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.
