Chapter 9 : A village named Ekurka
22/12
On 22nd morning 7 AM we started from Latur for meeting in a village called Ekurka , This village has undergone process of Micro planning recently and has done very well in many of the key indicators. After travelling for 1 hr we stopped in outskirts of Chakur for tea , The Tea stall owner had a large garden where he had grown various fruits , there were Many papaya trees with ripe papayas , so we had breakfast of papaya’s with tea, The owner was generous enough to charge only for tea.
After next one hour we were in Ekurka ,A board out side the village informed that this village is a model village for sanitation , here every home has toilets. The arrangements for meeting was done in gram panchayat . A small room near by panchayat was converted into Village information post (VIP) , Mr Gopinath Menon inspected the VIP with great interest , this place was equipped with many many informations related to village , this is the vision Unicef is pursuing as of now where community can be leverage the power of information .UNICEF wants communities to be responsible for keeping track of what is happening in their village and using this information to set further milestones and goals.
Gradually people gathered outside the panchayat hall and all of us made ourselves comfortable on the ground. Shankar who was volunteer coordinator introduces other 3 volunteers , SHG group heads and sarpanch of the village , he also gave a brief introduction of our team. Sarpanch gave small history as what has happened after microplanning , he told that count of toilets in village has increased from 3 to 121 now , 2 of SHGs have funds in lacs , they have \also started their own dairy business. Aganwadi center has been doing very well and count of mal nourished children is now in decreasing trend. After sarpanch Anu ma;am requested Volunteers and SHG coordinator to speak.
There was a heated discussion over the issue of water n the village , the village had only one water source , Villagers have been failed to create another water source , agriculture depends on rain hence they are able to grow crops only in one season , in rest of the years they have to go to near by places like hyderabaad , pune , Mumbai and find work for their survival. Suresh who is a founder member of Sath and was travelling with us suggested that they should try water harvesting but villagers had never heard of this so they requested a training and demonstration of this technique. Anu suggested that there is a new government scheme which they can discuss with CEO and other irrigation officers .
As we were given the task to check the feasibility of an operational village information center , we enquired from sarpanch about computer literacy , he informed that total 20 boys in village are computer literate , there is one computer in village of population 950 but as of now there is no internet connection.After some more discussion on future action plans the meeting concluded , Avdhut was busy talking with AWC coordinator , I joined them and we tried to understand what all information aganwadi center is collecting . We gave a visit to see the registers being maintained by AWC , one by one we inspected some 6 registers which had information from kids health to all the families in villages , we were overwhelmed to know that such a small center maintains total 17 registers which have many minute details related to village , the only use of this information is in reporting to government , that is also a very small subset of information goes in reporting , now I could understand why UNICEF is trying to generate interest in villagers related to this information.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
8:Working with communities and UNICEF in Latur : chapter 8
Chapter 8 : When All meet
21/12
It is Bakreed today , We woke up with commitment that we need to purchase datacards as without internet connectivity most of the software engineers are useless , the panacea to all problems today is Google. Reliance communication ran out of datacards so we had to enquire in Tata Indicom , They had it available but we did not have local address proof with us at that time so we returned back to office.
This afternoon Mr Gopinath Menon who heads UNICEF Maharastra operations was coming to meet with NGO representative in Latur. Zia had one preparation for this meeting in context to Ead . Mr Gopinath and all representatives arrived at 2 and after lunch we started with the meeting . The meeting started with presentation from Girish on whatever progress has happened till now , the list was huge
1) Training of Adolescent girls
2) Convention and rally in blocks for 10 days
3) Training for volunteers.
