Women , Education, Social Change
Jaiman Khatun of Samuhuti village in Tariyani block, Sitamarhi was extremely poor. She joined the Mahila Samakhya savings group in the village and started her account with five rupees. Then she took a loan of Rs.2000 from the group and used it as seed money to sell vegetables and fruits. She was able to pay back her loan with interest to the group. She availed of a second loan of Rs.5000. She used the money to enlarge her business.
When the Panchayat elections were held, the Mahila Samooh rallied behind her and she won as the Ward member of the Panchayat. Now she actively participates in village and Panchayat meetings. She been instrumental in bringing government schemes to her ward like Indira Awas, Old age pension, Antodaya Annapurna etc. She has become a well known figure in her Panchayat.
In April 2006, Bihar Mahila Samakhya Society came into being. This has been a high point in a journey that started about a decade and a half ago.
The education of women and girls has been central to national discourse for over a century. Several enabling interventions in the form of special courses, separate schools and so on came into being. However, it was only in the decade of the 1980s that the roots of continued gender disparities – not only in education but in society at large came to be debated and addressed. The growing women’s movement raised fundamental questions of the ineffectiveness of development initiatives for women since Independence
Mahila Samakhya is an education process that aims at enabling the woman to move from a state of passive acceptance of her lot to where she can speak her mind, articulate her needs, and join hands with other women in order to identify collective strength and to make decisions that affect her life and that of her daughters.
Though MS began as part of the Bihar education project in 1992, literacy in the Mahila Samakhya vision is not an end in itself, but part and parcel of an overall empowerment strategy. The Mahila Samakhya is the cocoon where women wok on their self-esteem and interact with each other, think, and articulate their strengths.
MS presently operates in 2,975 villages under 610 Panchayats in 43 blocks. There are a total of 3,496 Mahila Samoohs with a total membership of 79,779 women.
Around the immediate learning environment are economic, geographic, medical and socio-political factors that act as impediments to the learning process. Without addressing the challenges of this larger environment, where, for instance, women were not allowed to step out of the confines of their homes – the girl children of certain communities would never have accessed even the most basic of education no matter how bright the classroom walls were whitewashed, or how clean the drinking water from the new school hand pump.
When women got together in groups called Mahila Samoohs, and underwent the first steps of the self-realisation process, needs were identified and then vocalised. The very realisation that they had common problems by the nature of their being women helped them to see beyond caste and class lines and take action that would have far-reaching effects for themselves, their children and the whole village.
Education
Bihar Mahila Samakhya Society is intricately involved in the education of women and girls in the state. There are ECE centres (Bal Jagjagi), Village based centres for continuing education and mainstreaming (Jagjagi), holistic residential bridge course programmes (Mahila Shikshan Kendra) being run by the MS women. In addition, the MS is part of special programmes like the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya and NPEGEL that targets the very poor and marginalised communities.
Participation
The women have graduated from silence to participation in decision-making -- and because of this, priorities have changed. The MS process enables women to see themselves primarily as ‘women’ with common problems and aspirations that transcends caste and class implications. This unity has helped them come together and ease tensions among the men in the village.
Mahila Samooh members have a healthy representation on education, health and water and sanitation committees at Panchayat or village level. Statistically speaking, in districts where Mahila Samakhya has been functioning, 457 Mahila Samakhya members represent the Panchayats and 257 MS members are ward level functionaries. 34 of the Mahila Samakhya members are in leadership positions – thirteen as Mukhiyas and twenty one as Sarpanch
Economic empowerment
The Mahila Samakhya programme has always stressed the role of financial resources in the context of women’s empowerment. Mahila Samakhya programme looks into socio economic issues such as equal wages; a woman’s right over her earnings, women’s property rights, entitlements, income generation activities and so on.
Since poverty is the root cause of many problems faced by women, it is imperative that the Samooh activities lead to a degree of economic independence for the members. It has been the MS experience that financial improvement, however marginal, helps women send their daughters to school and resist practices like child marriage.
Mahila Samooh members are, by and large, women who come from the poorest and lowest strata of society. They face severe economic pressure, indebtedness and unemployment. Hence, the need for a thrift and credit component is felt. The policies and norms for the thrift and credit system evolved through discussions and workshops.
