Catalog

Urban Development
Taking Charge

Thousands of women in Karnataka’s slums are forming self-help groups to change their communities—and their lives—through improved basic services and livelihood training

	NEW LIFE A budding entrepreneur, S. Kalavethy earns $20 a month from her screen-painting skills

It’s the simple things that can often make a huge difference in a person’s life. For thousands of women living in India’s slums, having access to even the most basic of services—health care, water, and sanitation—has been all but impossible.

These women face daunting challenges: poor housing, unhygienic sanitation practices, ill health and malnutrition, limited or no savings, and lack of skills. They are additionally burdened by alcoholism and excessive borrowing—problems all too common among the urban poor.

Aware of these difficulties, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is assisting the state government of Karnataka in supporting women in slum areas by helping them establish self-help groups as an avenue to discuss and solve mutual problems and issues, provide access to credit facilities, and learn new skills.

Under a component of the Karnataka Urban Development Project, which ADB started financing in early 1996, the efforts have been substantially improving the health and living conditions of more than 30,000 slum residents, 65% of whom are women and children.

Besides establishing self-help groups and conducting vocational training, the Project is also providing slum areas with improved drainage, low-cost sanitation, community centers public health, and conducting hygiene campaigns.

In implementing the Project, both ADB and the state government’s executing agency, the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), recognized that women should be empowered to participate in decision making at the microlevel to bring about constructive changes in the living conditions of the urban poor. With the help of nongovernment organization (NGO) workers, adult classes and street plays are being conducted to sensitize the people to social issues, such as alcoholism and HIV/AIDS.

Through constant motivation and nonformal education, women started forming groups. As they have become more united, the concept of sangha (self-help) groups emerged. “Through these groups, we are able to increase awareness on social issues such as personal hygiene, communicable diseases, nutrition, and sanitation,” explains Ms. Sudha Krishnan, Finance Director for KUIDFC. “More importantly, we have been able to uplift women’s confidence and get them out of the clutches of unscrupulous moneylenders.”

“They now feel empowered and are not afraid to meet with social leaders to discuss the various issues faced by their communities,” says Ms. Krishnan. She adds that initial resistance from men did not deter the women from participating.

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“I have been arrested and jailed for advocating the removal of the liquor shop from our area,” says Laksmiamma, secretary of a self-help group in the Ghandhinagar slum in Mysore. Although the group’s efforts have not yet been successful, its members are still lobbying against and creating awareness of alcoholism through women, she adds. Many of the Ghandhinagar slum residents are laborers and municipal workers.

Similarly in Ghousinagar, a big slum in eastern Mysore, women started to come together and discuss their mutual problems and issues. “For women, especially from poorer households, the struggle for this new status in society implies the freedom to participate and voice their concerns pertaining to social issues,” says Aneeta Amanna, KUIDFC’s Social Development Officer in Mysore.

In Ghousinagar, the participating NGO, Organization for the Development of the People (ODP), has formed 34 self-help groups comprising 668 members.

Members of Ghousinagar’s Tipu Sanga—a self-help group consisting predominantly of Muslim women who work from home as bidi (cigarette) rollers—are interacting more actively now and are solving common issues. They also have access to credit facilities. “With the collective savings we provided a loan to one of our members to conduct her daughter’s marriage,” says Mobin Taj, a Tipu Sanga member.

Another member, Sharmin Munizar, says that through a “collective voice” the women were able to get the local municipality to improve water supply, install community taps, and clean the roads and drainage systems. She says that members began meeting monthly to discuss and solve common issues, and started saving regularly and systematically to become economically empowered. “Initially the men were not supportive of our activities, but we took that as a challenge,” Ms. Munizar adds.

“With collective thinking and decision making, the women also started tackling other common problems to transform the existing injustice and inequality by preventing early marriages and female infanticide, and creating awareness on gambling and alcoholism—and supporting victims of exploitation,” says Mathew Joseph, ODP’s coordinator.

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Mysore and three other towns in Karnataka—Channapatna, Ramanagram, and Tumkur—are receiving government aid to improve the slums and living conditions of the urban poor. The Project has two key components: infrastructure development, and community participation and development.

Through the ADB loan, some 6,000 units of low-cost sanitation (LCS) toilets were built in the slum areas in Mysore and another 2,000 units are in the pipeline. An additional 7,000 units are being built in the other three towns.

“The LCS toilets have come as a boon to the slum dwellers, especially to women and children. They have brought a sense of ownership, privacy, and dignity,” explains Ms. Amanna.

“Providing toilets alone is not the answer. People’s perception of and attitude toward sanitation must be changed, because public awareness and community participation are critical in any sanitation improvement program. And, that’s why we are focusing on women to change the people’s mind-set,” she adds.

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In the majority of slums, more than 80% of the population lives below the poverty line, with women pursuing less skilled and less remunerative jobs. “Enhancing women’s role by providing skills training to increase their income levels is an important facet of the Project,” explains Munawar Alam, ADB’s Senior Project Implementation Officer.

The skills training programs, which target women, are implemented by local NGOs at facilities made available by the Project. In Mysore, Jan Shikshan Sansthan is conducting nine different courses. That women are being empowered through these training programs is already tangible on several fronts. Women are setting up small enterprises and getting involved in income-generating activities. Many women who participated in the training program are now contributing to their household incomes.

One participant, S. Kalavethy, who attended a 2-month screen-painting course, is earning an average of Rs1,000 a month ($20). “My husband, who works as a laborer, has been very supportive. In addition, my brother is assisting me in getting clients,” she says, demonstrating her skills. She says that she was inspired to participate in the training when her small sundry shop had to be closed due to a dispute.

Suseela, another participant and an aspiring entrepreneur, opted for incense-making training and now employs five workers. Earning some Rs3,000 ($60) per month, she is determined to have her own brand and improve sales countrywide. “Incense is something that is required by the rich and poor for their daily prayers,” says Ms. Suseela, who packs about 10,000 sticks per day. Her goal is to compete with a well-known producer in Mysore.

The training, savings, and access to credit facilities have helped increase the incomes and confidence of poor women in some slum areas in Karnataka. Of equal importance, the Project has increased awareness on health, sanitation, and improved community participation.

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