4) Workshop with govt officials and Yashda representatives
5) Strengthening of SHG
6) Documentation work done so far
7) Assessment done for different projects
There was participation from every one present in the room as and when these points were discussed . After this presentation some of the key challenges faced by Volunteers and UNICEFF alliance NGOs were discussed. One of the key challenge was the resistance by other NGOs or some of the local groups who either think that we are penetrating their area of work or we are gaining credibility and trust from villagers. Mr Menon asked for more suggestion as how can these groups be made alliance . The idea of further strengthening self help groups was also raised and discussed . SHGs needed constent followup without which they can not sustain plus there is a nother problem with SHGs , women below poverty line are still not able to understand the core concept and philosophy of SHGs for them SHGs mean an instrument which can help them getting some subsidies from government. People above poverty line and with some literacy rate were able to internalize SHG concept well and take it to next level. In many villages women have collected lacs of rupees in SHGs and also started many new businesses . This indicated that again this process was helping people who have all resources available and do not need any external help , whereas people below poverty line who should be helped by this concept were not able to get benefit out of it because of their mentality.
Myself and avdhut got lots of time to discuss our project with Anu but one more time we got a different scope , so effectively this was 5th new project plan we were hearing in last 4 days , As we have been meeting different people in isolation so everyone was putting forward his / her point of view and concern , that is why we were getting so many ideas about the data being collected during microplanning. Anu discussed two different scope for our projects but we needed more clarity so we decided to talk about this once the meeting gets over.
Towards the end of the meeting Mr Menon mentioned one of the main agenda for coming days which was to concentrate on the integrated and holistic growth of children . He wanted to convert Aganwadi centers into real child development centers which can provide nutritious food , good learning experience and environment to children and all this with dignity . People should not feel that they are being helped because they belong to a certain category or class but they should take it as their right
What a conflict , at one side in SHG people are not ready to help themselves but expect government to provide funding and subsidies and on the other end at Aganwadi centers where government is providing free facilities , people don’t come forward to take benefit of it as it makes them feel that they are beggars. I pondered over this for long time , trying to find out some solution , the only thing which I could think of was words mentioned by Baba Ampte when we visited to Anandvan , “ Work with people and not for the people “. Unicef is also trying to apply the same concept “ From counting people to count on people”.
21/12
It is Bakreed today , We woke up with commitment that we need to purchase datacards as without internet connectivity most of the software engineers are useless , the panacea to all problems today is Google. Reliance communication ran out of datacards so we had to enquire in Tata Indicom , They had it available but we did not have local address proof with us at that time so we returned back to office.
This afternoon Mr Gopinath Menon who heads UNICEF Maharastra operations was coming to meet with NGO representative in Latur. Zia had one preparation for this meeting in context to Ead . Mr Gopinath and all representatives arrived at 2 and after lunch we started with the meeting . The meeting started with presentation from Girish on whatever progress has happened till now , the list was huge
1) Training of Adolescent girls
2) Convention and rally in blocks for 10 days
3) Training for volunteers.
4) Workshop with govt officials and Yashda representatives
5) Strengthening of SHG
6) Documentation work done so far
7) Assessment done for different projects
There was participation from every one present in the room as and when these points were discussed . After this presentation some of the key challenges faced by Volunteers and UNICEFF alliance NGOs were discussed. One of the key challenge was the resistance by other NGOs or some of the local groups who either think that we are penetrating their area of work or we are gaining credibility and trust from villagers. Mr Menon asked for more suggestion as how can these groups be made alliance . The idea of further strengthening self help groups was also raised and discussed . SHGs needed constent followup without which they can not sustain plus there is a nother problem with SHGs , women below poverty line are still not able to understand the core concept and philosophy of SHGs for them SHGs mean an instrument which can help them getting some subsidies from government. People above poverty line and with some literacy rate were able to internalize SHG concept well and take it to next level. In many villages women have collected lacs of rupees in SHGs and also started many new businesses . This indicated that again this process was helping people who have all resources available and do not need any external help , whereas people below poverty line who should be helped by this concept were not able to get benefit out of it because of their mentality.
