Monday, January 14, 2013

Women of India are empowered through Community- Life of Cluster



Women -Empowerment ,a process of social change- Part- one

I have been asked this question – How can women really be empowered ?


The answers are too complicated, dragging and difficult to explain to a common man. The best way may be learnt, through examples. Here, I would like to present a Case Study of the Social change brought about by the rural, poor and semi-literate ( mostly so ) women in area predominated by tribal communities. It is my effort to  share with my visitors on  social media like MySpace, LinkedIn , Face book, Blogger spot and the general viewers on the internet,  some ways where we have to search ways within our Social Structures what aer the best possible ways for women   attain – social, financial and structural changes in their lives.

Remember, you may not have to have a professional degree to bring about this change it should more be an attitude to share what ever knowledge you have and learn while you work.

This effort  will create many changes which I shall elaborate in my consecutive articles.


Here is the first of the series on – Women Empowerment a process of social change.

CASE STUDY OF A CLUSTER : WOMEN ON THEIR OWN


In Kesla block of Hoshangabad district in Madhya Pradesh , PREHARI an NGO formed by Parvez Ameer (  please visit his page on www.facebook.com/parvezameer.india )  was working in Nagpurkala, Pandri and Chandon are three neighboring villages. PREHARI formed a Cluster of the Self-Help Group (SHG) of women with a name of  Tulsi Cluster, at Nagpurkalan on 23-12-2001, with 6 SHGs and a deposit of Rs.600=00. These three villages have Ordinance Factory Market near Itarsi ( Hoshangabad ) as the common marketplace and weekly haat  market , which is the centre for many commercial transactions.
 There were five Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) in Nagpurkala, six in Pandri and four in Chandon. Five of these groups have been functional from the year 2000 when PREHARI  (  please VISIT  their page on the www.facebook.com/preharingo ) , NGO started working here in Swa Shakti Project ( A project funded by the World Bank / IFAD and the Central Government run from 2000 to 2003 in selected districts of Madhya Pradesh aiming at the empowerment of rural women through the formation of SHG, Training in Skills and decision making ).

 The rest have been formed after the end of 2003 when PREHARI started to withdraw from the Swa-Shakti Project.
The Cluster meeting of all the Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) in the area was called by Sri Gulab who was the Area Organizer  (  AO ) for   PREHARI   working in these villages and residing in village Pandri, where almost all the members of the Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) member of Tulsi Cluster attended the meetings in vaillage Nagpurkala. The members suggested that this village was far off from the centrally located village of Pandri so after initial six meetings the venue was shifted from Nagpurkala to Pandri. This was accepted as some members felt that this will become an ideal place for information sharing and others felt that this should be a forum from where they would understand the activities and functioning of other such member groups much better way.
Nine SHG groups came together for the next Cluster meeting, while each meeting of the SHGs had discussed the importance of the formation of a Cluster and the relevance was openly debated by the members, the points were raised that the Self - Help Groups(S.H.G.)s  might have to be closed as the mother NGO was moving( withdrawing ) out of Swa-Shakti Project and all the Self - Help Groups(S.H.G.) might end up as Bank-Loan-Defaulters, leaders were skeptic that they might have to repay the Bank loans from their own pockets, the AO was a bit shaky that he might loose the earnings coming out from the SHGs / NGO, working as the service provider  for the Self - Help Groups(S.H.G.) and the husbands of the women-members  were agitated that the State-government was not serious in their upliftment of women as it was stopping Swa-Shakti Project.
 But the SHGs continued to meet as a Cluster and also remain actively working with the NGO .The AO  kept dealing with the problems on their own. They were not ready to share their problems even in the Cluster Meetings as they feared that they might be exposing their weaknesses before the other groups. The meetings were silent and slow. It seemed that the Cluster was meeting because the AO has to conduct and carry out such meetings. Slowly the problem of dis interest were discussed in the member Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) s. The number of members coming to the Cluster meetings declined and those who did come, returned after putting their signature on the attendances register for doing the market work. It was decided that not every member of the member Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) shall come to attend the Cluster meetings but only two/ three members who are serious in discussing the problems faced by the Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) should be nominated by each SHG  to attend the meetings of the Cluster. Dissenting voices were noticed as the members said that  we  were discriminating,  were not serious in inviting all the members, worker AO should conduct the meeting why waste time for the full day ? and the attendance be made mandatory. ? But the mother NGO insisted that the members of the Clusters have to send the member representatives for the meeting of the Cluster each month , regularly. 

