Gramin Vikas Vigyan Samiti (GRAVIS) is a leading NGO working in thec Thar Desert, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Bundelkhand regions of India. GRAVIS has been focusing on gender equality for over three decades and continues to do so with a new project named ‘Enhancing Women and Girls’ Leadership in Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) in the Thar Desert, India’. The project funded by the European Union was implemented by GRAVIS along with its associates, HelpAge International and Age International.

The specific objective was to enhance the voice and effective participation of women and girls including older women and women living with disabilities in drought mitigation, Natural Resource Management (NRM) and CCA through an inter-generational learning approach. This project was implemented in 20 villages of four severely drought impacted Districts of Thar (namely Barmer, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur) where gender inequality stagnating social progress is very high.