented properly.

Empower Women 3

A SOLUTION TO EMPOWER INDIAN WOMEN THORUGH FOREIGN AID

From 1946 to 2012, India received about $65 billion from the United States alone, and

very little of this money has had a positive impact on India (Dawn). Though the Indian economy

has grown since foreign aid was first given to India, this growth cannot been attributed to foreign

aid. Instead, what contributed the most to the success of Indian economic development since

1991 was the movement from socialist to liberalization and privatization policies, which resulted

in more foreign investment rather than foreign aid. Despite the booming economy, there are still

many social problems including poverty and a large population growth rate. If foreign aid is to

be given to India in the future since much development is still needed, this paper suggests it be

used to empower women in India, something which has proved to develop economies even

further and decrease the population growth rate.

This paper is divided into three main components. The first section will provide

background on foreign aid and economic development in general, while the second section will

focus more on how foreign aid has impacted Indian economic and women’s development in the

past. The third section will be a solution on how to properly implement foreign aid in India to

empower women and will include a SWOT and PEST Analysis. Finally, the paper will conclude

with an explanation on the importance of proper implementation of foreign aid and its effects.

Background on Foreign Aid and Economic Development

Foreign aid is a grant or loan from a country or organization given to a developing

country. Since many developing countries do not have enough resources for such public goods as

education, foreign investors become initially apprehensive about investing in a country that is not

able to develop itself. Foreign aid provides an initial funding to jumpstart support for a country’s

public goods, otherwise known as the ‘big push’ theory (O’Neil). The reasons to give foreign aid

Empower Women 4

are more complicated than genuinely trying to help another country grow. For a country like the

United States, a main purpose of promoting foreign aid has been to enhance national security by

attempting to minimize international threats. In a study done by Seung-Whan Choi of the

University of Illinois, Chicago, economic growth has been shown to lower levels of international

and domestic terrorist violence (Martin). In addition, many countries want to develop other

countries to grow local economies to allow them to become trade partners. While the realist

theory believes that foreign aid is given with the intent of strategic intentions like security, the

non-realist theory is more concerned with the economic development of the donor country, and

that foreign aid works towards building the donor’s economy (O’Neil).

Foreign aid has been widely criticized as an ineffective policy that has done more damage

to a country than actually help. Governments in many developing countries are still very corrupt,

so much of the aid is used for unproductive activities. In the past, while the purpose of foreign

aid might have been to increase economic development in a rural region, beginning politicians

have used that foreign aid for their own political gain instead (O’Neil). Proper governance must

first be present in a country before it should accept any foreign aid to prevent waste of money.

Foreign aid has also been known to be fungible in the sense that funded projects already have

enough resources and the government will use additional funding for different projects (Abuzeid

2009). If the donor and recipient countries have the same preferences, then the fungibility of

foreign aid is not a problem but becomes one if their mindsets are not the same. If a recipient of

foreign aid uses the aid amount as a pure supplement to its resources, the aid becomes fungible

and therefore should be used for its intended purpose. Foreign aid will also become not fungible

if there is an effective public expenditure monitoring process. A more effective way in avoiding

fungible foreign aid could be to give direct budgetary support that is based on mutually agreed

Empower Women 5

outcomes with certain indicators. A study by Alberto Alesina and David Dollar confirmed that

the recipient country has more control over where the funding goes instead of the donor country,

and if that recipient country has a corrupt government, foreign aid will most likely not be

effective (Alesina 24). This counter-productive behavior has been known to worsen the country’s

economy and has raised need for more foreign aid.

Defining and measuring development has been a difficult task. According to the World

Bank, countries are rated on their GNP levels while emphasizing that indicators like education

levels, health care, and food production are measurements that should also be considered

(Heckert 329). The United Nations Development Programme built a human development

indicator which gives a value to each country depending on life expectancy, education, and real

GDP per capita (Economic Geography).

It has been proven that even minor differences in the economic development rate have

resulted in different standards of living for people in countries. For example, citizens of

developed countries generally live in a community that has less crime than those living in a

developing county (Grover 2014). Economic development has actually been known to even have

an effect on the population rate. The demographic transition model explains that when an

economy develops, the population rate of that country will eventually decrease over time.

