Deepak Foundation - ORGANIZING AND BUILDING THE CAPACITY OF WOMEN

In keeping with DCT's vision statement, DCT has been working with women for the last decade under different project interventions. In order that women gain control over resources and body (as enunciated in the Vision Statement), enhancing their capacities was critical. The Ford Foundation funded an intervention designed to do this in 2000 : "Capacity Building of Women in Reproductive Health". The project envisages that groups of organized women will be a forum for generating awareness amongst women in the community about their rights and address issues of gender equality as well as violence against women.

Organising women in `Sangathans' and men in `Sahkar samities'

Training for the newly formed `Sangathans' and `Sahkar samities'

Training of project team - in house as well as by external resource persons.

Training of community representatives

Training of Village Level Health Workers/TBAs

Training of `Sangathans' and `Sahkar samities' on issues of economic rights; awareness generation; functioning of the panchayat; laws against violence of women etc.

Conducting village level meetings on issues of reproductive health; legal rights and gender awareness.

Conducting exposure visits.

Conducting mass sensitization programs on widow remarriage.

In this year, about 19,000 women and men from 12 villages were reached through this program. The villages covered were Angadh, Rampura, Ramgadh, Vakhatpura, Kotna, Navapura, Trikampura, Hathipura , Rajgadh-Krushnanagar, Navapura, Nandesari and Road Fajalpur.

Field activities in the twelve villages were initiated by conducting participatory information gathering exercises such as social mapping, flowcharts etc. These exercises provide DCT with detailed qualitative information useful in designing our training. We are also able to establish a rapport with the community through these exercises and able to identify key-persons.

`Daaru pive ne rasoi ma mithu oochu hoi to maare' (After drinking liquor, my husband beats even for a little less salt in the food)

`Chokri hoye to kadavi nakhwanu kahe' [If it is a female foetus (after sonography test) woman is asked to abort it]

`Chokri etle patharo gane, chokranu dhyan vadhare rakhe' (Daughters are considered equivalent to stone, sons are looked after in a better way)

Jya sudhi chokro na thai tya sudhi operation karva deta nahi' (Would not give permission for operation (sterilization) until a male child is born)

`Aene sharam na ave, Faliya maa betha hoi ne tyare sabandh karva mate dhahedi ne lai jay,chati dabave' (He has no shame, he drags me inside to have sex even while I am sitting in the neighborhood (Faliya) he presses my chest)

`Sangathan' : Suggestions expressed by community representatives, health workers and staff members, encouraged DCT to form `organized groups' in the project villages called `sangathans'. Today there are a total of 12 `sangathans'. Each `sangathan' consists of at least 10 women. Two active members from each `sangathan' are selected as Saheli and Upp. Saheli who act as leaders of the group. The `sangathans' act as the core group in the village to deal with issues related to women's social, economic and health status. In order to involve males we are forming `Sahkar Samities' - men with a positive attitude and leadership qualities are mobilized into groups of five known as the `Sahkar Samiti'. This task has not been easy and so far 4 such samities have been formed consisting of 5 men in each group. These groups work towards influencing and involving community men in attaining the project objectives. The `sangathan' and the `Sahkar Samiti' work in collaboration on issues of gender and violence.

`Nyay Samitis' (Legal Committees) : One important issue that came up during interactions and training was the lack of support women got when faced with violence or other trouble and the lack of legal knowledge. In order to fill this gap, it was decided that local bodies -`Nyay Samiti'- consisting of 5 members should be formed in each village that would accept legal issues at the village level. These samities are attached with the Legal Aid Center at DCT. There are 8 such `Nyay Samities' today and they deal with legal issues that confront women at the village level.

Training is a very important part of this project. Training of sangathans, Sahkar samities, peer educators, nyay samities is done on various issues. A total number of 792 persons were trained during the year on different subjects i.e. Reproductive Health; Antenatal care; Gender Sensitization; "Dai" training; Spacing methods; Panchayats etc.

An important training that was undertaken was that of the police. 35 policemen were sensitized to the problems women faced when interacting with them. In the coming year, we plan to continue such interaction with the police.

There are many instances where Sangathans have been able to raise issues and even solve some problems. With every accomplishment of the Sangathan, the confidence of its members increases and their reputation in the local community also gets established. Problems like violence against women, ill treatment of women by in-laws, divorce settlements, lack of physical amenities in the villages etc. have been tackled by the Sangathans. For instance in village Angadh the `sangathan' - Shakti - tackled the following problems in the last year.

	Issues / Content	`Sangathan's' Effort	Result
3 cases	Pregnant woman tortured by mother in law, not allowed to eat sufficiently	Approached personally and tried to convince in laws	Reduced torturing. Fed properly.
2 cases	Drunkard husband beats wife, forcing sexual relations	As above, informed about related laws	One husband has stopped beating. The other has reduced to some extent
	Raised issue of road construction, anganwadi building and health center	Invited Gangaben Rabari, District Panchayat Member
	Widows did not have Ration cards	Application submitted to Talati	Widows availed this facility

One of the sangathans, in Kotna village, was able to get a widow remarried. This is a very big breakthrough. Widow remarriages in the predominantly `darbar' community are unheard of. A young 14-year-old girl had been widowed. When the `sangathan' members heard that her parents were not against re-marrying her but were afraid of what society would say, they gave the parents all their support. The Saheli of the group got the Deputy Sarpanch to talk to the community and the family. The girl was married and is happy today.

In the same village, a woman tried to commit suicide by sprinkling kerosene on her self. When the `sangathan' members heard this, they ran to her house and saved her. They got her sent to her natal home and talked with the husband and in-laws. They were able to convince the in-laws to bring the daughter-in-law back and things are better now.

In Rajgadh village, through the efforts of the `sangathan', a hand pump was installed in the village. A road is being constructed in Hathipura village after the `sangathan' took up the issue.

In its second year of this project we can say that a thinking process has been initiated among members of the `Sangathans' and `Sahkar Samities'. With an increasing number of `Sangathans' and `Sahkar Samities', the changes as envisaged in the project should come about. There is an increase in the number of cases taken up by these groups and the scope of these cases is widening.