A Baptist from Hyderabad, India, has visited the Baptist World Alliance headquarters to offer an insight into her ministry in India.

Suvarna Rani Gandham has been a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the highly selective top civil service of India, for 16 years. She has also served state governments in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and then held a national position with the Government of India.

During her BWA visit, Gandham shared her experiences in poverty alleviation, as well as women's empowerment among the Dalits, the poorest class in Indian society.

Since 1990, Gandham has worked on issues of women and violence, women's economic development, and women's political empowerment. She founded the Orissa Women's Development Corporation in 1990, focused on creating a positive and empowering environment for women. She also initiated a government programme in Orissa that reserved 33 per cent of local government positions for women and conducted gender sensitisation training for government leaders.

Gandham left her prestigious job with the Government of India to focus full-time on her ministry of poverty alleviation, her primary passion. She is currently involved with business development and microfinance programmes for the poor.

"I wanted to work for the Lord in a way I was not free to do as a government servant. Now I have a larger canvass," Gandham explained.

While in the government, Gandham had focused on issues of poverty at a policy level. Now she associates with organisations and institutions, both national and international, that are carrying out the work of poverty alleviation.

In addition to her organisational work, Gandham preaches the Gospel at public meetings in villages around India. She is a member of Hyderabad Baptist Church, a church of 5,000 members.

Gandham is involved in several interdenominational efforts. She is currently working with an interdenominational group of church leaders to draft legislation to prevent government exploitation of church property and is organising a Christian Poetry Conference.

For more information on the BWA, please visit: www.bwanet.org


[Source: BWA]