Women's Sanghas

The formation of a Woman's Sangha is frequently the entry point for DEEDS into a community. The empowerment of women is a fundamental principle in the work that DEEDS undertakes and is directly linked to ensuring that the rights of a child are not infringed. A Sangha's role within the community is two-fold: the empowerment of women and the economic development of its members. Both can be achieved through a process of capacity building.

There are currently 47 Women's Sanghas in the project operational area, one in each village. All are registered legally with the local Government and all have established micro finance systems that are successfully granting loans from extensive savings accounts.

Illiteracy, ignorance of rights, ill heath, poor social infrastructure and gender bias all frequently contribute to women not participating in decision making within the family and community. This inevitably hinders child development. Capacity building training that is provided to the women helps them to understand their rights and gives them the confidence and knowledge to stand up for those rights. This confidence is a product of the collective unity that the women feel through being a member of an organisation that is formed and managed by women. The Sanghas have successfully lobbied the local Government for improved roads, street lighting and access to safe drinking water, actions that were inconceivable before the formation of the Sanghas

The Sanghas have had particular success in lobbying the local Government for land rights or Putta . The community in one village had lived as subsistence farmers for 23 years with no legal land rights or knowledge of their entitlements from the Government. The women formed a Sangha and DEEDS raised awareness of their rights and entitlements. Training was given in the application process and protocol and armed with all this, the Sangha successfully applied to the Government for plots of land and for funding to build houses. One additional success has been the registering of the property in the name of the women rather than the men. Each woman received a certificate and ownership title, thereby placing the main piece of capital in her hands. This has put an end to men selling property without consulting their wives and leaving the family homeless.

The process of empowering women through the Sangha's also incorporates a wide spectrum of topics that includes training in:

• The Rights of the Child, specifically the importance of an education
• Household management and budgeting
• Parenting education, including pre- and post-natal care
• Health awareness, particularly a balanced diet
• Gender Equality
• Personality development

The economic development of women is essential as it harnesses the economic potential of women and helps them to supplement the family income. A higher income should, in theory, enable the family to meet basic daily needs, which includes the educational expenses of children. DEEDS encourages the women to partake in income generating schemes, typically involving work that the women can fit around their household work, like incense stick rolling or banana leaf mat stitching. [In Southern India food is traditionally served on a banana leaf. These are often round mats that are stitched together from several leaves.]

Incense stick rolling is common within the 47 villages and the women are paid Rs. 7 per 1,000 sticks rolled. On average, an experienced woman can roll 4,000 sticks in an 8-hour day, earning Rs. 28. A middleman drops off materials and returns a few days later to pick up the sticks. It is repetitive, pain-staking work that is not well renumerated but there are hopes that the women will soon be able to operate as a co-operative society, cutting out the middleman and increasing their buying and selling power.

If the women are involved in agriculture then they are eligible to receive the training discussed under the Agricultural Development section. The members of the Sangha in the village of Erukkamput also received a loan from DEEDS to help with the purchase of animals. Most bought dairy cows, which has had two benefits: increased the family income through selling the milk and helped to supplement the family's diet with calcium. In most cases the women have breed the cows and now have a total of 3.

The Entrepreneurialship Development Programme (EDP) is a more specific initiative that helps the women to identify economically viable enterprises based on local resources, the interests of the women and the potential market for products made. The goal is to empower women with the economic capacity of entrepreneurs. The women are encouraged to focus on non-traditional activities thereby increasing the possible market for goods within the wider community. Additional training needed by the women, in order to establish the enterprises, is then provided by DEEDS.

One member of a Sangha in the Erukkamput Village received EDP training and has successfully started her own business selling sarees. She travels to Bangalore , 4 hours by bus, to buy the sarees that she then sells at a small profit in the local villages. She borrowed Rs 4,000 from the Sangha Credit Union, adding this to other funds that she had raised, and has made Rs. 10,000 profit in one year. Another member received EDP training and applied for a loan from the Credit Union to buy a goat. Through subsequent breeding, 3 more goats were produced and one was sold. The money raised from this transaction enabled the woman to pay the loan back in full and she now has 10 goats and a sustainable livelihood.

All this has raised the profile of women within the villages. The Sanghas have given the women a collective voice and the confidence to stand up for their rights at a family, community and governmental level. The members now hold land titles and run small businesses and have been empowered to take an active role in their own development.

Women's Association in our urban project in Bangalore

The Women's savings and credit union has been set up to improve the economic position of women in the slums. Every member pays a certain amount of savings each month and is entitled to apply for a loan. The credit decisions are made in member's meeting. Repayment is usually scheduled in 10 instalments over 10 months. The women's economic backgrounds are varied. Some of the women work as domestic servants or housewives. Plans for businesses include vegetable and fruit selling, sari businesses and tailoring amongst others.

Written by ex-DEEDS volunteer, Paul Gunstensen.

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