The lack of interest was discussed repeatedly by the workers of NGO. The reasons for this lack of interest  were explored in the Self - Help Group(S.H.G.)’s meetings and individually discussing with the leaders. It was found that the group -representatives who came to attend  the meeting of the Clusters did not have a feeling of ownership and belonging to the Cluster. The concept of Cluster was not clear to them. Thus ,the venue of the meeting of the Cluster was shifted to each village by turn so that the AO and the NGO could discuss the points of responsibilities in the village where all the members of the local groups could easily attend the meetings of the Cluster. The time of the meeting was changed from the early morning to the afternoon one p.m. where everyone could attend before going for the weekly market. The SHG leaders were asked to attend all the initial meetings of the Clusters. The SHG leader  would then give way  to anyone from the Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) according to the two members, by choice ,decided well in advance in the meetings of the SHG. This exercise the members and their representative attended all the Cluster- meetings on time and seriously discussed the issues faced by the members of their Self - Help Group(S.H.G.). The pressure of the Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) was evident on their faces during the discussions in the Cluster meetings. 

The next major issue was increasing the financial power of the Cluster. The ideas of separate montly- Savings for the expenses met by the Cluster was protested by every  member in the beginning. They said that the need to strengthen the Cluster could weaken the SHGs as they are asked separate savings each month. They asked about the kind of expenses that were being needed by the Cluster. A series of brainstorming sessions were undertaken by Parvez Ameer , PREHARI-NGO and four AOs attended the meetings and suggested that the groups make presentation of the work done by them till then. This was followed by group discussions and for the first time the members of Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) realized that they had done so much in terms of savings, internal lending, repayments, bank loans and repayments and number of meetings of the Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) and if all of them came together to financially support the Cluster than they will not have to look for the outside support. Realizing thus that the members of the SHGs had come to know of the advantages of Cluster the need for regular meetings was highlighted. 

The Cluster came into existence to help sustain and guide the members SHG.
The monsoon that followed decreased the attendance of the members in the Cluster  as they had to come from villages as far as ten k.m. on foot , to the place of meetings but the saving for the Cluster kept reaching the Cluster at Pandri village. In one of the meetings it was decided that for smooth functioning of the  Custer each member SHG should take up some specific activity and responsibilities. the leaders should then ensure the smooth conduct of the Cluster. Thus the division of work led to the election of Cluster representatives. Elections were held with approval from the member Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) s. Different groups sent new members for the election process so that their issues could be solved by the better vocal members in the Cluster meetings. The process was completed in the presence of Sri Parvez Ameer, Hon. Director of PREHARI and the process of the opening of the joint Bank account for the Cluster was also started.
The role of Sri Gulab was appreciated by all the Cluster members and the AOs in the Team of PREHARI. He was instrumental in imbibing the concept of Cluster among the rural Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) s who had never experienced and heard of the Cluster for the SHGs for the rural poor. The local Banks were also surprised at the progress made by the Cluster here and they opened the savings account after the mother NGO PREHARI gave guarantee of good work of the new Cluster.
Assured support from other SHG of the member villages and the neighboring areas and the mother NGO boosted the confidence to get involved in the developmental works of the village. Later one of the member of the Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) was elected as the gram Sarpanch of the village Pandri and that too with the active support from the members of the Clusters.

Political Hindrances of the areas :-

The villagers in the Pandri were guided by one former  vice-Sarpanch. He was interested in winning the election of the local Sarpanch of Pandri. The villagers were not interested in him as he was very rude in his behaviour and never supported the villagers in the time of need and help. Some of the relatives were present in the Cluster and they started a libelous campaign against the Area Organiser Sri Gulab. The man who was behind all this remained aloof , as if he knew nothing about the mischief being spread by him. The members of the Clusters came to know about the plan to remove the AO from the area and getting the advantage from the Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) and  their Cluster. The mother NGO came to the help of the AO and discussed the issue of sustainability and asked the AO to leave the area if the services of the AO were not required by the members of the Cluster. 

This was discussed with the member Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) and the local Bank Manager also. They all knew that somebody was behind the mis communication that all these Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) are going to be closed and the AO is leaving the area. But the orientation given to the SHG leaders, transparency in maintaining the records of the Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) and the Members, minutes of the Cluster and the involvement of the local Bank in resolving the issue was so effective that the issue was settled once and for all. The AO was asked to continue the work and then the saving of the Cluster was increased so that the expenses could be met.