Myself and avdhut got lots of time to discuss our project with Anu but one more time we got a different scope , so effectively this was 5th new project plan we were hearing in last 4 days , As we have been meeting different people in isolation so everyone was putting forward his / her point of view and concern , that is why we were getting so many ideas about the data being collected during microplanning. Anu discussed two different scope for our projects but we needed more clarity so we decided to talk about this once the meeting gets over.
Towards the end of the meeting Mr Menon mentioned one of the main agenda for coming days which was to concentrate on the integrated and holistic growth of children . He wanted to convert Aganwadi centers into real child development centers which can provide nutritious food , good learning experience and environment to children and all this with dignity . People should not feel that they are being helped because they belong to a certain category or class but they should take it as their right
What a conflict , at one side in SHG people are not ready to help themselves but expect government to provide funding and subsidies and on the other end at Aganwadi centers where government is providing free facilities , people don’t come forward to take benefit of it as it makes them feel that they are beggars. I pondered over this for long time , trying to find out some solution , the only thing which I could think of was words mentioned by Baba Ampte when we visited to Anandvan , “ Work with people and not for the people “. Unicef is also trying to apply the same concept “ From counting people to count on people”.
7:Working with communities and UNICEF in Latur : Chapter 7
Chapter 7 : The lady who spoke and Budgeting
20/12
I was woke up by Avdhut with odd question , do you know singing ? , It did not take me any time to guess the context , It was an easy guess that probably the toilets in our new room do not have locking latches from inside. I thought we can live with that. We had our breakfast in near by restaurant and started for hotel for the second day of workshop.
As scheduled today there were 3 presentation , first was livelihood which got over in 5 minutes , next came cleanliness and maternal care which was delivered by a nurse from health department , This lady just loved talking , she did not look at chart even once and discussed only first point for 7 minutes. She had all different facilities given by government on her finger tips and for each of them she was able to provide detailed information.
After the third presentation , the agenda for the day was told by Sameer , It was to do budgeting and resource allocation for the activities which these groups have written down on charts so far. Different groups were given one hour to complete this activity.
This was much better then any MBA class , the best part was these groups come prepared for such activities , When I was estimating how many students are there in the Block , my team member who was superintendent in Education department took out a data sheet which had detailed information about number of students , mal and female student ratio and different expenses in these government. After hving such kind of data the task of budgeting was no difficult.
In my group one volunteer was also present from Shirur , I talked to him on different issues and he had some very intelligent questions for me and the first one was “ What can he learn from me “ , It took much effort for me to explain what he can learn from interns like me , I told that we would be able to help them with various activities , also gave some observation and recommendation on the rally and workshop , we discussed couple of recommendation and what are bottlenecks and benefits in them.
After the workshop we had discussion with Mr Jayant Patil from Yashda who was also able to clarify some of our doubts regarding the process for data collection and how it is being utilized . He also mentioned how the focus of government is now shifting to provide maximum support , He quoted an example where one of the district CEO collected 4 crore Rs from different development funds to provide gas connection to child development centers so that people out there can spend more quality time educating kids rather than being in kitchen cooking.
After being at home for some time in night we came out with a commitment to find out where is PVR in Latur , We walked for half hour to discover the magnificent PVR building which is at one end of Latur , I was amazed to see the kind of investment PVR has put for city like Latur .
20/12
I was woke up by Avdhut with odd question , do you know singing ? , It did not take me any time to guess the context , It was an easy guess that probably the toilets in our new room do not have locking latches from inside. I thought we can live with that. We had our breakfast in near by restaurant and started for hotel for the second day of workshop.
As scheduled today there were 3 presentation , first was livelihood which got over in 5 minutes , next came cleanliness and maternal care which was delivered by a nurse from health department , This lady just loved talking , she did not look at chart even once and discussed only first point for 7 minutes. She had all different facilities given by government on her finger tips and for each of them she was able to provide detailed information.
