ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how both non-governmental organization face similar constraints in their attempts to reach rural women successfully. Although ideology is important to India Development Service's (IDS) and Grama Vikas's approach to women's development and it governed their choice of strategies for women's programs, both external and internal conditions posed problems and limited their organizing and implementing capacity. Since clients' needs were dictated by differing occupational patterns, IDS tailored its projects accordingly. Not in all villages is technical assistance for spinners' products or even institutional credit for spinners relevant or attractive. IDS's attempts to provide services to the poor have occasionally disrupted the prevailing power structure in the villages and dominant castes have shown their opposition. One of the villages selected for a dairy society was dominated by a landowning caste. IDS's staff has a very critical role in group organizing and project implementation.
