About MASUM

MASUM was co-founded by Manisha Gupte and Dr. Ramesh Awasthi in 1987 during their five year stay in the drought-prone Purandar block of Pune district. It evolved out of a commitment to women’s rights within and outside the home, working with a feminist perspective and a human rights approach. MASUM’s primary belief is that people can resolve their own problems collectively with some amount of external support; thus, rather than create dependence on itself, MASUM focused on strengthening people’s perspectives on democracy, equality, secularism and social justice.

MASUM’s community level involvement is primarily with rural women in perennially drought prone areas of Pune and Ahmednagar districts of Maharashtra State. Women's access to health, confronting violence against women, micro-credit, working with youth and children on issues of gender, caste discrimination and peaceful co-existence are some of MASUM’s on-going activities. Political participation of women, both as elected representatives and as empowered citizens and strengthening of child rights through village-based children’s councils (Bal Panchayats) are rapidly growing interventions too. Every programme of MASUM is interconnected with another, so that people’s rights are realised in multiple ways.

Acknowledging that women are not a homogenous category and that multiple systems of domination - such as caste, class and patriarchy operate in an intersectional manner, MASUM pre-dominantly works with subordinated and minority-groups. In order to emphasise people’s participation in decision-making at every level, the staff and leadership is mostly local, especially women from marginalised sections of rural society.

At the state and national levels, we are committed to training and capacity building of NGOs, CBOs and a variety of stake-holders in increasing people’s access to economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights. MASUM is now recognised as a credible training institute on gender, health rights, ESC rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), violence against women (VAW), and dalit and minority rights. We are also involved with campaigns and networks that strengthen women’s rights from the local to the international levels.

MASUM's Goals

To strengthen women’s self reliance and consciousness of human and constitutional rights.

To empower women to put pressure on the State for fulfilling its obligations towards its people.

To nurture women’s physical and emotional health.

To provide vocational training and credit facilities to women for self-employment.

To create a sustainable and humane mode of development through people’s active involvement.

To create a progressive space in society for all subordinated groups, and to specifically resist casteism, sexism, religious chauvinism, homophobia and able-ism.

MASUM’s Programmatic Themes

Addressing patriarchy and its inter-sectionality with other systems of discrimination.

Addressing structural and overt causes of ill-health and gender-based violence.

Non-discrimination, equality and social transformation based on social justice.

Human rights, rights based approach and child centred perspective.

Empowerment of women as individuals and as collectives for progressive social change.

MASUM