Initially, when an economy develops, the death rate will drop due to all the medical advances in

the country, but the birth rate will sequentially decrease because the women will choose to have

fewer children to focus more on their jobs (Grover 2014). Though there is the risk that the birth

rate can become lower than the death rate as the economy becomes very developed (as in the

case of Japan), the concern of a rapidly growing global population is more important than the

risk of a drop in the human population. Developing women is an important step to economic

Empower Women 6

growth that many countries realize during their development process. The World Bank reported,

“we need more of it (women development) in those areas that support shared economic growth…

financial services will profit not only women, but also men, children, and societies, as a whole,

as economies grow and poverty is reduced” (Sharma 21). Sectors like infrastructure and

agriculture that drive economic development implicitly exclude women in many countries and

this indirectly hinders the economy from reaching its full capacity. In order for women to

become more integrated into the economy, not only do they need more access to land, labor, and

credit markets, but the social culture in the country has to recognize women as equal to men.

Past Foreign Aid, Economic Growth, and Women Empowerment in India

India has been a common recipient for foreign aid in the past from several different

countries. Many countries believed in the potential growth that eventually occurred after the

economic reforms were implemented and wanted to give foreign aid to start that growth. From

1960 to 1970, while the United States sent less than $1 billion in foreign aid to countries like

Bangladesh and Iraq, foreign aid to India grew from $2 billion to $5 billion (Bandyopadhyay

329). The United States saw India as a state that had a legitimate and feasible path to

development, and thus, decided to give it more funding. From 1951 to 1971, about 56% of

foreign aid to India came from the United States, with the second largest provider being the

World Bank which gave about 12% of India’s foreign aid; the United States is also the largest

contributor to the World Bank (Sharma 275). The United States gave more than $1 billion to

India as foreign aid but India did not use all of that money (Sharma 273). Foreign aid to India

from the United States started in 1951 with the intent that the money would be spent on 2 million

metric tons of wheat (Sharma 272). The United States gave foreign aid to India through the

Empower Women 7

United States Agency for International Development, the United States Export-Import Bank, and

the Public Law-480 (Food for Peace Programme).

A major critique of the United States foreign aid to India was that the United States

thought that it knew what was best for India. The American experts did not have the knowledge

of what were the needs of the Indian people in terms of their cultural, social, and economic goals.

Unfortunately the attempt to be omni-present in every country did not always work. Most of the

American experts who lived in India to monitor the foreign aid were staying in affluent areas in

India, not seeing what happened in the lower-income areas and the true effect of foreign aid on

India (Sharma 127). When the United States first started to give foreign aid, India did not have a

stable government and it was much more corrupt than it is today, making it incapable of

managing any foreign funds that it received. Often, India had to pay for consulting services from

the United States which were conditions attached to the development program (Sharma 278).

These consulting service prices were much higher than the internationally competitive prices.

Along with other payments that India had to pay due to further conditions of aid, India had to

devalue its rupee in 1966. From 1960 to 1970, India’s account balance was generally positive,

meaning that its account deficits were due to a lack of exports (Sharma 278). Since there was a

restraint on foreign investment due to India’s socialist policies at the time and their decline in

foreign exchange reserves, foreign aid was responsible for keeping that amount of imports higher

than it was supposed to be. If foreign aid was not being spent at that time, India’s excessive

amount in imports could have been much lower and the economy could have done better. In

addition, before 1956, India’s food grain prices had been stable. However, as demand started to

increase for food and with India’s foreign reserves falling rapidly, India made an agreement with

the United States for even more assistance that involved receiving 50 tons of food grain under

Empower Women 8

the P.L. 480 (Kamath). When all of this free food grain came from the United States, food prices

dropped immediately, and many farmers decreased their amount of acreage planted in wheat and

competing cereals (Kamath). As a country whose economy at the time focused on agriculture,

India’s immediate future seemed bleak. This food aid had an inflationary effect on the Indian

economy as well. Most food shipments to India were sent in exchange for rupees which started

to grow overwhelmingly in Indian banks and covered the local United States government

expenses (Kamath). In order to make further payments to the American local government, the

Indian bank decided to issue securities (Kamath). These payments were liquidized in the sense

that the securities that were converted into Indian public debt and the United States further gave

that money to the Indian public sector through grants and loans (Kamath). B.R. Shenoy, a

scholar of the Indian economy, estimated that this process was responsible for about 35% of debt

financing from 1962 to 1971, and increased the inflation rate by about 10% per year (Kamath).

