Women's Voices, Women's Choices: Shaping Local Democracy

What does development mean when those most affected by its absence have the least say in its planning? In Temla Gram Panchayat, basic infrastructure and essential services were not merely questions of resources, but also of whose needs counted. At the intersection of caste, class and gender, women's priorities had long remained outside the mainstream of local planning. Through women's collectives, their growing participation in Gram Sabhas, and collaboration between PRIs and CBOs, these priorities began finding space in Panchayat plans and budgets. The gender-responsive works emerging from this process reflect a deeper shift — from planning for women to planning with women, questioning the masculine assumptions that have historically shaped local development. Temla’s experience shows how democracy begins to acquire meaning when those historically excluded from decision-making gain the space to shape public priorities. What changes is not just the nature of development works, but the relationship between women, public institutions and the decisions that shape their everyday lives.