The Committee of Resource Organizations (CORO) For Literacy

Fellow: Amita Jadhav

Grant Year: 2019

Location: Konkan Region, Maharashtra, India

Organization: The Committee of Resource Organizations (CORO) For Literacy

Project title: Building Network of Community-Based Women’s Organizations from Konkan Region and Advocating for Enhanced Access to Women’s Property Rights

Project summary: The Committee of Resource Organizations (CORO) For Literacy aims to enhance the property rights of women in the Konkan region, where typically only men are recognized as property owners. Registering marriage is a crucial step in enabling married women to claim their property rights because without a registered marriage, only their husband will have property rights. It is especially necessary for the survivors of domestic violence, deserted women, and widowed women, however, most marriages in the region are not registered. CORO will advocate with the District Collector of three districts for the effective implementation of the existing Marriage Registration Act (1995) to require registration and enforce a uniform penalty fee for failing to register. They will execute a two-tier intervention strategy that includes strengthening community-based women’s organizations in the Konkan region through awareness outreach and ensuring there are marriage registration sites, and by supporting women-led advocacy with district-level officials for effective implementation of the Marriage Registration Act. CORO will mobilize 6,000 women in the target area and build their leadership and advocacy capacity to enable them to lead the planning, implementation, monitoring, periodic assessment, and evaluation of the project. Their goal is to advocate with for the District Collectors of Raigad, Ratnagiri, and  Sindhudurg  to issue an order under Marriage Registration act 1955, with clear and common rules to register marriages in their jurisdiction with minimal penalty charges and required documentation. Through this intervention, 6,000 women from 30 villages will have registered marriages and be able to claim their property rights.