Bihar Govt

State Transformation Cell

Department of Planning and Development
Government of Bihar

Department Banner

The Women & Child Development Corporation (erstwhile Women Development Corporation, Bihar) came into existence under the Society Registration Act –1860 on November 28, 1991, with the objective of formulating and implementing programmes for the empowerment of women in the State.

The Government of Bihar has entrusted the responsibility to the Women & Child Development Corporation (WCDC) towards the implementation of the Women Empowerment Policy (2015) in Bihar. WCDC implements various programmes and schemes under Mukhyamantri Nari Shakti Yojna, i.e. Short Stay Homes, Working Women’s hostels, Palnaghar, Civil Sewa Protsahan Rashi Yojna, One Stop Centers, Campaign to end child marriage and Dowry Prohibition, Menstrual Hygiene Management Programme, etc. in the State.

WCDC designs strategic and long-term policy and programme frameworks and initiatives for improving the nutrition of women and children, and monitors their progress and their efficacy. It provides advice and encourages partnerships between key stakeholders and international and national think tanks, educational and policy-research institutions.

The Women Empowerment Policy clearly articulates the state’s mandate and commitment to bring gender parity with equal opportunity for women and adolescent girls; for better access to health, nutrition, education and capacity building. WCDC has been mandated towards promoting socio-economic development and empowerment of women & child through- Social, Cultural and Economic empowerment, Skill Training, Entrepreneurship Development programmes for Women, Gender Equality, Awareness and sensitization about different schemes related to adolescent and Women, Implementation of UDAAN for Ending Child Marriage, Value of Girl Child, Implementation of Women Empowerment Policy.

The Government of Bihar (GoB), through the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS), an autonomous body under the Department of Rural Development, is spearheading the World Bank aided Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project (BRLP), locally known as JEEViKA with the objective of social & economic empowerment of the rural poor. The core strategy of the BRLP programme is to build vibrant and bankable women’s community institutions in the form of self help groups (SHGs), who through member savings, internal loaning and regular repayment become self sustaining organizations. The groups formed would be based on self savings and revolving fund and not on a single dose of community investment fund (CIF) funds for association given as a subsidy. The primary level SHGs would next be federated at the village, by forming village organizations (VOs), then at a cluster level, to become membership based, social service providers, business entities and valued clients of the formal banking system. Such community organizations would also partner a variety of organizations for provided back end services for different market institutions such as correspondents for banks and insurance companies, procurement franchises for private sector corporations and delivery mechanisms for a variety of government programmes.

Ms. Rashmi

Sector Expert - Women & Child Development

Rashmi is a seasoned development professional with nearly two decades of multidisciplinary leadership experience across Women & Child Development, WASH, adolescent empowerment, education and social behaviour change communication (SBCC). She has led large-scale programmes, driven evidence-based policy development, strengthened governance systems, and contributed to complex state-wide implementation strategies across Bihar and Jharkhand.

Her career spans national and state-level engagements with multilateral agencies, including UNICEF, Global Sanitation Fund, Tata Trusts and Jagran organizations, where she delivered impactful initiatives focused on sanitation, adolescent health, community behaviour transformation, and women-centric development. She combines technical depth in programme execution with policy-driven development leadership, enabling system-level change and sustainable institutional strengthening in the social sector. She successfully institutionalised innovative programme delivery models, community mobilisation frameworks, and behaviour change mechanisms that improved service delivery and outreach across marginalized groups.

Rashmi’s professional experience spans multiple districts across Bihar and Jharkhand, where she has collaborated closely with state departments, the Social Welfare Department, Health department and Education Department while also working with partner NGOs, civil society organisations and youth networks. She has consistently demonstrated expertise in program scaling, implementation planning, monitoring, and documentation, including donor reporting and MIS support.

She played significant roles in numerous initiatives under UNICEF and Tata Trusts, including the roll-out of adolescent SBCC interventions, Menstrual Hygiene Management programmes, Open Defecation Free campaigns, and sanitation action plans under the Swachh Bharat Mission. She has successfully led community-based interventions that strengthened adolescent leadership, social awareness, sanitation practices and women-centric inclusion models. Over the years, she has also pioneered innovative models of life-skill education, adolescent engagement, and behaviour transformation contributing to measurable improvements in women and child development outcomes in Bihar.

Rashmi currently serves as the Women and Child Development Sector Expert with the State Support Mission, NITI Aayog (Bihar), where she leads advocacy with the Department of Social Welfare (Women and Child Development), contributes to long-term sectoral visioning, and drives strategic planning for developing future-ready programmes. She has contributed to the formulation of the Vision Document 2047 for the WCD sector, supporting policy reform, system strengthening and governance improvement.

Her educational qualifications include a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource & Administration from TISS Mumbai, a Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development, and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce. She has also completed multiple high-value professional certifications including SBC Training of Trainers, WASH promotion, MHM interventions, and other thematic specialisations.

Rashmi is widely recognised for her commitment to women’s empowerment, adolescent development and sanitation reform, and for her ability to design, manage and operationalise high-impact developmental interventions through evidence-based planning and collaborative implementation. By combining policy-driven development experience with hands-on programme leadership, she brings a unique capability to conceptualise, strengthen and scale impact-driven initiatives that uplift women, children and adolescent communities across Bihar.

🔊
🔊 सुनें