Valerie Jarret, Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, met the Counterpart-IFES Garima project Country Director Tara Sharma in New Delhi, India in early November.

Garima, (‘dignity’ in Hindi) is a project that IFES is implementing in partnership with Counterpart International under an award from USAID. Garima was launched in New Dehli in November 2009 by United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne S. Verveer. It builds on six years of previous IFES women’s rights programming in India and aims to support Indian institutions and civil society to:

--enhance the ability of Indian women to advocate for their rights in the Parliament and state legislatures

--deter gender based violence, female feticide and child marriage, and

--increase the participation of Muslim women in mainstream social, economic and political processes.

In New Delhi, Ms. Jarret met with a group of women civil society leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities Indian women and girls face. The roundtable participants included members of the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), the Garima Project, the Working Women’s Forum, the Center for Social Research, Seeking Modern Applications for Transformation, and the India Vision Foundation. Members of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also participated in the roundtable to share their experiences with respect to USAID programs. The discussion underscored the importance of empowering women and girls to improve their economic prospects and overall well-being. This meeting convened social activists and experts in India’s developmental sector who focus on women’s empowerment issues.

Ms. Jarret is the second high-profile U.S. dignitary engaging with Garima this fall. In September, Ambassador Verveer visited the program to learn about the progress it has made since she launched it a year ago.