Exposure and Dialogue Programmes at SEWA (PLA 57)

REEMA NANAVATY, SEWA’s Director for Economic and Rural Development, discusses the importance of Exposure and Dialogue Programme (EDP) for SEWA, a membership organisation of self-employed women working in India’s informal economy. SEWA is one of the foremost Southern-based organisations hosting immersions for participants from both North and South, as the articles in Sections 2 and 3 by Ravi Kanbur, Gary Fields, and Praful Patel testify (also in PLA 57). This article describes EDPs organised by SEWA. SEWA members act as hosts to the EDP participants, who are drawn from a range of organisations, including donors, international NGOs, and government departments. The EDPs focus on themes which are of interest both to the participants' organisations and to SEWA. They enable the participants to examine their decisions from the perspective of their hosts and frame policy decisions with a lived experience of the voice, views, and situation of the poor. Commitment to poverty reduction is strengthened as poverty becomes a personal concern. Participants are also able to obtain a practical idea of the impact of various programmes for the poor, and identify policy changes that are needed.

Participatory Learning and Action (PLA, formerly PLA Notes) is the world's leading series on participatory learning and action approaches and methods. PLA publishes articles on participation aimed at practitioners, researchers, academics and activists. All articles are peer-reviewed by an international editorial board. See: www.planotes.org

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Guest editors: Izzy Birch, Raffaella Catani with Robert Chambers.