Group Organization
The target groups in the development area were subjected to socio-economic marginalisation processes that deprived them of having access and control over their productive resources, access to basic services and government schemes/programmes that are meant for their development. Their dependency on moneylenders and traders for credit support perpetuated an elaborate set of exploitative patron-client relationships to maintain the inequitable distribution of resources. Activies under Group Organization are outlined as below :
Lack of capacity among the target groups to deal with such forces, largely contributed to this situation. Women suffer from discrimination in the areas of access to education and ownership rights over assets, depriving them of space for decision making with in the family and community at large. The persons with disabilities in the community are deprived of equal opportunities and suffered with stigma that associated with them. It is in this context, the project as an effective strategy evolved Group organisation as one of the four sectoral interventions.
Main objectives of Group Organization are :
- To increase the bargaining capacity among the tribal and among the women for improving their living standards.
- To empowerment of the target communities and their women folk through formation of groups, capacity building and strengthening of the organised groups.
- To mobilize local women as organised collective to address the immediate concerns/ issues that are being confronted by them in daily life situation.
- To capacitate the functional and dynamic groups.
In this direction, systematic efforts were made to further strengthening of the organised groups in to more effective and dynamic pressure groups at the village /habitation level in all 40 villages. 27 Groups, one each in every target village, with a membership of about 800 were formed during 1996, while as on December 31, 2000 there were 40 groups. During 2000, 15 groups have enrolled 133 new members, enhancing the membership total from 1161 in 1999 to 1294 in 2000 (See Table 5). Each group has a five-member elected committee. Every member pays Rs. 10/- as an annual subscription and contributes Rs. 30/- per month towards thrift.
Outcomes of Group organisation Interventions :
- The group organisation processes were quite effective in creating critical awareness.
- Skill building and active participation of the target community, men, women and youth.
- The members realized their roles and responsibilities to improve their conditions..
- The project role is diminishing and is more of facilitator in nature. It was evident from various forums that women became more articulated, making decisions that affect their productive and reproductive lives (decision to have two children), demanding their stake from the delivery systems, lobbying with service providers to be committed for effective services delivery. For instances ensuring regular presence of the teachers in schools and ensuring regular visits of the ANMs into villages for immunisation and for primary care.
- The sangham membership base increased from 1161 to 1294.
- The target people developed rapport with the government departments and accessed services and benefits to the tune of Rs. 81,82,595./-.
- 11 Yuva Sakti groups were formed in 11 villages and effectively functioning taking up village development issues.
- Thrift amount increased from Rs. 9,27,622 to Rs 11,86,370 and improvement in thrift loans repayments form 46% to 85%.
The sanghams were involved in drawing up village development plans by using participatory tools (PRA) and implementation of the activities. MLPs were conducted in 2 phases in 10 villages, two from each cluster. On an average 105 members participated in each camp. Issues discussed :
- Sensitisation on the existing problems, causes and effect analysis.
- Drawing up of village level micro-plans and exploring resources - within and without.
- Orientation on tackling internal and external factors that affect livelihood systems.
- Appraising sangham members of their roles and responsibilities in village development.
- Encouraging sangham members to identify and access resources for other development initiatives, like education, health, etc.
Leadership training programmes were held in cluster Field Offices of Jagannathapuram and Patvarigudem. The following are the details of the executive members participation. During the training, the inputs were structured around the awareness components with a core focus on women and youth. The thrust was on:
- Building up necessary knowledge and skills to deal with the local situation.
- Managing dynamics within the group.
- Identifying local issues.
- Facilitating decision making for group actions.
- Follow up of decision.
- Responsibility over common infrastructure.
- Resolving community/village issues.
Case studies were drawn to ground the initiatives. The following issues are discussed :
- Review on implementation of the decisions taken in the previous meeting(s).
- Strengthening of Sanghams, roles and responsibilities of committee members and apex body.
- Implementation of micro plans.
- Village level problems and drawing up of common action programmes on collective basis.
- Mobilization of Government Programmes/Schemes.
- Collection of thrift and agricultural credit.
- Vermi Compost and Model Farmer.
- Health, education and related issues.
- Future plans.
From the beginning the capacity building process focussed on providing inputs on leadership skills, especially focus was on the youth. The focus of the camps was providing awareness to the youth on their role and responsibilities in village development /sangham activities. Youth camp was conducted in two field offices namely Jagannathapuram and Patvarigudem. The following are the discussed in these camps:
- Role and responsibilities of youth in village development.
- Role of youth in maximum utilization of minimum community resources.
- Implementation of micro plans.
- Village level problems and drawing up of common action programmes on collective basis.
- Mobilization of government programmes / schemes.
- Participation of youth in “Janma Bhoomi / Shramadan” programmes.
- Formation of youth groups.
- Role of youth in natural resource management.
- Vocational training.
- Role of youth in maintenance of records of Sanghas.
The overall strategy of the project is ‘to enable women as overarching institution for all the programme interventions.’ Since the beginning of project, the inputs for strengthening of organised groups have been structured around the awareness and skill building with a central focus on women. These meetings were organized at cluster field offices, viz, Jagannathapuram and Patvarigudem. Following issues are discussed :
- Review on implementation of the decisions taken in the previous meeting(s).
- Strengthening of Sanghams and their linkage with government sponsored Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) programme.
- Village level micro plans and drawing up of common action programs on collective basis.
- Participation in government programmes like Janmabhoomi and Shramdaan.
- Health, education and related issues.
- Prohibition of Liquor.
Women camps provided a greater space and opportunity to share and learn from one another’s experiences. The members reviewed the on going thrift and credit programme, status of utilization of funds, repayments and problems faced in this regard. Training was also imparted for effective management and expansion of thrift and credit. Here are the issues disucssed :
- Review of thrift and credit.
- Expansion of thrift and credit.
- Funds management.
- Experience sharing with regard to thrift groups.
- Maintenance of books and records.
- Repayment of thrift loans.
The annual Plan envisaged of three-day exposure visits to target communities. Visits are made to groups that are running for good amount of time to study their progress and discuss key learnings. Here are the issues discussed :
- Collection of thrift by seventh of every month.
- Not to be stingy about sanctioning credit facilities.
- Collection of thrift and repayments by group leaders themselves.
- Maintenance of books of accounts / records by members themselves.