Over the period of two decades SAK has decided to focus its creative energies on the four important issues that women from Maharashtra face.

Violence Against Women

SAK uses the definition espoused by the FWCW, Beijing Platform for Action to focus its work in elimination of violence against women.  It defines violence as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.”  

Mainstreaming of Gender Issues

SAK believes that women's issues must not be dealt with in isolation. There is need to bring these issues in the mainstream policy environment in the country. SAK feels that grassroots development organisations need to ensure that the implementation of developmental policies, espoused at National or International level, is carried out in a gender sensitive manner and that gender sensitivity is in-built into any newer policies that may emerge.  

Policy Advocacy  

It is necessary for development policies to be guided by the issues at the grassroots. It is also essential that the policies be disseminated as widely as possible so that the targeted beneficiaries are able to derive maximum advantage of the same. SAK believes that NGOs like itself are uniquely placed to bridge this gap between policy and grassroots. Consequently it has been involved with advocacy of a number of legislations and schemes targeted at women. SAK was also actively involved in framing the Policy for Women of the Government of Maharashtra.    

Women often end up bearing the brunt of natural or man-made disasters. After the earthquake hit some parts of Maharashtra in 1993, SAK obtained its first exposure to working with women affected by disasters.  Over the last six years SAK has evolved gender sensitive techniques of providing relief and rehabilitation to the affected  women. 

SAK also offered assistance to women in 13 villages after the Gujarat earthquake. This assistance has been in form of disaster relief, trauma counselling, legal rights awareness building and action to ensure that the women were not denied their rights and advocacy at the policy level.

Capacity building of women at grassroots

SAK is focusing on promotion and building women's structures at the grassroots. It has formed Women's Development Forums in ten districts of Maharashtra. These forums comprise individuals and grassroots women's organisations. The main aim of establishing the forum is to enable women at the grassroots to get the required space to air their views on matters that affect them. Also the women are in a position to get an understanding of government policies and schemes meant for their benefit. Potential leaders of women emerge from these forum - an important part in the process of enabling women to take part in the decision making process and local self government.