Ranjani Krishnamurthy

September 3, 1988

MYRADA's focus is on organising and building appropriate local institutions of the poor; institutions which are trying to evolve and implement appropriate systems for managing their resources viz., credit, land, livestock, water, social infrastructure and human resources. As credit is an important and immediate need of the poor; and at the same time it is a means for getting out of the clutches of exploitative money lenders most of the institutions start off by evolving appropriate systems for managing credit but slowly move over to managing other resources. Irrespective of the resource which is being managed, these institutions are trying to :

1. bring to the surface and re-introduce traditional values which were operational in the past; values which fostered effective management of the resource. Mutual support, honesty, self-reliance, self-restraint, care for family welfare, concern for the village are a few examples of such values. 

2. use these traditional values to bring about appropriate changes in the behaviour pattern of its members. Promoting thrift, personal and village hygiene, punctuality and discouraging smoking and alcoholism are a few examples of such changes.  

3. nurture new, but egalitarian values, like equality based on gender, caste, religion etc.

MYRADA feels that to be effective these institutions have to be socially viable. The members need to be able to work together as a group; they should be able to function in a way where the collective efforts of its members towards the goals of the institution are more than the sum of the individual efforts of its members. Further, the members of the group while mobilising at least part of their resources from themselves, must plan, manage and monitor all programmes and resources of the institution. Lastly, it is felt that the members should share the rights and responsibilities in a manner which promotes equal development of the resources, values, skills and capabilities of each and every member.

To be socially functional it is perceived by MYRADA that these institutions need to be small, homogeneous, fully participative, voluntary and non-political.

There may be more than one socially functional group in one village. Wherever necessary, the groups in one village, get together to meet common needs. Thus if drinking water is a problem in a village all the groups in that village get together to evolve strategies for solving the problem. 

WHY DOES MYRADA BELIEVE IN A GROUP APPROACH?
 Through our experiences of the last 20 years, MYRADA has realised that providing inputs to an individual family is not sufficient to raise the family economically above the poverty line and to keep it there. We have also realised that by working with individual families it is not possible to bring about the social development of the poor. The social values of the people are largely shaped by the values of the people with whom they live and interact. Hence it is not possible to re-introduce appropriate traditional values and use them to bring about appropriate changes in the behaviour of the people in an individual approach. We have realised that the group approach effectively meets the short-comings of the individual approach.

 Over the last four years the 17 projects of MYRADA, spread over the State of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, have organised over 800 such groups; all involved in managing credit and some in addition manage watershed, livestock, wastelands, rural enterprises and service centres. Around 230 of these are exclusively women's groups, 50 have both men and women members and the rest are men's groups. The membership in all the groups is restricted to people who are poor.

 WHY HAVE WE ORGANISED THE WOMEN? WHAT ROLE DOES MYRADA SEE THE WOMEN PLAY IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS?
 MYRADA feels that most of the poor women not only lack access to adequate options to choose from, but unlike the poor men, women do not even have the opportunity to exercise their choice within the available options. Thus we believe that among the poor, women are  the poorest. MYRADA perceives that their low status, is the result of their low self image and self-confidence as also due to the attitudes and values of men towards women which the women themselves have internalised, much to their disadvantage. We believe that organising poor women into groups will not only expand the options available to them for their development but, more importantly, it will provide them with opportunities to develop the confidence and skills required to exercise their choices and simultaneously bring about a change in the attitude of men towards women.

Further, MYRADA feels that poor women have an important role to play in the development of their family and village. First, they are involved in running the house, collecting fuel, fetching water, working and bringing up children. Secondly, the poor women play an important role economically. They manage livestock and earn income for the family through agricultural labour. If their family has land they are involved in the production process too. Lastly and most important, many of their values and attitudes are an asset for any development effort; their concern for their family, others and the village, their ability to empathise, their strong sense of what is right and wrong, their low need to compete with each other, their interest to know new things and strong pride in their achievements are a few examples of such values and attitudes. Thus, we feel that organising appropriate women's groups will not only facilitate their development but also the development of their family and village. 

There is another aspect which though common to all groups is particularly important for women. For effective communication and training we need to create an enabling environment within which the participants can interact among themselves and with facilitators in a climate of trust, confidence, support and honesty. They need to have meetings at a time when they have no other pre-occupations, in a place which they are  accustomed to and wherethey feel comfortable, among people with whom they can relate. There areseveral other features which create this enabling climate which will be referred to later.

