Nongovernment Organizations and Civil Society

Women: Leading the Way

by Ajay Singh

Barjee Devi never expected her life to change. To her, life today would be the same as yesterday, the same as tomorrow.

Poor and uneducated, Barjee lives a quiet, ordered life in the village of Kukrela, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. She didn't seek change: it came to her in a way she never expected to give her a chance for a better life of which previously she could only dream.

Change came in the form of Project Shakti, an Asian Development Bank initiative implemented by the nongovernment organization Humana People to People India. The project aims to empower women in 11 villages of Virat Nagar, in the Jaipur district of Rajasthan. Shakti literally means "power" and the project aims to help women take a proactive role in the region's socio-economic development.

Limited Opportunities

Women in Rajasthan have, traditionally, had less power than those in other parts of India. They are often uneducated and marry young, often to men they hardly know, becoming dependant on their spouses and in-laws. Family rules are strict: they are not allowed to sit or participate in discussions when their father-in-law is present, they must obey their mothers-in-law. They have no money of their own, their dowry becoming the property of their husband's family.

The cycle of life in the village goes on. The women work in the fields, contributing to family income, and have little thought of their personal well-being. Women like Barjee Devi had neither the time nor the education to ponder matters such as hygiene, maternal and infant mortality, and pre- and postnatal care - until Project Shakti came to the village.

It took much negotiation in the village for women to be included in Project Shakti. In 2001 the project manager and program officer met village men to gain permission for women to join the program.

The men agreed and one woman from each village was trained to teach her fellow women villagers about health and hygiene. Eventually self-help groups were formed in the village.

Generating Income Through Vermiculture

Barjee Devi joined a self-help group early in the project. As her confidence grew, she became more vocal in the group's weekly meetings and became interested in discussions about common savings and increasing her income through small initiatives such as vermiculture compost schemes and goat rearing.

Vermiculture was introduced to the area to enhance farming productivity, and Barjee's interest in it led the way for 11 members of self-help groups in the area to receive training in its techniques.

The women were given training, worms and basic tools to start 11 vermicomposting units. They used vermicompost in their fields and compared their crop results with others. But Barjee Devi went one step further: she began selling vermicompost - her first sale was of 100kg to a nearby farmer.

Income earned from the vermiculture projects went into group accounts. But illiteracy among the women brought special problems. They could not sign their names. So, the local bank manager was encouraged to accept the women's fingerprints as signatures on the accounts. The participants, through agreement within the group, could then take out loans.

Word of the project's success spread and another 10 groups were formed within a few weeks. Now the project has 20 self-help groups each with about 20 members.

The women meet weekly to deposit their savings and talk about their problems and ideas. It may just be a few rupees a week but the project's benefits are visible in the women's confident and animated discussion at meetings. The talk is now about how to improve their quality of life, of other ways they can generate income.

Success in Goat Rearing

The precarious nature of farming led the women to consider more reliable forms of income-generation. They saw goat rearing as their answer. Goat rearing was not new to the area, but it was more profitable than rearing other milking animals.

The Shakti project leader identified the goat breed most suitable for milk and meat production for the area. Each self-help group received six goats and decided if they would breed the goats collectively or distribute them to individual members. Most groups decided the poorest members should have three goats each. In all, 40 group members were trained in goat rearing.

Like many women who received goats, farm laborers Bimla Harijan and Meera Bunkar, can now realize their dream of a better life. For them goat rearing is a full time, lucrative business. Their success is an inspiration to other poor people in the area.

The Shakti project has given the women of Virat Nagar confidence and knowledge to improve their lives. It has empowered them in ways they never dared dream. It has given them more income but, most of all, it has given them hope - of finding a greater voice in family life and of building a better life for their children.

For more information on Project Shakti and Humana People to People India, contact Karen Thorst.

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