At a very basic level, access to and the possession of financial resources are seen to increase an individual’s power and status. However to attain the Mahila Samakhya objectives, it is critical that these resources are viewed in the context of how this money is accessed and used. Accountability and transparency in financial dealings are especially important because their absence disempowers the Samooh.
Initially, the members took up savings and credit activity for consumption loans, such as emergencies, illness or marriage in the family, education of children and other household expenses. As the Samoohs grew in maturity the lending pattern changed. The women began to take loans for individual or group income generation activities. Mahila Samoohs operate credit activities through informal financial transactions based on group-based lending and saving.
During the past years, learning from experience, Mahila Samakhya Bihar has been able to address social-economic problems by strengthening financial training and Mahila Samooh action on issues of gender and social justice. This has helped to put the economic activities in the right perspective.
Most Mahila Samoohs have become adept at managing money, savings, maintaining accounts, records, and at accessing outside resources.
Health and Sanitation
Health is a major concern and felt need. It has formed an integral part of the Mahila Samakhya training programme and the curriculum of Jagjagi. Discussions on their health status and the lack of access to health delivery systems have helped the Mahila Samooh members to prioritize health as a fundamental necessity.
Women and girls at all levels of MS are aware of the value of information on reproductive health, sanitation, nutrition, safe drinking water, garbage disposal and other hygienic practices. These issues are taken up at different health committee meetings. Health committee members are responsible for raising awareness about issues related to health and hygiene, reproductive health, sanitation, AIDS, immunization, the environment and developing toilet habits. Use of herbal and home remedies is encouraged in the Mahila Samoohs, the Jagjagi centres and the MSK.
It was in 2000 that women’s groups within Mahila Samakhya began articulating their need for sanitation and hygiene. They had come to consider sanitation and hygiene as being critical to the interests of women’s development. The decision to address the problems of sanitation and hygiene as an urgent development necessity grew out of this realisation. Because of its credibility among the rural women, Mahila Samakhya emerged as an active partner in the implementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign.
The MS sanitation programme is distinct from previous Government-run sanitation and water infrastructure programmes in the sense that while Government programmes concentrated solely on supplying hardware – almost always heavily subsidised – the MS programme is based on the belief that the consumer must be the prime mover of service delivery, and must demand the same.
Mahila Samakhya has broken tradition and has encouraged women to take up masonry and encouraged them in the task of toilet construction.
Special emphasis has been laid on toilet construction. As empowering women is basic to Mahila Samakhya, training was given to Mahila Samakhya women as masons, and these trainees started toilet construction work. The women masons have become economically independent and immense confidence can be seen in them. They have become role models, motivating other women to take up this work. Altogether 339 Mahila Samakhya women have received masonry training in the state.
Nirmal Gram Panchayat Award
Under the TLC, to give impetus to the campaign, the Govt. of India constituted the Nirmal Gram Award for Panchayats with habitations completely sanitized and free from open defecation. In 2006 Mahila Samakhya’s efforts resulted in Siafganj, Roshanganj, Savkala and Angra Panchayats of Gaya district and Ranisagar Panchayat of Bhojpur district receiving this award.
Unique Experience
The Mahila Samakhya experience offers a unique case of trying to explore and understand the issues of women’s education and empowerment and the inter linkages thereof in different rural contexts within Bihar. It offers an example of the importance of empowerment of women as a critical precondition to facilitate greater inclusion of women and their daughters into education. Further, it makes available an alternative paradigm to women’s mobilisation and empowerment.
The organisational form and diversity of activities has been an effective vehicle for women’s empowerment, not only in terms of literacy and education, but also in substantially amplifying the role women play as active participants in development activity in the districts where the programme is being implemented.
Education, in the MS perspective, must therefore help women to question rather than accept; to enable them to affirm their own potential, and to sustain processes that would enable women to move from situations of passive acceptance of their situation to assertion and collective action. Building up conscious and independent collectives of women that initiate and sustain social change processes has been the broad strategy and the ‘best practice’ that has enabled Bihar Mahila Samakhya Society and its federated collectives to significantly alter women’s lives for the better.
With Bihar MS and its collectives collaborating in active partnership with government initiatives in the fields of education, health, and rural economic progress, the year under review has seen MS achieve tangible results. The positive approach of the state government has also been an enabling factor, especially in the areas of girls’ education.
