 | Andhra Pradesh's Women's Self Help Groups | |
Hyderabad, October 23, 2006 -- In a land where women have been discriminated against for generations, thousands of poor illiterate women are spearheading a silent social revolution. Poor and unlettered Janakamma is now the proud mother of a certified chartered accountant. Equally impoverished Kalawathi has bought two bullocks, built a new house, and is sending two sons to college. The women understand the value of being able to stand on their own feet for they know what it means to be helpless, hungry, and poor; most belong to landless rural families from the downtrodden Dalit community who have for centuries endured agonizing social exclusion and eked out a precarious existence by laboring for trifling sums. Sitting on the ground in a village home in India’s Andhra Pradesh state recently, many of these women told their stories to Graeme Wheeler, the Bank’s visiting MD, who sat on the floor beside them. Wheeler was visiting the single largest anti-poverty program in South Asia - the Government of Andhra Pradesh’s Bank-assisted Indira Kranti Patham (IKP), at the start of his India trip. The World Bank is supporting the IKP with two projects totalling US$ 261 million. The program has focused on helping the most vulnerable people in society – poor rural women by empowering them in a variety of ways through Women’s Self Help Groups (SHG). Giving the children a better start in life  | Kalawathi, her sons and husband with Wheeler |
Janakamma narrated how she first borrowed a paltry 150 rupees from the local women’s SHG to feed her impoverished family. She had then been resigned to her fate and had little hope of ever escaping the clutches of poverty. Steadily borrowing and repaying over the years, this thrifty woman not only managed to earn a better living but also put aside Rs.120,000 - a princely sum for her - to help her son study for a professional chartered accountancy degree. “In all my years, I never had any opportunity to improve my lot in life,” she explained, “so I was determined to give my son a better future.” Janakamma’s wise investment in her son’s education has paid off handsomely. He now earns a sizeable Rs.20,000 a month in a prestigious white collar job, enabling his once-impoverished family to pay off their debts and live with economic security for the first time in their lives. Taking the girls along 
| Young Girl in School |
The women’s belief in the power of education extends beyond the traditionally favored sons. Having suffered themselves as poor, uneducated, and downtrodden women – the lowest of the low - they are equally intent on giving their daughters a better life and are therefore regularly sending them to school. Some of the girls are doing extremely well. When Wheeler visited class 4 at the village primary school supported by the Bank-assisted SSA project, Praful Patel the Bank’s South Asia VP, scribbled a long addition sum on the blackboard – one that children elsewhere had been unable to solve. Without a moment’s hesitation, Vijayalaxmi, a farmer’s young daughter did some quick calculations on her fingers and arrived at the right answer. The silent revolution is not so silent any longer Although at first, the men were hostile and unsupportive of the women’s actions, and the women themselves feared taking on the unknown responsibilities of the SHGs, their success in providing their families with secure incomes has earned them new-found respect within their communities. Coming together as a group has also given them the confidence to take on the deeply entrenched gender biases of an age-old patriarchal society – from fighting the evils of the dowry system, to standing up against child marriage, girl child labor, and domestic violence. And their successes have become beacons for others to follow. Not leaving HIV positive persons and the disabled behind With memories of their own exclusion still fresh in their minds, the women are now reaching out to those who are even worse off than they were. They have therefore welcomed HIV positive women into their fold - far beyond their more sophisticated urban counterparts – are spreading awareness about AIDS, and actively fighting the stigma, denial, and social isolation that come with the disease. The disabled - who are discriminated against and excluded even by the poor - have also been recently incorporated into SHGs of their own to help them earn a living, access treatment and rehabilitation services, and build an inclusive mindset within the larger community. There is nothing we cannot do if we strive together The clincher for the women’s success has been their collective effort. They live the program’s motto: There is nothing that we cannot do if we strive together. Echoing the sentiment, Kalawathi spells out the profound lesson she has learned at the helm of affairs of one of the SHGs, “Only when each member of the group prospers can we individually stand to gain,” she reflects. Impressed with the women’s grit and determination, Wheeler said, “I am humbled to see what you have managed to do. I can see the great pride in your eyes as you talk about what you have done, and I recognize the courage you must have shown to achieve this.” “There are many self-managed grass-roots institutions around the world,” he added, “but the women’s Self Help Groups in Andhra Pradesh are among the most successful.” Can they be an inspiration for others to follow? But can the Andhra women’s successes be replicated across the country and the world? “Vision and leadership in the government, in the program, and on the ground, are essential to implement and carry forward a task of this magnitude,” says Varalakshmi Vemuru, the program’s joint Task Team Leader. She adds that building grassroots institutions of the poor can help bring about the deep and enduring social changes that are the foundation for lasting economic empowerment. With more than 600,000 SHGs now operating in Andhra Pradesh, covering 87 percent of the state’s rural poor, the women’s silent revolution is all set to unleash a storm of change. Also See: Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project Andhra Pradesh District Poverty Initiatives Project More on Andhra Pradesh |
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