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Creating Resources
for Empowerment
in Action (CREA)
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Creating support for domestic abuse and violence against
women through a grassroots movement: Meri Panchayat
Meri Shakti
Founded by Geetanjali Misra and
Pramada Menon in 2000
CREA builds feminist leadership,
strengthens movements, challenges
unjust power structures, expands
sexual and reproductive freedoms,
and advances the human rights of
structurally excluded people. It works
by creating and increasing access to
new information, knowledge, and
resources; and enabling supportive
social and policy environments. Its
vision is to create a strong Global
South-based organization that works
at local, regional, and international
levels. CREA has been a member
of the Govt. of India’s Gender Task
Force of Niti Aayog, and has received
multiple awards, including the
Mbillionth Award (2016).
the term ‘structurally
excluded people’
refers to women,
girls, gender non-conforming people, persons
with disabilities (PwDs), sex workers and
others not part of the mainstream narrative of
development, mobility and decision making.
ese are the very people Creating Resources
for Empowerment in Action (CREA)
works with, giving them access to tools and
knowledge to plan and execute interventions
and movements that are intersectional,
inclusive and meaningful, and that create long
term, sustainable solutions for their issues.
CREA was started in order to develop
the leadership capacities of young women to
take on issues of sexuality and reproductive
health and rights, violence against women, and
social justice. It is now ‘recognized as a global
leader in gender, sexuality, SRHR (sexual and
reproductive health and rights), gender-based
violence, and human rights; as an organization
embedded within the women’s rights
movement but also connected to broader global
movements for sexual rights; and one that links
theory and practice, scholarship and activism,‘
explains Anuradha Chatterji, Director,
Resources, Impact and Learning, CREA.
CREA’s strategies take into account the
sensitivity of the issues it deals with. For