Results have shown, however, that foreign aid did not necessarily lead to a reduction in tax

revenue for the government. From 1970 to 1994, it is noticeable that development spending has

increased from 3.83% of GDP to 4.40% while foreign aid has decreased 1.91% of GDP to

1.27%, confirming that foreign aid has not been effective in the past, so India recognized its

futility and decided to take development matters into its own hands (Kamath).

In 2012, Britain announced it would stop providing foreign aid to India in 2015

(Rowlatt). At the time, Britain was considered the largest donor to India in foreign aid. Britain’s

reasoning was that India’s economy has developed so much that it no longer needed foreign aid.

In fact, India has started its own donor program in the past decade. Despite Britain’s reasoning, it

is fair to say that there is still a considerable amount of poverty and third-world problems no

matter how much its economy has grown. The majority of foreign aid to India from Britain

Empower Women 9

focused primarily on education, health, nutritional programs, and water sanitation (Desai).

Though Britain gave the most foreign aid to India at the time, the amount of money it was

providing is relatively low compared to India’s GDP; the foreign aid given by Britain was only

about 0.04% of India’s GDP. Britain’s foreign aid to India actually did have some positive

effects (Rowlatt). The Department for International Development in Britain funded the Business

Innovation Facility that supported companies that expanded other businesses who gave more

opportunities for the poor. Another example is that the British government funded a local NGO

known as the Poorest Areas Civil Society Programme (Rowlatt). It works with women from

marginalized backgrounds, and makes them aware of their rights, education, and livelihood.

And, this NGO is just 1 out of the 60,000 women self-help groups that India has funded

(Rowlatt). However, according to research conducted by the Brookings Institute, British foreign

aid has only done so much and it is recognized that there needs to be more comprehensive social

policies instead of social programs, whereas interviews conducted by BBC on the people in

charge of the NGOs conclude that the end of the British foreign aid will be felt by India in the

long-run (Desai).

India’s economy after its independence from Britain has had its failures and successes.

For about 45 years after its independence, India’s economy was divided into the private and the

public sector. While the private sector controlled business and industries, the government

implemented socialist policies and basically controlled everything such as services ranging from

local transportation to television broadcasting. India worked with the Soviet Union, which at the

time was a close ally, to improve its economy. When Indira Gandhi was in power, her

administration did not pay enough attention to the economy and cared more about how to remain

in power. During this administration, the economy and corruption only worsened. When the

Empower Women 10

Soviet Union fell apart, India’s economy weakened even more since the Soviet Union was a

major supplier of low cost oil to India. From 1963 to 1985, India was known to have a strongly

inward-oriented economy; it favored production for domestic goods and its exchange rate was

very over-valued (Gosai). India was at one point receiving a large remittance of foreign

exchange from Indians working in the Middle East but the Gulf War sent many Indians back to

India which hurt India’s foreign reserves. With their foreign reserves about to collapse, India

decided to change it closed-door policies in 1991 (Gosai). The finance minister Manmohan

Singh implemented many economic reforms at the time, such as lowering tax levels and

changing the exchange rate policy, and these reforms allowed for further international

investment. While the major exports were agro, textiles, and gems in 1991, items like software

and automobiles were the major exports in 2016 (CATO). Also, the Indian economy had many

multinational corporations by 2016. In 1991, India feared these multinational corporations

(CATO). Despite these major economic advancements, more than 45% of Indians live on only a

little more than $1 a day and more than 25% of its population live below the national poverty

line (Gosai). Further, Indian health and educational indicators have risen slower than in any other

rapidly growing economy and India’s positon in human development remained unchanged for

two decades. This demonstrates that either economic development has not been enough, or India

requires more than economic development to better the lifestyle for people in rural areas in India.

Some have said that for the Indian economy to grow even further, India should move its

international investment more to the rural areas of India to decrease urbanization and increase

employment in small towns and villages where there are still many inequalities.

Women’s development in India is based on several variables, including the geographic

location, educational status, social status, and age. Government policies such as the Domestic

Empower Women 11

Violence Act and the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution which helped women join

politics at the Panchayat level have been able to help empower women, but these are not enough

(Upadhyay). There are several governmental and non-governmental organizations present like

the Women’s Commission that are present to advance these policies, but many are filled with

corruption and lack of financial knowledge to efficiently implement the policies. Due to this,

India has implemented the Right to Information Act in 2005 to increase public transparency and

to hold government officials accountable for their actions (Upadhyay). However, policies will

most likely not suffice to enact true empowerment of women in India due to the social and

religious bias against women in India. In many parts, women are considered to be less than men,

reducing opportunities for access to education and economic possibilities. Women’s security,

decision-making power process, and mobility are three indicators, and all are considered to be

significantly low in India (Upadhyay). For women, working at home is not equivalent to working

at a paid job. For girls, the cost to pay for school, food, and healthcare is much more dependent

on a mother’s salary than the situation for a boy, further rising the importance of women

development. From the NFHS-3 survey, data has demonstrated that 1/3 of the women

interviewed took independent decisions regarding their household and health issues (Upadhyay).

