Abstract
How do the female members of the urban poor population in Delhi view and interact with the
government? This thesis seeks to give the answer in light of a public service delivery
collaboration between state and civil society: The Mission Convergence Programme.
The frame for exploration is a month long fieldwork done in and around a Gender Resource
Centre in East Delhi. How do women in the locality use this centre, and how do they view the
social security delivered by the state? Do they see themselves as poor subjects or empowered
citizens?
It appeared that respondents deliberately would use something I have called the
‘poor woman’s discourse’. By using this, they highlight their weaknesses, and as such, also
their eligibility for being targets of various welfare programmes in an area and a time where
both local and international NGOs as well as the government seems to focus much of their
attentions and efforts on the urban poor women in need of empowerment.
In addition to discuss how the urban poor view and experience the state and its collaboration
with civil society organizations, the thesis elucidates on the collaboration between the state
and the NGO. How is it working? What are the hiccups in implementation? Does the
collaboration have the potential to transform the ambivalent relationship between the state
and the urban poor?