(Frank Krishner)
Author: Frank Krishner
Jaiman Khatun of Samuhuti village in Tariyani block, Sitamarhi was extremely poor. She joined the Mahila Samakhya savings group in the village and started her account with five rupees. Then she took a loan of Rs.2000 from the group and used it as seed money to sell vegetables and fruits. She was able to pay back her loan with interest to the group. She availed of a second loan of Rs.5000. She used the money to enlarge her business.
When the Panchayat elections were held, the Mahila Samooh rallied behind her and she won as the Ward member of the Panchayat. Now she actively participates in village and Panchayat meetings. She been instrumental in bringing government schemes to her ward like Indira Awas, Old age pension, Antodaya Annapurna etc. She has become a well known figure in her Panchayat.
In April 2006, Bihar Mahila Samakhya Society came into being. This has been a high point in a journey that started about a decade and a half ago.
The education of women and girls has been central to national discourse for over a century. Several enabling interventions in the form of special courses, separate schools and so on came into being. However, it was only in the decade of the 1980s that the roots of continued gender disparities – not only in education but in society at large came to be debated and addressed. The growing women’s movement raised fundamental questions of the ineffectiveness of development initiatives for women since Independence
Mahila Samakhya is an education process that aims at enabling the woman to move from a state of passive acceptance of her lot to where she can speak her mind, articulate her needs, and join hands with other women in order to identify collective strength and to make decisions that affect her life and that of her daughters.
Though MS began as part of the Bihar education project in 1992, literacy in the Mahila Samakhya vision is not an end in itself, but part and parcel of an overall empowerment strategy. The Mahila Samakhya is the cocoon where women wok on their self-esteem and interact with each other, think, and articulate their strengths.
MS presently operates in 2,975 villages under 610 Panchayats in 43 blocks. There are a total of 3,496 Mahila Samoohs with a total membership of 79,779 women.
Around the immediate learning environment are economic, geographic, medical and socio-political factors that act as impediments to the learning process. Without addressing the challenges of this larger environment, where, for instance, women were not allowed to step out of the confines of their homes – the girl children of certain communities would never have accessed even the most basic of education no matter how bright the classroom walls were whitewashed, or how clean the drinking water from the new school hand pump.
When women got together in groups called Mahila Samoohs, and underwent the first steps of the self-realisation process, needs were identified and then vocalised. The very realisation that they had common problems by the nature of their being women helped them to see beyond caste and class lines and take action that would have far-reaching effects for themselves, their children and the whole village.
Education
Bihar Mahila Samakhya Society is intricately involved in the education of women and girls in the state. There are ECE centres (Bal Jagjagi), Village based centres for continuing education and mainstreaming (Jagjagi), holistic residential bridge course programmes (Mahila Shikshan Kendra) being run by the MS women. In addition, the MS is part of special programmes like the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya and NPEGEL that targets the very poor and marginalised communities.
Participation
The women have graduated from silence to participation in decision-making -- and because of this, priorities have changed. The MS process enables women to see themselves primarily as ‘women’ with common problems and aspirations that transcends caste and class implications. This unity has helped them come together and ease tensions among the men in the village.
Mahila Samooh members have a healthy representation on education, health and water and sanitation committees at Panchayat or village level. Statistically speaking, in districts where Mahila Samakhya has been functioning, 457 Mahila Samakhya members represent the Panchayats and 257 MS members are ward level functionaries. 34 of the Mahila Samakhya members are in leadership positions – thirteen as Mukhiyas and twenty one as Sarpanch
Economic empowerment
The Mahila Samakhya programme has always stressed the role of financial resources in the context of women’s empowerment. Mahila Samakhya programme looks into socio economic issues such as equal wages; a woman’s right over her earnings, women’s property rights, entitlements, income generation activities and so on.
Since poverty is the root cause of many problems faced by women, it is imperative that the Samooh activities lead to a degree of economic independence for the members. It has been the MS experience that financial improvement, however marginal, helps women send their daughters to school and resist practices like child marriage.
Mahila Samooh members are, by and large, women who come from the poorest and lowest strata of society. They face severe economic pressure, indebtedness and unemployment. Hence, the need for a thrift and credit component is felt. The policies and norms for the thrift and credit system evolved through discussions and workshops.