AO gets paid by the SHG and Cluster 

  The payment to the AO was made each month during the last meeting of the SHG for that particular and the details were re told and recorded in the monthly meeting of the Cluster. The issue of payment for the meetings of the SHGs was the prime point of jealousy of some other local youths later in the like of this Cluster. These youths questioned the amount of effort that is required to write the monthly cash book and the minutes while the SHGs were paying the AO from one hundred to Two hundred rupees a month similarly the Cluster was paying one hundred and fifty rupees for the single meeting of the Cluster.

This problem was addressed by asking the member Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) to give a local youth from among the village Self - Help Group(S.H.G.) who could write the records and get paid for these services. Three youths were proposed for this purpose and taken up for the work of the record keeping. On the third month they left the work citing various reasons prominently among that were – the work is very difficult at night when most of the meetings are held after the  dinner of the rural women, low voltage or no electricity available at night to write the records, their parents were  hassled by the queries the women members made about the conduct in these meetings, the local girls were not ready to write the records as they were not allowed to move out of their houses during the night and alone and the youth could not do the simple addition and calculation function in writing the cash book which were rewritten by the trained AO.

This is the problem which we have not been able to   tackle so far even when we have made the records very simple and straight. The entry is done at three places for accuracy and avoidance of money pilferages in the groups the first is the individual Pass Book of each member, that is now provided by the Cluster, second is the entry in the meeting related Cash Book cum Bank Book ,filled in duplicate a copy of which is still submitted to the mother NGO for monitoring  and the third entry is done in the loan portfolio of the member.

 The cash  to be balanced in each such meeting so that the income matches the expenses side. The record keeping, discussions on the loans and repayments, shared trust building and the participation of the members is increased by the formation of the Cluster and Federation. 

The innovative programmes are designed by this Cluster which is named as Saroj Beema Yojna.
 
SHIVSHAKTI  Cluster, Pandri, Kesla, Hoshangabad 
    
Formed as Tulsi Cluster, at Nagpurkalan on 23-12-2001, with 6 SHGs and a deposit of Rs.600=00. Name was Changed to – Shivshakti   Cluster, Pandri. 
 On 25-02-2002 

With 07 self-help groups and funds of Rs.3500=00 . Elected 04 posts. 

  Within one month 3 other SHGs join this Cluster. 

Issues are - clean toilets, lease of sand Mines , recovery of loans forwarded to the members of SHG and opened an a/c in the Bank .   

 The financial status in the end of the First year (as on  25/4/2003)- 

Total Funds:Rs.15,605=00 ; 
Other expenses 300=00; 
Loan outstanding nil; Cash  : Rs.1,995=00;
 deposit in Bank: 15,605=00 ;   

The social standing in this year was :Number of SHGs: 10; representatives -20 ; Posts 0 4 ;

SIX years on 18-12-2006 , Shivshakti Cluster, Pandri-

The financial  Status  stood at :
 Total Funds:Rs.1,40,480=00; Loan  outstanding Rs.88,719=00; deposit in Bank:Rs.15038=00. Expenditures:- Rs12575=00
 Paid to the field worker Total Rs.79900=00 from25/2/04.


The social standing in the end of  December 2006  was :

Number of SHGs:12 ; representatives 24;Posts 03 ; Paid to A.O. for 12 months Rs. 21600=00 
Saroj Beema Yojna-
Total Contribution Rs.1,18,920=00
                        
Paid Rs.54,000=00 to Saroj Beema claims.

Nine  years on 18-12-2009, Shivshakti Cluster, Pandri-

The financial  Status  stood at :
                                          

  Total Funds:Rs.3,76,149=00; 

Loan  outstanding Rs.2,22,636=00; 

deposit in Bank:Rs.52,610=00.

 Expenditures met by the Cluster itself :- Rs46,913=00

 Paid to the field worker Total Rs.1,26,000=00 from25/2/04.

The social standing in the end of  December 2009  was :

Number of SHGs:14 ; representatives 28;Posts 04 ;  

Now working as an NGO by proper from the date of Registration.24th. May, 2005



Total savings
No. of SHGs
No. of members
Loan outstanding
Expenses on Sustenance
CCL received
CCL given
4.19 lakhs
14
171
87 lakhs
1.46lakh
5.9 lakhs
6.25 lakhs











Parvez Ameer
written in January,2012.


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