Mobility restrictions have been dependent on how society views women’s rights and the level of

violence and mistreatment toward women. There needs to be more awareness of victims’ rights

among uneducated and rural women so that they can understand their role to address violence

towards them.

Solution to Empower Women through Foreign Aid in India

Despite this proposal on how a country can effectively implement foreign aid, this paper

does not necessarily recommend that a nation should give foreign aid to another. There have

Empower Women 12

been so many mistakes with foreign aid in the past that only if a donor is truly sure it has the

capacity to properly develop India through foreign aid, then it is recommended that donor follow

the solution proposed in this paper. Before 1991 when the Indian economy was on the decline

and weak, foreign aid should not have been given to its government because it was not strong

enough to handle that money and properly implement into its system. Due to the enormous

economic growth and development that has occurred in India since 1991, it is fair to say that

though the Indian government is still somewhat corrupt, it is not as immature as it was before

1991, and would be able to handle foreign aid and implement it properly at this time. With its

economy still growing, India has reached a certain measure of stability that will have the

expertise and opportunity to implement foreign aid given in comparison to a country whose

economy is not as stable.

In order for foreign aid to work, the Indian federal government should act as a middle

man between foreign aid from other countries and non-government organizations which can use

that funding and implement the program that the donor intended for. The specifics of the

program need to be very detailed, and explained well to the Indian federal government and the

non-government organization. An in-person meeting in India between sides from the donor

country, the Indian Ministry of Finance, and members of the non-government organizations that

plan to receive the funding is highly recommended. Development programs focused on women

in the past have had a microcredit program that might seem like a suitable situation initially, but

it has not always been properly implemented in the past. From the donor’s perspective, the

program is successful since they are able to give out several loans and about 90% of the loans

have been repaid back in full (Jain). But, from a development expert’s point of view, micro-

credit loans have not been able to pull women out of poverty. Microloans do not address the

Empower Women 13

cultural flaws in society that hold women back and these cultural norms will continue to persist

unless women are educated about them (Jain). Since the cultural norms have not allowed women

to participate more in the economy and have led to further violence against women, these norms

must be addressed in a relaxed learning forum.

If foreign aid is given to India, this paper proposes that the aid is given to a program,

organized by Indian non-profit organizations with the help of the Indian and donor governments,

to help women realize their societal and financial potential. An example of an important non-

government organization that is focused on empowering women in India and is reputable enough

to take funding is the Azad Foundation. The Azad foundation has staff members that have

experience in handling funding like Shrinivas Rao, their program director; he has past experience

in rural and urban development and has an MPhil in Economics, demonstrating that strength of

the Azad foundation’s staff (Azad). To demonstrate transparency, the Azad Foundation also

publishes an annual report about their accomplishments. There are non-profit organizations in

India dedicated to helping women and have done great work like the Azad Foundation; with the

help of foreign aid, these organizations can do even better. The foreign aid from a donor country

should work in a project grant format. If the project is successful and the donor country would

like to provide even more funding for similar projects, it could provide an endowment grant that

is designed to advance the non-government organization that is running the project even more so

that it can be more effective (Sundar). This demonstrates that the donor country has more

confidence in the non-government organization’s capabilities (Sundar).

The following ten slums will be chosen as locations for ten individual programs to take

place: Dharavi Slum Mumbai, Bhalswa Slum Delhi, Nochikuppam Slum Chennai, Basanti Slum

Kolkata, Rajendra Nagar Slum Bangalore, Indiramma Nagar Hyderabad, Saroj Nagar Slum

Empower Women 14

Nagpur, Mehbullahpur Slum Lucknow, Satnami Nagar Slum Bhopal, and Parivartan Slum

