Longmatra village council under Longmatra block Kiphire District conducted "Mahila Sabha or Women only Gram Sabha" on 6th June 2022 at Longmatra village council hall, Kiphire. This gram Sabha has conducted for the first time in Kiphire Aspirational District in Nagaland.

A Mahila Sabha or women only Gram Sabha is a meeting of women of a village, which takes place before the Gram Sabha to address issues related to women. Mahila Sabha is constituted in a village to primarily discuss and bring solutions to all the basic problems faced by the women in the village, it is an independent body which is stands for the empowerment of women in the village. All the women who have completed the age of 18 or enrolled in the electoral roll can participate in the program. Mahila Sabhas are one of the ways to initiate discussion and generate interest among women, regarding women's issues. Finding their voices in an environment such as theirs is challenging but an important step in making them confident to voice their issues, not just amongst themselves but in public settings (such as a Gram Sabha meeting) as well. The challenge was to increase women's participation and voice in local governance processes.

The young Fellow of NIRDPR as part of creating model GP clusters project, under the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj was the facilitator of Mahila Sabha in Longmatra village. The BPM of NRLM Atsope; Centre Administrator of Sakhi one-stop center Rolila S Sangtam handled a session on the legal rights of women, and MGN Fellow, Sukanya conducted a session on livelihood development and financial independence. Women from the village and council members, Head GB, and other officials from the village also participated in the program and later discussed the major challenges and issues in the village, especially for women.

(Wangshikokla, IA Kiphire)