After the third presentation , the agenda for the day was told by Sameer , It was to do budgeting and resource allocation for the activities which these groups have written down on charts so far. Different groups were given one hour to complete this activity.
This was much better then any MBA class , the best part was these groups come prepared for such activities , When I was estimating how many students are there in the Block , my team member who was superintendent in Education department took out a data sheet which had detailed information about number of students , mal and female student ratio and different expenses in these government. After hving such kind of data the task of budgeting was no difficult.
In my group one volunteer was also present from Shirur , I talked to him on different issues and he had some very intelligent questions for me and the first one was “ What can he learn from me “ , It took much effort for me to explain what he can learn from interns like me , I told that we would be able to help them with various activities , also gave some observation and recommendation on the rally and workshop , we discussed couple of recommendation and what are bottlenecks and benefits in them.
After the workshop we had discussion with Mr Jayant Patil from Yashda who was also able to clarify some of our doubts regarding the process for data collection and how it is being utilized . He also mentioned how the focus of government is now shifting to provide maximum support , He quoted an example where one of the district CEO collected 4 crore Rs from different development funds to provide gas connection to child development centers so that people out there can spend more quality time educating kids rather than being in kitchen cooking.
After being at home for some time in night we came out with a commitment to find out where is PVR in Latur , We walked for half hour to discover the magnificent PVR building which is at one end of Latur , I was amazed to see the kind of investment PVR has put for city like Latur .
6: Working with communities and UNICEF in Latur : Chapter 6
Chapter 6 : Getting clarity , facing pessimism of social work.
After workshop we moved for our scheduled meeting with Mr. Raveendra Patil and Mr. Sameer ghosh. First of all Sameer wanted to know from us as what is our background and what is being taught in our course . They also asked what kind of orientation was given to us by UNICEF Maharastra head Mr Gopinath and his colleague Anu .When I talked about different overlapping data being collected by several organization , Sameer immediately jumped into discussion with quoting facts and figures which were not only new to me but also amazed us , He mentioned that govt gets data reports from its departments almost every month and these reports are huge for example only health department has some 73 different forms to fill for each family.
Later Sameer asked if we are already about to narrow down on any of the project , we mentioned our interest in the Bhavisya Aliance where HUL is supposed to facilitate some outlets to SHG groups where HUL would provide its product .This time it was Mr Patil who enlightened us on this collaboration , he being involved in this project since the talks have started had many information. He told us very firmly that YAshda and NGO would not let any organization use SHGs as a promotion and profit making vehicle , the aim is crystal clear to empower SHG without spreading capitalism in rural areas. There were clear ideological differences as Zia had already mentioned to us in the previous morning.
After this much discussion when Raveendra and Sameer noticed that we had picked up a direction for our project , they became apprehensive in discussing what they had in mind for us but we insisted that it should not be seen as what we want , it will be more relevant if we can do what is of immediate help to them ., then Ravendra mentioned that they want us to work on a study and scope documents for the database which is associated with their software . There are many issues associated with it and they want us to address some of them as permitted by the time constraint.
1) Content generation
2) Data security
3) Managing generated data
4) Capacity building
5) Data entry
6) Offline Vs Online data handling
7) Who should be using this data
8) Further Analysis of data
9) DR and Maintenance
10) Handling large quantum of data
11) Data updation
I was happy to see that this time Mr. Patil was fully prepared and had much more clarity . Myself and Avdhut were pretty much OK to go ahead with this study , We had to just discuss this with Nakeeran.
After meeting we returned back to home , Zia Didi had already called us to find where are we so we decided that first we would meet her as she is about to leave for some meet in Osmanabaad . Didi was in office there she enquired about workshop , how did we find it and about different people present there. She briefed us about the convention in Deoni .
