Last month I travelled to India to visit some of Opportunity International Australia's microfinance and community development programs helping families leave poverty behind. India is a place that can’t really be explained – you have to experience it for yourself. That’s because there’s nowhere else in the world that provides such a feast for your senses: the noisy traffic, the aroma of street food, the bright colourful saris and the sweetness of chai tea. It’s joyful chaos.

It’s also a place where many women still fall short in many different aspects of life. Not only do women here face poverty, inadequate education, discrimination and a lack of opportunity, but overwhelmingly, nearly 50% of Indian women experience violence in their own homes. What is even more disturbing is that 50% of men, women, boys and girls believe that this is normal. It’s due to the cultural norms of the undervaluing of girls, the acceptance of men controlling and abusing women and the pressure to stay quiet in order to protect family reputation, all of which has caused the cycle of abuse to go unchecked.

Opportunity has recently partnered with My Choices Foundation in Hyderabad, Telangana, to reduce violence against women and girls in India. One of the ways this is achieved is through training and employing local women like Shahjahan (pictured below) as PeaceMakers, who work within their communities to protect women and girls and build safer, stronger families through free counselling, legal aid and women’s rights education.

The extent of a challenge like this can be overwhelming, however meeting and speaking with some of these PeaceMakers left me feeling hopeful that change is happening. Whilst many of these PeaceMakers have experienced domestic violence at some point in their lives too, the focus of our conversations wasn’t on what had happened to them. The focus was on their journey to be ‘Champions of Change’. The overwhelming response I got from these women was the strength and confidence they now feel as a result of their sense of purpose through being a PeaceMaker. Whilst this sense of purpose now comes from their role in helping others help themselves, it started with self-empowerment through education and awareness.

I do not wish women to have power over men but power over themselves.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft, 18th century writer, philosopher and advocate of women's rights, is one of many who urged women to take control of their own lives through education and awareness. Whilst we can ask everyone to contribute to creating change in this world, at the end of the day, change starts in our own communities, it starts in ourselves. The PeaceMakers are living proof that this is happening and succeeding. These women have chosen to be leaders within their own spheres of influence and have committed to take pragmatic action to change their communities for the better, from the ground up, and I feel blessed to have met them and witnessed this type of transformation taking place.

Tuesday 8 March marks International Women’s Day – a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women across the globe. Whilst there are many places in the world where there is still a long way to go in relation to reaching gender parity, a part of me feels hopeful knowing that in a tiny corner of Hyderabad, a ripple of change is being created by women doing it for themselves.

Emily Nicola is Opportunity International Australia's Supporter Development Coordinator.