Ahmadabad. Representatives from any non-government organization that implements this

program must first demonstrate that they have the necessary knowledge of the problems that

women in India are currently facing. To check this, the Ministry of External Affairs in India

should review the past credentials to understand if they have a key understanding of the present

situation; for example, those that will be involved in the gender inequality week of the program

must have a background in social rights and development work in India while those involved in

the financial skills week of the program must have a background in personal finance and

understanding of upcoming job markets in the local area; it would be ideal if the representatives

were women rather than men. There must be a total of ten representatives: five gender equality

representatives and five personal finance representatives. The first step of this program has to be

able to locate impoverished women in that area and incentivize them to join this program. The

representatives must walk through the slums and advertise the program to impoverished women

who are from the ages of 18 to 30. The idea of choosing this range is even though there are

women who are disadvantaged that are below 18 and above 30, this age group is at a mature

enough age where they can take responsibility to change their future, but still have a long life

ahead of them. For initial purposes, it is recommended that only 30 are able to join the program

on a first-come, first-serve basis. 30 seems like an appropriate number because any more might

be too many participants for the directors to give individual attention to each. If it was not a first-

come, first-serve basis, people could potentially bribe their way into the program and this form

of corruption could disrupt its effectiveness, especially in its initial stages. If the representatives

feel it is right by the characteristics pool of applicants, he or she may request from the Ministry

of Finance that the program include a micro-loan aspect where a certain amount is given at the

Empower Women 15

end and this amount will be determined by the Ministry of Finance. Though this seems like a

small program, it is important to first determine whether this program will be successful or not

before expanding it.

The proposed program should be structured so that by the end, the women involved

understand their potential and their inequality in their society. In order to determine its success at

the end, a survey will be handed to the women participants to see if they learned valuable

information from this program. The program should be two-weeks: one week that focuses on

social and economic gender equality in India and one week that focuses on financial skills that

women can learn in order to develop themselves once two weeks are over. The reasoning for

such a short program is to understand the program’s capabilities and potential before expanding

it and to not affect any household or agriculture work. Too long of a program could also

potentially upset elder male members of the household. The structure of each day in the program

will be as follows: the first half will be a lecture style where the representative will explain the

importance of the daily topics; the second half will be a group discussion with a representative

assigned to a group of five women where the participants can talk about their view of the topic

and its application to them. The last day will be a commencement day and a participant will give

a speech on how this program has affected her; the purpose of giving a participant a role in

speaking is to empower them further. The cost of this entire program can be summarized by how

much non-profit organization representatives will need for accommodations in that area during

the program, the amount to rent out a local center for two hours each day of the program, basic

materials like chairs, paper, pencils, and anything else that the non-government organization

feels is necessary to accomplish the task. Some of the money should go to hiring new staff

members like a project engineer whose specific job is to review the projects costs but should not

Empower Women 16

go towards increase in salary of current employees. The topics to discuss on the chart should be

flexible in case the majority of participants are really keen on other topics. The following chart

will explain the topic of each day:

Day Topics to discussFirst Monday Identification of structural societal characteristics that hinder the

development of women and the problems that women face in IndiaFirst Tuesday The stereotyped roles that the average Indian women plays in her

society and the goal of how to evolve the mindset of these roles over time

First Wednesday Explanation of why work can be rewarding in a women’s life and how it can lead to future social promotion; clarification is given about their social and health-care rights

First Thursday Review examples of past successful women development programs in India that are available in the book Building Women’s Capacities, edited by Ranjani K. Murthy; explain the purpose of commencement and choose a commencement speaker from the participants

First Friday This session will be split into five 24 minute sections so that each of the five members in each of the groups can go over with their representative on how the talks this week have applied to them and how they can use it in the future

Second Monday Explanation of why it is important to monitor one’s income and save it for future use

Second Tuesday How to manage one’s finances on a weekly basis *If the non-profit organization decides to implement a microloan-portion, it will be explained on this day how the process works

Second Wednesday Examples of locations where the participants can find work in the local area if they have not so far

Second Thursday This session will be split into five 24 minute sections so that each of the five members in each of the groups can go over with their representative on how the talks this week have applied to them and how they can use it in the future

Second Friday Commencement that will involve handing out diplomas and a commencement speech by a participant.

It is highly recommended that the donor country, the Indian federal government,

and the non-government organizations all work together to measure the impacts of this program

over the following year by monitoring certain social indicators. Certain indicators include

political and legal awareness, economic and physical security, mobility, purchases, involvement

in major decisions, and freedom from domination by the family (Schuler). All of these indicators

Empower Women 17

can be addressed through keeping in touch with past participants and asking certain questions.

