Thursday 9 July 2015

Women: Process That Lead To Prosperity


Dhakede habitation of Gram Panchayat Loshgyani of Ramgarh block, district Nainital is situated about 54 kms away from District headquarters.The planning phase was initiated in the village in July 2007. The problem of drinking water in the village was most serious, as there was no drinking water supply scheme in the village and rural women were forced to fetch water a the rivulet named Gadegad, which is about 2.5 kms away from the village habitations.The average time consumption in a round trip for fetching one vessel of water is about 45 minutes, thus in a day a woman per household had to spend about 5 hrs for getting water. According to the women of the village they used to bring 2 to 3 vessels of water early in the morning before sunrise. In the summers in place of taking rest in the afternoon they used to bring water in the scorching heat. Due to unavailability of toilets, people used to go to defecate in open fields & Gadheras (Streams) which in the rainy season contaminated water sources, and out of compulsion & ignorance they had to drink polluted water which lead to the water borne diseases like jaundice, diarrhea, skin diseases etc. and the ever-increasing work load on women had adverse effect on their health. There were many incidences of disease reoccurrences due to consumption of polluted water. Due to poor sanitation coverage and use, the women and young girls faced difficulty in attending the nature’s call. They were forced to go in the fields & the forest. In focus - group discussions with the women, their problems were discussed and converged towards motivating them for mobilizing the resources for creation of sanitary ancillary in their homes. Participatory Rural Appraisal tools such as SARAR (Self-esteem,Associate in strength, Resourcefulness, Action plan and Responsibility) were found useful during the process, especially the Poster Drama, depicting the healthy  and the problem village,  Three  pile sorting focused on good and the were most effective in which women folk participated enthusiastically.

Women were made aware of their daily work calendar through a pictorial chart game  named “Women Time  Use” Analysis and were sensitized to catagrise the productive works in their household chores and also to the  activities which they now as a problem. Through these visioning exercises they were led to foresee the picture of the forthcoming future, where after the completion of the scheme they would be able to save time for fulfilling their dreams like giving more time to their children, a bit of the resting time   and learning some skill like weaving, knitting etc. Meanwhile, the knowledge about the process of “Healthy Home Survey” as a community surveillance technique also shared with the members of UWSSC, women and the school going children of the village. The healthy home survey was practiced quarterly in the village and the results documented in form of village sanitation maps. As per the norms decided by the villagers for healthy home survey the house of Mrs. Malti Devi w/o Mr. Vijay Singh was found the healthiest and she was awarded in an open meeting.

For conceptualizing and planning the water supply scheme for the village, the community constituted ‘User Water & Sanitation Sub Committee (UWSSC)’ as a sub committee of Gram Panchayat Jal Prabandhan Samiti (JPS) by general consensus in an open meeting held in the village Panchayat Bhavan. UWSSC, with its untiring efforts and with the help of the user community, constructed drinking water supply scheme under the guidance of district implementing agency-SWAJAL. ‘Dharohar Vikas Sanstha’ worked as the Support Organisation for training and motivating the community. District implementing agency –SWAJAL assisted the community through regular monitoring of the works carried out by the community and the Support Organisation. After successful planning of water supply & sanitation scheme layout, the community entered into the implementation phase on second week of Nov.2008, where besides the construction, activities of community development such as training on material procurement &  storage, financial book keeping and the study tour  to a nearby sector program village were completed with the assistance of the support organisation in which the Portfolio Manager of District Implementing  Agency of Nainital monitored the work and helped villagers through timely release of the funds for completion of  the  implementation phase works.

The community deposited an amount of Rs. 585 as cash contribution against capital cost share for the   scheme cost and Rs.7560 as upfront cash contribution for operation & maintenance of the proposed water supply scheme. Besides this as labor contribution, community including the women of the village participated vigorously in the work of digging & filling trenches for pipelines, cartage of pipes, sand, stone etc from motor head to the village. With the objective of ensuring women participation and sustainability of the scheme, the Women Self Help Group (WSHG) was encouraged for regularise the micro savings to meet the recurring operational cost of the water supply scheme in future.

Besides the above, the  women group of the village motivated the community for cleaning their village road, digging pit for disposal of garbage, digging compost pits for dumping the cow dung and other bio-degradable waste as green  manure. They also visited school and Anganwadi for observing sanitation conditions there. Women invited Auxiliary Nursing Midwife (ANM) deployed by Department of Health in meetings for sharing the information about health, sanitation, mother & child health, vaccination etc. The villagers participated with enthusiasm.

Impact Of Sector Program In The Community / Villagers

The impact of work done by villagers under sector program is visible now. Villagers have become more aware of importance of clean drinking water and sanitation as well as of other activities enlisted below-
  • Women now wash their hands with soap before / after cooking and eating meals.
  • There is decrease in serious waterborne diseases like Jaundice, rpell etc.
  • Regular Vaccination of pregnant women and children
  • More focus on upbringing of female children.
  • Active participation of women in social gatherings & programs without hesitation, they even deliver speeches, perform dances and sing songs,.
  • Construction of toilets in almost every household and their use by all the members of the family.
  • Water is available throughout the year without any breakdowns.

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