Women's groups

Recognizing the important contributions made by women towards economic and social life, CREDA has established Women's Groups to enable women to make claims on the system that governs their lives. These groups meet to discuss and address issues concerning the schools, the difficulties faced by the children and other social issues that may be otherwise difficult to discuss in the four walls of their homes.

Broadly speaking there are two ways women are organised under the programme.

Mothers' groups
At least 100 mother's groups have been established. These groups are loosely structured with no formal leadership. The basic condition for membership is mothers should have children enrolled in the community schools. Mothers are encouraged to discuss a number of issues that relate to their situation and observe their child's performance through songs and plays.

The women in the villages had never before organised themselves in groups and they appreciate this initiative. Due to the prevailing cultural traditions, women would seldom speak out in front of men and would often veil their faces in front of men other than their husband or kin.

Group formation has helped enhance the image of women and create awareness of practices and traditions that discriminate against them. For example, meetings with some groups raised issues like the consequences of the dowry system which tend to perpetuate early marriage practices. Minimum wage issues are also discussed.

Mothers' groups exist parallel to Parent's Association, which in this case really means fathers.

Self-Help Groups
In the project area, traditional moneylenders have a lot of power and charge exorbitant interest rates. The poor and the SC/ST have virtually no access to commercial banks. Borrowers get trapped into debt from which there is no escape. The debt spiral is exacerbated because loans are often not used for income-generating purposes, but for festivals, marriages and payment of illegal dowries.

The social consequence for children can be grave. Parents often find themselves in a situation where there is no other alternative than to send the child to the looms or other work in bonded arrangement. The child is thereafter obliged to work to repay the parents' debts- not necessarily to contribute to daily expenses. Often, the child is unaware of the amount of money that has to be repaid. Illiterate parents may also easily be lured into contracts in which the child actually receives very little money in cash.

A new form of women's group has been introduced in some of the villages. The long- term objective is to create Self-help groups that among other tasks will operate savings and credit schemes for micro-enterprises/ economic activities. 100 such groups have been formed in the project area in Lalgaj and Halia blocks. CREDA's plan is to form another 200 such groups. Each group has been provided Rs. 10,000 as initial capital to take-off economic activities.

So far CREDA does not require the groups to operate according to any strict rules, management and other regulations. Community schoolteachers arrange the meetings and take careful minutes from the discussions. Though there are not many economic opportunities for small-scale activities in the project area economic empowerment of women through groups is a very important strategy. CREDA is looking into whether micro enterprises such as embroidering, tailoring, poultry raising and food processing are also economically viable in the remote areas.

Women's groups ensured their participation with block level government officials to ensure widow pension and old age pension and made efforts to improve upon public distribution system.

Early childhood...