Parveen, a resident of Valmiki Nagar near Mysore Road, is a specialised electrician who travels around the city and repairs shoe-polishing machines in hotels and offices. Earning about Rs. 25,000 to even Rs. 50,000 per assignment, she is probably the only woman electrician in her community and locality.
Sitting in the office of the Women Health and Development (WHAD) in Valmiki Nagar, she recounts the story of how she managed to convince her family of taking up an electrician's job, a profession she says is unconventional for a woman. “During one of the WHAD meetings where they were around 20 women, Jaya, a programme coordinator at WHAD, said that there was this particular job of a specialised electrician where I had to go through a day's training and then I could start work on my own. The job profile involved a lot of travelling to the far end of the city. They said that if anyone was interested, they could come forward and I did,” narrates Parveen.
Mutual empowerment
WHAD, which was started in 1993, is a registered development organisation that works with the urban poor in Bangalore, focussing mainly on Muslim women. Aptly titled ‘Rishte', the office of the WHAD , has built relationships that work on the basis of mutual empowerment. Parveen, now, is one of the office-bearers of the group at Valmiki Nagar who works with the local community to help more women like her. “With every programme, we are looking at community participation. As an organisation, we are only here to facilitate them, enable them and act as a catalyst for them,” said Ida Chandrika, president, WHAD.
Operative model
The operative model of the WHAD, as Chandrika outlines, was formed with the intention of moving away from other models that worked on giving loans to vulnerable people. Chandrika believed that the ‘moneylender' approach would not lead to any empowerment and that a more democratic and sustainable model needed to be developed to empower women in the true sense.
“When we started work at Tannery Road, initially, we started with self-help groups which focussed on cash and savings projects. But soon we decided to stop those programmes because we realised that there were other NGOs who would come and give people loans without thinking of empowering them. So we decided to change the model and one of the things we came up with was what we call ‘Sharing and Caring Hands' (SACH) groups where women from a particular locality meet and discuss their issues.If we were to help them with money, they are not going to move forward but would become dependent on us,” she said. SACH is one of their many programmes.
SACH groups
The fear, however, was that people may not buy this idea. But, Chandrika and her team took a chance and started the SACH groups. A SACH group generally comprises 10 to 15 women in a particular locality who meet once a month and discuss issues, arrive at a consensus and then come up with a plan to change it. “If the main issue women want to address is, diarrhoea, then we conduct an awareness session on the same. We take them to hospitals or conduct a health camp. The leaders of every SACH group fix the meeting in each area, conduct exposure visits and training programmes,” said Jaya, a SACH coordinator. It was during one such SACH group meeting that Parveen discussed her financial situation with the group. “Networking is one of our main strengths. We have tie-ups with other NGOs who are doing many other things. We network with them and direct women to relevant organisations because we do not want to duplicate what others are doing,” said Chandrika.
Changed thinking
“We discovered during our meetings that many women were confined to their houses. This was an opportunity for them to come out .In some groups, women did face opposition from their family members, but gradually their thinking changed,” said Jaya.
The organisation also works on an ‘investment-returns sapproach'. “Take public toilets for example. How much does the government network with the NGOs in the area? If they interact with NGOs, then we can teach the people how to maintain a public toilet and the government will in turn get returns on their investment when the public toilet is maintained well. Similarly, we invest in these SACH programmes,” said Chandrika. The investment-return approach is better substantiated in this example given by Jaya. “In one of the SACH meetings, we realised that women feared police stations. They would choose to live with violence meted out against them in their homes instead of approaching a policeman. We conducted an ‘exposure visit' to a police station and, today, they feel free to interact with the nearby police station. And the police station also has volunteered to help these women,” said Jaya.
“My husband had said that I needn't work while he was alive and should just take care of the house. But now his thinking has changed after he has seen my ability to work and empower myself,” said Parveen.
