A STUDY OF TRAINING OF RURAL WOMEN LEADERS TO PROMOTE INTEGRATION OF WOMEN IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Abstract

The Purpose of the dissertation was to study the training of rural women leaders to mobilise their participation in development activities. The main objective was to study development trends and to identify the role of women in development, to identify their training needs for enhanced participation in development, to study the existing training programmes conducted by both the state sector and NGO sector in rural Sri Lanka , and make recommendations for the future . This is a descriptive research, with a survey of literature and findings were based on a component of field work by the administration of a questionnaire to selected women leaders and by conducting indepth interviews, observation and extensive interaction with rural women. The study provides basic information on current trends in rural development, and the role and status of women in this regard. It identifies constraints faced by women that inhibit their participation in development activities, their training and other needs to overcome these constraints and the need for systematic training to enable women to participate more fully in the development of their families , communities and the country.