This study is an attempt to document the experiences of Holalkere Project of MYRADA in designing and implementing training programmes for members of women's groups. There are 230 women's groups organised byMYRADA but this study is restricted to the groups in one project namely Holalkere. Holalkere Taluk forms part of Chitradurga District of Karnataka. MYRADA has been working in 45 villages of three hoblis of this Taluk since 1981. Till around May 1986 the Project was working with individual poor families trying to influence the delivery systems of the Government, Commercial Banks and Cooperatives, so that they are more responsive to the needs of the poor. The project organised around 500 women into a cooperative in 1984. However, this cooperative like other cooperatives, was not really a peoples' institution. It was large, non-homogeneous, not participative and political. The rules and regulations of the cooperative were framed by the Government, and not by the members. The cooperative therefore did not provide opportunities for the poor people to expand their options and exercise their choices, did provide opportunities to develop their skills, capabilities, knowledge and awareness. The experience lead to a change in the approach of the project; a shift towards organising and building up sociallyfunctional groups, groups which were small, homogeneous, fully participative, voluntary and non-political.

]This shift in thinking started taking place in 1986. Since then the project has helped around 1300 poor people, including around 750 women, to organise themselves into 63 groups with the features described earlier. Of these 63 groups 33 are exclusively women's groups, 24 are men's groups and nine have both men and women members. The Project, for managerial purposes, has been divided into three clusters of around 15 villages each. This study restricts itself to the experiences of the Project staff, especially Ms.Latamala, the person in-charge of one of the three clusters, in providing opportunities to members of 16 women's groups to enhance their skills, knowledge and awareness so that they are able to foster their groups' development.

The 16 groups are in different stages of development. Members of four groups, all around one and a half to two years old, have developed a good understanding of their duties and responsibilities and the role of the group and MYRADA, to a large extent they can manage the activities of their groups without the support of MYRADA, their activities extend beyond economic issues into social problems, most of the members participate effectively in team meetings and have evolved and observed appropriate rules and regulations, they have reflected on and resolved structural issues effectively; all the four groups are small and homogeneous, they have developed strategies for coping with conflicts arising within the group and also with men who interfere with the groups.

On the other hand four other groups, all less than six months old, are still in the initial stage of development. Some of the members of these groups are yet to get over their experiences with the cooperatives, they do not have a clear understanding of what the group can do for them; what is their role and MYRADA's role in the development of the group. The members are yet to resolve issues like membership, group size, decision making processes. Thus the groups are relatively, larger. Decisions in these groups are taken by a few members and not by all members, rules and regulations are yet to be evolved. Effective mechanisms have not been evolved to cope with conflicts. Men interfere and dominate the meetings; the members of these groups are yet to learn how to cope with such problems.

The other eight groups are between these two extremes.

The Project staff feel that each group starts off from the initial stages of its development described above and, given the right environment, gradually develops as a socially functional group. In the process some groups may undergo a lot of structural changes. The time required for such a transition varies from group to group; depending on the composition of the members, relationship between members, non-members attitude towards members, the role of MYRADA staff, etc. However, opportunities provided by the Project staff to members individually and as a group to enhance their awareness, knowledge and skills have facilitated such transitions. Sometimes, the Project staff even had to spend their time and effort with the women members' husbands, fathers and sons and the village leaders. The issues and themes for reflection, the areas in which members required opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge varied with the stage of development of the group.

What learning opportunities were, and continue to be, provided to the members of the group to facilitate their own and the group's development? What were the important values, attitudes and principles underlying the Project staff's efforts to facilitate learning of the members of the group?

The learning opportunities provided by the Project staff and more importantly, by the group itself to its members can be divided into four categories :

1. Meetings of the group

2. Meetings with members and their families individually

3. Non-formal education in the NFE centres.

4. Formal training programmes.

Before elaborating on each, it may be appropriate to share the values, attitudes and convictions which formed the basis of the staff's efforts to facilitate learning; learning which ultimately leads to group development :

1. Respect of the staff for the members' experiences in coping with life and the awareness, knowledge and skills developed through the same.

2. Belief that the best way to promote learning of the members is to encourage them to start from what they are aware of, what they know and what they can do and develop upon these through systematic reflection on the same and by seeking and analysing new information.

3. A strong conviction that if the members are to develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills required to work effectively as a member of a group, it is imperative that learning should take place through collective and systematic reflection and action on their knowledge skills and awareness and on the new information available to them.