For example, to address the indicator of mobility, a common question would be to ask whether

the respondents have ever gone to various places like the market or the movies and whether they

went there alone. Keeping track of these indicators will give this program a chance to check

itself and see if it’s being effective.

Projects like this have occurred similarly in the past in India. Asmita, a support and

advocacy organization for women based in Hyderabad, had a small field project in two urban

slums in Hyderabad. Many women came to this organization because they were in need of jobs

or they were abused physically by the men in their household. The representatives of Asmita

decided to provide gender training programs to these women that involved group exercises,

discussions, role plays, games and songs. This program included men but they found this

incorporation to be unsuccessful because the men were the ones who would ask to step out of the

rooms during certain segments. The trainers agreed that that it was hard to keep a neutral and

mutually acceptable role in certain situations (Upadhyay). At the end of the program, the

participants were required to fill out an evaluation of the session, and many participants agreed

that the session was helpful and that they learned something. It was reported by the women

themselves that they started to help other women in wife battering cases and they reacted as a

group against discrimination toward women (Upadhyay). There was a clear reduction in women

fighting in front of drinking water taps and rations shops around where the women lived

(Upadhyay). The trainers all mentioned during their analysis that the group exercises and tasks

which forced the participants to think and come up with answers were very effective.

It is necessary to evaluate this entire project and one way to do that is through a SWOT

analysis, measuring the project’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A strength

Empower Women 18

that this project includes is that it was recommended that the donor country, the Indian federal

government, and non-government organizations meet in person to discuss the goals of this

foreign aid so that each side has a clear understanding of where this foreign aid will go to. This is

the major problem with most foreign aid projects, and as long as each side has a proper

understanding of the goal of this project, there should be positive aspects. Another strength of

this project is this will clearly not cost as much as other development projects have in the past.

Though there is not a clear amount that has been designated to be spent, setting up about ten

development projects for ten cities should not cost as much as importing wheat to develop the

economy. Furthermore, the representatives that have a background in social rights and

development work have knowledge of what Indian women need to develop unlike past

international development workers.

A weakness for this program is that much of it is used at the discretion of the non-

government organization since it knows best how much funding it will need to make this project

successful. In order to minimize this weakness, it is strongly stressed that each side confirms to

each other what their goals are and how it plans to accomplish this project when they meet in

person.

There are several opportunities for this program. It has been analyzed in numerous

studies that in order to truly empower women in developing countries like India, there has to be a

real cultural change that will start to value what women have to offer to society instead of

minimizing their potential (Vasquez). This program will educate women on how to become

stronger in their social context, and how to empower themselves so that society will view them

differently.

Empower Women 19

A threat that could hinder this program’s ability to thrive is that when recruiting women

to join this program, minimal contact should be made with the male head of the household in

case they don’t want their relatives to be participating in this program. There is also the

possibility that if the participant’s involvement in the program is kept a secret, and the male head

eventually finds out, potentially harsh repercussions could occur.

Another method of evaluation is a PEST analysis which measures the political, economic,

social, and technological analysis of this program. From a political point of view, it is important

to remember that a goal of foreign aid reform is that the transfer of money comes with clear

objectives so that the recipient of the aid will not use the funding for political and irrelevant

reasons, stressing again the importance of having an organized meeting initially.

Economically, a major goal of this program is to help women get a job and give them the

knowledge of how to properly use their finances so that they do not have to rely on the male

head of the household. Economic empowerment will be a key indicator in the survey that is

handed at the end of the program. If a micro-loan part is added to the program, it must be done

with caution to make sure that the participants feel they can handle responsibility of paying back

the loan.

The social objective is that after the program, society and the participants themselves

have a new understanding of the potential women can have in society and what women

empowerment means to developing themselves and the world. Social change is key to

empowering women so that discrimination and views toward women can end.

Finally, the technological aspect is not a major concern for this program, but it would be

helpful is the non-profit organization recorded all of the evaluations electronically instead of

through paper-material to ease organization.

