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In Saurashtra and the Panchmahals district of Gujarat ANANDI is ensuring that women set the agenda for infrastructure development, food security and much more. Women here have rebuilt 700 quake-damaged homes, and are trained in disaster-proof construction, repair of handpumps and the digging of wells
Ghoghamba is an extremely backward tribal village in the Panchmahals district of central Gujarat, a village in which women are mostly confined to their homes. Last month however, during a convention, Ghoghamba taluka panchayat (block council) president Kalubhai Rathwa said: "A woman is not just a 'gruh mata' (mother of the home) but also the 'gruh mantri' (minister for home affairs)." He probably didn't expect the rejoinder he provoked. When it was her turn to speak, Ramila Rathwa, an ordinary tribal woman, said: "Sir, you may wish us to become home ministers, but we want to become finance ministers." Ramila is not alone in expressing an aspiration that may sound exceedingly ambitious for tribal women. But voices like hers are increasingly being heard in many backward villages of Panchamahals district. Scores - if not hundreds - of women have decided they will have a major say in their lives. These women are not willing to be pushed around by government staff or to let others decide where to dig their well and tell them what development is. And Panchmahals is not the only district where the quiet winds of change are blowing. Change is occurring in the backward and disaster-prone region of Saurashtra as well, where traditionally, women have not been active participants in the social process. To a substantial extent, the credit for this goes to the initiative of five key women with experience in working on development issues in rural areas. Sumitra Thacker, Jahnvi Andharia, Sejal Dand, Nita Hardikar and Preeti Sheth would often run into each other during the course of their work with different NGOs. What drew them together was the conviction that a new approach was necessary to stir change in the rural areas. Their collective restlessness led to the formation, five years ago, of ANANDI (Area Networking and Development Initiatives) which believes that social and economic development can occur only when women play a pivotal role in it. "We also understand that we have to play the role of a catalyst," says Thacker, "so that women take up the cudgels for their own development. We want to take them to the pond and they will drink from it." While Sheth is now settled in Australia, the other four women are working actively in Gujarat. The Anandi women gave themselves a clear four-point agenda: to set up women's self-help groups, to involve women in the rural development process, to involve women in the planning of rehabilitation work following man-made and natural disasters, and to become a link between different organisations working for women's welfare and health. Says Andharia, "There are many organisations providing services for the uplift of women, but these are scattered attempts. We felt it was extremely important that they converged somewhere, for essentially they are doing the same work." While many organisations were working for the welfare of backward people in central Gujarat and Saurashtra, says Thacker, there were none working for women's empowerment. And the situation was worse in tribal areas. "This is why we picked up two extremely backward areas, though they are geographically hundreds of kilometres apart." And where is Anandi today? Two women's collectives have been set up with as many as 3,000 women members. In Saurashtra, the NGO has developed a network with six local development organisations and have already mobilised over 2,000 women. With Anandi's guidance, women in these regions are now addressing issues related to water, electricity, affordable credit, health, food security, micro-credit and capacity building of women in panchayats (local village councils). Anandi's groundwork was put to the test when Gujarat was torn apart by the January 2001 earthquake. The NGO selected one of the five most backward blocks of Gujarat: Maliya taluka (block) bordering Saurashtra and Kutch. In Maliya, about 19,000 houses in 47 villages were damaged and 185 people died. With help from Anandi, the women of 10 villages in the taluka began the process of rehabilitation. The local women built as many as 700 houses themselves; no masons were hired. Anandi trained them in masonry and earthquake-proof housing, and also arranged to pay them for the masonry. Today, these women are considered experts on disaster-proof housing. With funds from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, Anandi had four schools reconstructed, while a primary school was established through a donation from a Dehradun-based NGO. And funds collected by children - random small donations from passers-by on the streets of Warangal district in Andhra Pradesh - helped set up an educational centre in Venasar village of Maliya taluka. Village women have constructed about 100 water tanks and 650 toilet blocks in the Jasdan, Kalyanpur and Gadhada talukas of Saurashtra. They can repair water hand-pumps and dig wells too. Following the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat riots, Anandi plunged into riot relief work in the worst-affected Panchmahals district, amid a very hostile political environment. "Local vested interests threatened and pressurised us to pull out, but we didn't bother. To establish a dialogue between the Hindus and Muslims, we organised an Ekta (unity) Cup cricket match between Hindus and Muslims," says Thacker. They also gave food and material aid to as many as 10,269 people to help reconstruct destroyed homes. Anandi's women volunteers were active in Godhra, Halol, Kaalol, Rajgadh, Napania, Lunawada and the surrounding areas; they worked with Citizens' Initiative, an NGO network, in riot relief. In Boru village of Haalol taluka, Anandi helped in the reconstruction of about 200 houses. Understanding the importance of creating livelihood options, Anandi also distributed sewing machines to several Muslim women. The machines have become an integral part of their lives and scores of women in many villages of Panchmahals now have a reason for hope. The unwritten credo of Anandi clearly is: There is no limit to what can be achieved if one is not concerned about who takes the credit. -- Sattyakam Mehta, WFS, May 2003
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