We dwelt into discussion about volunteers who have come forward from villages to help UNICEF in this microplanning . These volunteers as of now work without any benefit , Sath is trying to arrange some kind of monthly stipend for them so that they stay back in the process , this was the major concern for Zia and many of her colleague in UNICEF and Zia discusses it with lots of apprehension not sure whther they would be able to get this kind of support from government. Today Zia’s complete discussion was focused on how difficult it is for them to sustain whatever they have built after so much hardwork. Now when results are showing on surface , other agencies still come forward only to take credit and not to help sustain the process , what can be done to make sure that participation from government , people and NGOs can be formed with minimum friction and maximum commitment . We tried to assure Zia that if they can come to this point then there is no way backwards , its going to forward only .
Zia told that next few days activity will not be so intense as Bakreed and Christmas is near by. While leaving We took assurance from Zia that we will treated with delicacies in both of them .
After workshop we moved for our scheduled meeting with Mr. Raveendra Patil and Mr. Sameer ghosh. First of all Sameer wanted to know from us as what is our background and what is being taught in our course . They also asked what kind of orientation was given to us by UNICEF Maharastra head Mr Gopinath and his colleague Anu .When I talked about different overlapping data being collected by several organization , Sameer immediately jumped into discussion with quoting facts and figures which were not only new to me but also amazed us , He mentioned that govt gets data reports from its departments almost every month and these reports are huge for example only health department has some 73 different forms to fill for each family.
Later Sameer asked if we are already about to narrow down on any of the project , we mentioned our interest in the Bhavisya Aliance where HUL is supposed to facilitate some outlets to SHG groups where HUL would provide its product .This time it was Mr Patil who enlightened us on this collaboration , he being involved in this project since the talks have started had many information. He told us very firmly that YAshda and NGO would not let any organization use SHGs as a promotion and profit making vehicle , the aim is crystal clear to empower SHG without spreading capitalism in rural areas. There were clear ideological differences as Zia had already mentioned to us in the previous morning.
After this much discussion when Raveendra and Sameer noticed that we had picked up a direction for our project , they became apprehensive in discussing what they had in mind for us but we insisted that it should not be seen as what we want , it will be more relevant if we can do what is of immediate help to them ., then Ravendra mentioned that they want us to work on a study and scope documents for the database which is associated with their software . There are many issues associated with it and they want us to address some of them as permitted by the time constraint.
1) Content generation
2) Data security
3) Managing generated data
4) Capacity building
5) Data entry
6) Offline Vs Online data handling
7) Who should be using this data
8) Further Analysis of data
9) DR and Maintenance
10) Handling large quantum of data
11) Data updation
I was happy to see that this time Mr. Patil was fully prepared and had much more clarity . Myself and Avdhut were pretty much OK to go ahead with this study , We had to just discuss this with Nakeeran.
After meeting we returned back to home , Zia Didi had already called us to find where are we so we decided that first we would meet her as she is about to leave for some meet in Osmanabaad . Didi was in office there she enquired about workshop , how did we find it and about different people present there. She briefed us about the convention in Deoni .
We dwelt into discussion about volunteers who have come forward from villages to help UNICEF in this microplanning . These volunteers as of now work without any benefit , Sath is trying to arrange some kind of monthly stipend for them so that they stay back in the process , this was the major concern for Zia and many of her colleague in UNICEF and Zia discusses it with lots of apprehension not sure whther they would be able to get this kind of support from government. Today Zia’s complete discussion was focused on how difficult it is for them to sustain whatever they have built after so much hardwork. Now when results are showing on surface , other agencies still come forward only to take credit and not to help sustain the process , what can be done to make sure that participation from government , people and NGOs can be formed with minimum friction and maximum commitment . We tried to assure Zia that if they can come to this point then there is no way backwards , its going to forward only .
Zia told that next few days activity will not be so intense as Bakreed and Christmas is near by. While leaving We took assurance from Zia that we will treated with delicacies in both of them .
5: Working with communities and UNICEF in Latur : Chapter 5
Chapter 5 : Workshop with administrators.