Empower Women 20

In conclusion, international development has the potential to grow a country from its

roots and put many out of misery. Unfortunately, history has told the world otherwise. Politicians

and government officials have used foreign aid to an unsustainable level. A goal of foreign aid

has been to promote economic development in another country but how can that goal become a

reality if foreign aid has deteriorated countries in the past? In order to benefit from trading with

other countries due to foreign aid, donors need to realize that this trade will not last long unless

foreign aid is implemented correctly. If foreign aid is implemented correctly, trade can continue

for many years sustainably due to economic growth. India has the potential to grow even further

than it did since 1991 through many ways and foreign aid can act as a source of growth for its

people. There just has to be a strong understanding between the donor and the recipient of

foreign aid that their objectives and plans are parallel. Not only will the solution proposed in this

paper benefit Indian women but will benefit both the donor and recipient of foreign aid as their

economies grow. For donor countries of foreign aid, an opportunity lies ahead to make a

difference not only in the world but in its own country as well. Historically, foreign aid has

rarely been successful and it is time to end this negative notion, so that countless people can live

a better life.

Empower Women 21

Works Cited

Abuzeid, Farah. "Economics: Foreign Aid: Sub-Saharan Africa." Encyclopedia of Women &

Islamic Cultures (n.d.): n. pag. 2009. Web. 31 July 2016.

Alesina, Alberto, and David Dollar. (n.d.): 1-47. June 1998. Web. 31 July 2016.

Azad Foundation. N.p., 2014. Web. 1 Aug. 2016.

Bandyopadhyay, Subhayu, and E. Katarina Vermann. "Foreign Aid." SpringerReference (2013):

329. July-Aug. 2013. Web. 31 July 2016.

Desai, Raj M., and Natasha Ledlie. "Why the End of British Aid to India Won’t Matter."

Brookings. N.p., 21 Nov. 2012. Web. 31 July 2016.

"Economic Geography: Measures of Economic Development." Economic Geography: Measures

of Economic Development. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 July 2016.

Gosai, Dushyant. "History of Economic Growth in India." International Policy Digest. N.p., 24

Apr. 2013. Web. 31 July 2016.

Grover, Drew. "What Is the Demographic Transition Model?" Population Education. N.p., 13

Oct. 2014. Web. 31 July 2016.

Heckert, Jessica, and Madeleine Short Fabic. "Improving Data Concerning Women's

Empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa." Studies in Family Planning 44.3 (2013): 319-44.

JSTOR. Web. 1 Aug. 2016.

"India Biggest Recipient of US Economic Assistance over 66-year Period: USAID." Dawn. N.p.,

14 July 2015. Web. 31 July 2016.

Empower Women 22

Jain, Devaki. Women, Development, and the UN: A Sixty-year Quest for Equality and Justice.

Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2005. Print.

Kamath, Shyam J. "Foreign Aid and India: Financing the Leviathan State." Foreign Aid and

India: Financing the Leviathan State. N.p., 1992. Web. 31 July 2016.

Maximino, Martin, and Denise-Marie Ordway. "The Relationship between Terrorism and

Economic Growth: Research - Journalist's Resource." Journalists Resource. N.p., 20

Nov. 2015. Web. 31 July 2016.

Murthy, Ranjani K. Building Women's Capacities: Interventions in Gender Transformation. New

Delhi: Sage Publications, 2001. Print.

O'Neil, June E. "THE ROLE OF FOREIGN AID IN DEVELOPMENT." THE ROLE OF

FOREIGN AID IN DEVELOPMENT MAY 1997 (1997): 1-51. CBO. May 1997. Web. 31

July 2016.

Rowlatt, Justin. "UK Ending Aid to India: Where Does the Money Go?" UK Ending Aid to

India: Where Does the Money Go? N.p., 7 Oct. 2015. Web. 31 July 2016.

Schuler, Sidney R., and Elisabeth Rottach. "Women's Empowerment Revisited: A Case Study

from Bangladesh." JSTOR 20 (n.d.): 840-54. Sept. 2010. Web. 1 Aug. 2016.

Sharma, Aradhana. Logics of Empowerment: Development, Gender, and Governance in

Neoliberal India. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 2008. Print.

Sharma, R. K. Foreign Aid to India. N.p.: n.p., 1977. Print.

Sundar, Pushpa. Foreign Aid for Indian NGOs: Problem or Solution? New Delhi: Routledge,

2010. Print.

"Twenty-Five Years of Indian Economic Reform: India’s Record and Prospects of Becoming a

Major World Power." CATO. N.p., 22 June 2016.

Empower Women 23

Upadhyay, Reecha. "WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA." WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT

IN INDIA An Analytical Overview (n.d.): n. pag. The Asia Foundation. Web. 31 July

2016.

Vasquez, Ian. Telephone interview. 29 June 2016.