Field Visit

This weekend I went on my 1^st field visit.  It was quite an adventure!  Started off on Friday morning on the back of a motorcycle (definitely one of the craziest things I’ve ever done) to meet up with my team.  Then 6 of us crammed into a Jeep and bounced and swerved (most of the roads were only 1 lane so it’s a game of chicken every time you come upon another car, truck, motorcycle, rickshaw, cow or camel) for about 4 hours to the outskirts of Barmier.  It was truly a road trip stopping often for roadside snacks, “cool” drinks and chai while they told stories in Hindi and laughed a lot.  I laughed a lot as well…its funny that how when others laugh it makes you laugh even though you have no idea what they are laughing about.   I had a wonderful translator, Surabhi, a 20-year-old Emory student who lived in India until she was 10.  She was so valuable and after the weekend together and 8 hours of car time we became fast friends.

The purpose of this field visit was to conduct a needs assessment of four (4) Self Help Groups (SHGs) for upcoming livelihood training.  A Self Help Group or SHG, is a very popular development strategy in India to empower women.  Many have been started by the Government and NGOs. Basically a SHG consists of a minimum of 10 women who each contribute a set monthly amount to the group.  The SHG can then collectively go to banks or other lenders to get loans at about 12% interest.  The SHGs use the money for various things such as emergency savings in case someone gets sick, material for daughters wedding, to buy a four grinder or to use as seed money for income generating projects such as goat trading, owning a small shop, sewing business, etc.  It has also been found that the SHGs provide a community or support group for these women to learn about their rights, learn from each other and overall build self-confidence. 

UNNATI is getting ready to do a workshop to help build the capacity of these SHGs focusing on livelihood training; so the objective or our visit was to assess current financial and social status of the SHGs, document current income generating practices (livelihood) and explore possible new livelihood options. This information will be used to create customized training based on the needs of the SHG. 

The villages that we visited were about 400 km away from Jodhpur near  Barmer… about 80 km (or 40 miles) away from the Pakistan border.  It was vast desert.  We stayed in an “urban” village centrally located between the 2 rural villages each about 40 km from our home base. We’d travel to the village community centers and wait for the parade of women to come…dressed in rainbow colors with lots of “jewels” and their beautiful, strong faces covered in veil.  I witnessed chaotic conversations as Rheka and Surabhi masterfully facilitated the discussions and we gathered our data. 

We learned…

·      That of the 4 SHGs we surveyed over ½ of the members are below poverty line (BPL).  According the World Bank BPL is for those who make less than 1 US dollar a day.  The Indian Government provides subsidy for BPL individuals.  Most of the women were unclear about benefits and how to access.

·      The women contribute 20 or 50 Rupees a month into the SGH (approx .50-$1.05) and have taken out loans of between 60-90,000 rupees per SHG.

·      The women do not understand the terms of the loan.  They have not been paying interest throughout the loan, so the interest will come due after the principal has been paid off. (not good)

·      Most of the women have not used the loans from the SHGs on income generating activities.  They need awareness and knowledge of sound livelihood options.

·      2 SHGs have been having success in goat trading.  They can buy a goat for 1,200 Rps ($30).  They buy 1 male and several females.  Goats tend to have multiple births (twin goats) so their investment grows quickly.  They get 1 kilo of milk from the goats a day and then sell the males to Muslim traders for meat who bring a truck into their village (no transportation costs).

From this information, we will design a training to address the lending process, BPL benefits, the practice of internal lending and possible livelihood options of goat trading and sewing.  My idea is to have the women who have had success in goat trading teach the others how to do it.  They understand the goat trading business way better than we do and I think they will receive great benefit from being the experts leading their peers.  We’ll see how it works out…

Other highlights of this trip… The driver locked the keys in the jeep and my long arms came I handy as I was able to reach down and unlock the door from a cracked window.  We got a flat tire.  And…we slept on the outside on the roof! It’s a common practice in the urban villages to sleep on the roofs ‘cause it’s cooler.  It was magical to be going to sleep and then waking up outside among all the villagers.  I loved the adventure.  It was truly different than any business trip I’ve ever taken (although my chais are expensable). Thanks for following along!!