On 19th There was a rally in Deoni but Nakeeran wanted us to attend a workshop organized in Latur by Yashda fot govt officials and NGOs. Early morning I tried to take bath in the ice cold water and somehow managed it , fearing this can cause a pneumonia . We shifted our belongings from the back of the office to the room which was selected for us by Zia Didi in neighbor hood. By 10:30 we reached Shantai where workshop to be conducted , It was a pleasure to see Mr Raveendra Patil there with whom we have already interacted in Yashda before starting from Latur , He with Sameer were planned to take workshop. Latur Zila parishad CEO , IAS , DHO , Education officials , Helth officials and planning officials were present to represent respective departments.
Mr Sameer who was a consultant with UNICEF previously and now work with Yashda started with Vision , Misison, Objective , strategies and activity planning which he had prepared ,He also discussed little bit about result based management and I started feeling like I am sitting in the class of strategic planning , I must say even management grade will not be able to deliver such an explanation . Data from Deoni was already entered into system so the complete presentation circumscribed around the Deoni data , Patil discussed different inferences drawn from the Data. I was glad to see the data crunching ability of these administrators , even in a management course I have not attended any presentation where for 2.5 hrs we have talked only data and above all the participation of audience was very much there , inputs on representation and inferences of data kept coming from different corners of the room.
In parallel to this presenters also discussed the roadmap to take the micro planning initiative to the next level , it has been divided into smaller units where outcome , output and activities can be identified.
I have never in life seen such a committed system which has stakeholders from so many diverse backgrounds and yet there so much bonding , there is no space of any lousy ness , every one seems to love talking about this stuff called microplannig and they don’t only talk but they are also the one who have made it possible in last 7 yrs and waited patiently to see the world changing.
Sameer and Raveendra met us in lunch and told us that they might have something for us , Sameer instructed us to meet after the workshop to discuss about the project where they are facing issues . After lunch it was time to perform a group activity ( Again dejavu) , groups were divided according to the departments represented by different people there were groups formed for Social welfare , livelihood , Education , Sanitation and irrigation . People from NGO ( included us) are asked to join any group of their choice , I chose Education and Avdhut chose sanitation.
Each group was given a problem statement related to its work area with some possible steps to eliminate that problem . Group was supposed to add more steps if needed and break each step into sub steps or activities by which these steps can be performed. Each activity was associated with their present status and status after 1 yr , 2 yr and 3 yr . We have also given data from recent survey by micro planning group in addition to this each department also came prepared with data from respective unit. Uner education we had been given 9 steps although language was an issue but I was able to understand 90% of whatever they said . People were also able to understand hindi so it worked well , they asked me specific suggestions at points and after discussion of 2 hours we managed to prepare 5 drwaing sheets with our analysis , strategy and recommendation.
I found this exercise very useful as it tells where exactly a department lacks , It is intro inspection in true sense , presence of a third party NGO worker works as critique as he is who has been in the villages and seen ground reality. During this discussion I could see that most of the facilities from govt is available but there is no one to use it , there are schools but no students.. After doing this one person from each group was supposed to present the activity lists for his department to the audience , Any new suggestion which was worth taking forward was immediately recorded by Mr Jayant Patil , Addl D G , CCMP , Yashda Pune. It was almost time and only 3 groups were able to make presentation , considering the fact that some people have come from near by villages and will have to catch buses to go back , workshop was wrapped up for the day , It was decided that remaining presentation will be held next day first thing in the morning , people left except the health group which was still working on their activities , they were fully absorved in their discussion.
On 19th There was a rally in Deoni but Nakeeran wanted us to attend a workshop organized in Latur by Yashda fot govt officials and NGOs. Early morning I tried to take bath in the ice cold water and somehow managed it , fearing this can cause a pneumonia . We shifted our belongings from the back of the office to the room which was selected for us by Zia Didi in neighbor hood. By 10:30 we reached Shantai where workshop to be conducted , It was a pleasure to see Mr Raveendra Patil there with whom we have already interacted in Yashda before starting from Latur , He with Sameer were planned to take workshop. Latur Zila parishad CEO , IAS , DHO , Education officials , Helth officials and planning officials were present to represent respective departments.
