The overarching goal of the project is to reduce gender and social vulnerability in Theni district and beyond by increasing gender equality and reducing the vulnerablilty of women, Dalits and other marginalised groups. Success will be measured against a baseline survey that will be carried out in the first year using existing and newly collected data. Indicators of progress towards the project goal will be: 1. Villages where the level of violence against women has been reduced and where individual women are subject to less violence. 2. All project structures aware of and discuss sex ratio in children. Data disseminated at all levels and advocacy at village, district levels and beyond. 3. Villages with increased participation of women in decision making, planning and action. 4. Individual women with increased status in family 5. Individual women with increased income/control of income. 6. Villages with reduced atrocity and discrimination against Dalits and reduced high interest loans (with priority to Arunthidiyars) - individual families subjected to less atrocity and discrimination. 7. People living with HIV and Aids given moral and other support from anyone involved in the programme 8. Reduced vulnerability to HIV – all project structures will be sensitized to HIV. Vulnerable families identified and vulnerability reduced. Achievement of the goal requires long-term commitment and ownership by the groups most affected, namely women’s self-help groups and federations and people’s organizations of marginalized groups. VST and its partners will, therefore work to facilitate women’s federations and other groups to sustain independent action and promote solidarity with women and men groups so that after five years: 1. Federations are registered and formally running and managing their own affairs with capable leadership independent of local ngos. 2. Federations have increased their membership including Dalit/AR membership and have established a stronger self-help group base. 3. Federations will have: (a) Increased their income and assets such that they have largely reduced their reliance on external funding sources (b) are providing and managing entrepreneurial, financial and other services. 4. Village human rights committees established and active 5. An increase in the number of gender sensitized men and gender assertive women. 6. Dalit, HIV and Aids, children’s and other human rights issues mainstreamed. 7. A demonstrable increase and improvement in work with adolescents.