At a very basic level, access to and the possession of financial resources are seen to increase an individual’s power and status. However to attain the Mahila Samakhya objectives, it is critical that these resources are viewed in the context of how this money is accessed and used. Accountability and transparency in financial dealings are especially important because their absence disempowers the Samooh.
Initially, the members took up savings and credit activity for consumption loans, such as emergencies, illness or marriage in the family, education of children and other household expenses. As the Samoohs grew in maturity the lending pattern changed. The women began to take loans for individual or group income generation activities. Mahila Samoohs operate credit activities through informal financial transactions based on group-based lending and saving.
During the past years, learning from experience, Mahila Samakhya Bihar has been able to address social-economic problems by strengthening financial training and Mahila Samooh action on issues of gender and social justice. This has helped to put the economic activities in the right perspective.
Most Mahila Samoohs have become adept at managing money, savings, maintaining accounts, records, and at accessing outside resources.
Health and Sanitation
Health is a major concern and felt need. It has formed an integral part of the Mahila Samakhya training programme and the curriculum of Jagjagi. Discussions on their health status and the lack of access to health delivery systems have helped the Mahila Samooh members to prioritize health as a fundamental necessity.
Women and girls at all levels of MS are aware of the value of information on reproductive health, sanitation, nutrition, safe drinking water, garbage disposal and other hygienic practices. These issues are taken up at different health committee meetings. Health committee members are responsible for raising awareness about issues related to health and hygiene, reproductive health, sanitation, AIDS, immunization, the environment and developing toilet habits. Use of herbal and home remedies is encouraged in the Mahila Samoohs, the Jagjagi centres and the MSK.
It was in 2000 that women’s groups within Mahila Samakhya began articulating their need for sanitation and hygiene. They had come to consider sanitation and hygiene as being critical to the interests of women’s development. The decision to address the problems of sanitation and hygiene as an urgent development necessity grew out of this realisation. Because of its credibility among the rural women, Mahila Samakhya emerged as an active partner in the implementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign.
The MS sanitation programme is distinct from previous Government-run sanitation and water infrastructure programmes in the sense that while Government programmes concentrated solely on supplying hardware – almost always heavily subsidised – the MS programme is based on the belief that the consumer must be the prime mover of service delivery, and must demand the same.
Mahila Samakhya has broken tradition and has encouraged women to take up masonry and encouraged them in the task of toilet construction.
Special emphasis has been laid on toilet construction. As empowering women is basic to Mahila Samakhya, training was given to Mahila Samakhya women as masons, and these trainees started toilet construction work. The women masons have become economically independent and immense confidence can be seen in them. They have become role models, motivating other women to take up this work. Altogether 339 Mahila Samakhya women have received masonry training in the state.
Nirmal Gram Panchayat Award
Under the TLC, to give impetus to the campaign, the Govt. of India constituted the Nirmal Gram Award for Panchayats with habitations completely sanitized and free from open defecation. In 2006 Mahila Samakhya’s efforts resulted in Siafganj, Roshanganj, Savkala and Angra Panchayats of Gaya district and Ranisagar Panchayat of Bhojpur district receiving this award.
Unique Experience
The Mahila Samakhya experience offers a unique case of trying to explore and understand the issues of women’s education and empowerment and the inter linkages thereof in different rural contexts within Bihar. It offers an example of the importance of empowerment of women as a critical precondition to facilitate greater inclusion of women and their daughters into education. Further, it makes available an alternative paradigm to women’s mobilisation and empowerment.
The organisational form and diversity of activities has been an effective vehicle for women’s empowerment, not only in terms of literacy and education, but also in substantially amplifying the role women play as active participants in development activity in the districts where the programme is being implemented.
Education, in the MS perspective, must therefore help women to question rather than accept; to enable them to affirm their own potential, and to sustain processes that would enable women to move from situations of passive acceptance of their situation to assertion and collective action. Building up conscious and independent collectives of women that initiate and sustain social change processes has been the broad strategy and the ‘best practice’ that has enabled Bihar Mahila Samakhya Society and its federated collectives to significantly alter women’s lives for the better.
With Bihar MS and its collectives collaborating in active partnership with government initiatives in the fields of education, health, and rural economic progress, the year under review has seen MS achieve tangible results. The positive approach of the state government has also been an enabling factor, especially in the areas of girls’ education.
(Frank Krishner)
Author: Frank Krishner
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