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Women's Empowerment Programme
ISPCKs Women's Empowerment Programme initiative represents a telling example of linking business purposes with a larger societal purpose. It would take the perseverance of a pioneer to engaging to empower women both at the grassroots and the urban levels. ISPCK leveraged the power of communication to empower women of our society at two distinct levels.
The Urban and the Rural capacity building will help us channelize our work towards the building up of our women socially, economically & more so financially. Let the woman be no more a silent vessel. Give her a medium through which she can express herself within her home and outside. There has been a marked change in our Indian women perhaps if we are able to reach to more of them the day is not far when our women will hold the strings in all powerful positions.
"If winter is here can spring be far behind" P. B. Shelly
Urban Programme
The networked urban enlightenment programme comprising of both women and men towards creating gender equity through our national workshops would complement the initiatives embodied in our 'WEP' and create a front running example of people and the churches partnership for societies transformation. In partnership with EED the ISPCK under WEP has conducted workshops nationwide in Thiruvanathapuram, Shillong, Kolkata, Kodaikanal, Ludhiana and Mangalore.
A forthcoming workshop has been organised at Yelagiri, Tamilnadu in April 2009.
Mangalore Workshop
 When we talk of India shining we are only looking at the one face of India It all seems very lopsided when we take a cross-section of the society and the gory stories we hear every day. We need to break away from the shackles of the rule of male chauvinism in our society.
Since ancient times if we turn the pages of history women have always been under-rated and kept away from being what they can and thus have been kept in oblivion.
But on the other hand if you take a few names in the history of our country we need not go back into many years, the name Kiran Bedi stands tall in modern times. She withstood all the trying times in her career and came out stronger .
There are many instances in the Bible which talk of great women like Ruth, Esther whose names are very conspicuous and we can take lessons from them.
The question here arises that why are we such a small number. Why are women staying behind, why are they not fighting for their rights and prove their credentials.
The one thing that stands out very clear is that women are not aware of their own rights, women in church and society are just following the crowd and who is this crowd the male members of the family ,the church and the society at large. Who is responsible for this it is we women. And therefore the ISPCK takes upon it self the task to make women aware of what are their rights and what can they contribute to the society as women. The ISPCK has been acting as a catalyst to bringing about a change in the status of women even though we are talking of being in the 21st century. We wish to have an inclusive society where there is no discrimination between men and women.
The theme for the workshop was Re-reading the Bible and was held from the 20th to 22nd February 2008 at the Karnataka Theological College in Mangalore.
Yelagiri Workshop
 The 3 day Workshop on Global Development Paradigms - Impact on Women's Lives was jointly organized by South Central India Network for Development Alternatives (SCINDeA), Yelagiri Hills & Indian Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge
(ISPCK), Delhi At this Workshop current issues impacting lives of women with special emphasis on HIV/AIDS, Climate Change, Micro Credit, Communalism, Terrorism and the Impact of Science and Technology were examined. 23 persons (male & female) from colleges, NGOs & ecumenical bodies were invited to participate in the Workshop. It was a participatory workshop with substantial inputs on the above mentioned 5 topics. The methodology included group discussions & a field visit to local self help groups.
Mr. Sundeep Chawdhary, Asst Gen. Secy-Ecumenical Relations spent more time on highlighting the impact of communalism &
terrorism in the lives of vulnerable women. In conclusion Mr. Sundeep Chawdhary said that communalism & terrorism leads to hampering of development programmes. As the world shrinks women loose their space & their self confidence is eroded.
Ms. Ella Sonawane, Secretary Publishing & Women's Empowerment Programme ISPCK presented the 3rd thematic address on Climate Change. She started by reminding the participants of Earth Hour which is observed in 1000 cities over 80 countries every year on March 28th at 8.30 pm by turning of the lights to protect against climate change. She went on to explain about the main causes of climate change & its impact on agriculture, forests, water livelihoods & the environment. Both human capital & financial resources are required to pursue environmental promotion & livelihoods. The impact of climate change on women include lack of access to information, lack of decision making power & unequal impacts on their daily activity of women. As communities continue to struggle to cope with the changes in climate, the demands on women's time & work loads are likely to increase.
In conclusion she said the world needs more women-centered research and strategies for climate change adaptation, and the world's large emitters must shoulder the responsibility for their impacts on the world's poorest populations in order to see a world that is more equitable, healthy, able to prevent catastrophic climate change, and to adapt to its impacts.
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