Mr Sameer who was a consultant with UNICEF previously and now work with Yashda started with Vision , Misison, Objective , strategies and activity planning which he had prepared ,He also discussed little bit about result based management and I started feeling like I am sitting in the class of strategic planning , I must say even management grade will not be able to deliver such an explanation . Data from Deoni was already entered into system so the complete presentation circumscribed around the Deoni data , Patil discussed different inferences drawn from the Data. I was glad to see the data crunching ability of these administrators , even in a management course I have not attended any presentation where for 2.5 hrs we have talked only data and above all the participation of audience was very much there , inputs on representation and inferences of data kept coming from different corners of the room.
In parallel to this presenters also discussed the roadmap to take the micro planning initiative to the next level , it has been divided into smaller units where outcome , output and activities can be identified.
I have never in life seen such a committed system which has stakeholders from so many diverse backgrounds and yet there so much bonding , there is no space of any lousy ness , every one seems to love talking about this stuff called microplannig and they don’t only talk but they are also the one who have made it possible in last 7 yrs and waited patiently to see the world changing.
Sameer and Raveendra met us in lunch and told us that they might have something for us , Sameer instructed us to meet after the workshop to discuss about the project where they are facing issues . After lunch it was time to perform a group activity ( Again dejavu) , groups were divided according to the departments represented by different people there were groups formed for Social welfare , livelihood , Education , Sanitation and irrigation . People from NGO ( included us) are asked to join any group of their choice , I chose Education and Avdhut chose sanitation.
Each group was given a problem statement related to its work area with some possible steps to eliminate that problem . Group was supposed to add more steps if needed and break each step into sub steps or activities by which these steps can be performed. Each activity was associated with their present status and status after 1 yr , 2 yr and 3 yr . We have also given data from recent survey by micro planning group in addition to this each department also came prepared with data from respective unit. Uner education we had been given 9 steps although language was an issue but I was able to understand 90% of whatever they said . People were also able to understand hindi so it worked well , they asked me specific suggestions at points and after discussion of 2 hours we managed to prepare 5 drwaing sheets with our analysis , strategy and recommendation.
I found this exercise very useful as it tells where exactly a department lacks , It is intro inspection in true sense , presence of a third party NGO worker works as critique as he is who has been in the villages and seen ground reality. During this discussion I could see that most of the facilities from govt is available but there is no one to use it , there are schools but no students.. After doing this one person from each group was supposed to present the activity lists for his department to the audience , Any new suggestion which was worth taking forward was immediately recorded by Mr Jayant Patil , Addl D G , CCMP , Yashda Pune. It was almost time and only 3 groups were able to make presentation , considering the fact that some people have come from near by villages and will have to catch buses to go back , workshop was wrapped up for the day , It was decided that remaining presentation will be held next day first thing in the morning , people left except the health group which was still working on their activities , they were fully absorved in their discussion.
4:Working with Communities and UNICEF in Latur : Chapter 4
Chapter 4 : The Dilemma
Morning I woke up early , after some time myself and Avdhut stepped out for some breakfast , when we come back Nakeeran , Zia and Shyna were already in heated discussion as what project should be given to us they discussed “ Child tracking system “ , Village information system “ and “ Communication strategy”. While disussing village information system I asked what are the chances of having commercial use of data in private and corporate partnership then Nakeeran and Zia mentioned that they were already in touch with HLL for such projects with their SHG units but eventually they did not work out because of ideological differences , this sounded interesting to me and I discussed with Avdhut that probably we can chart out a plan on this and give it to UNICEF , it will help them for taking discussins to the next level.
We started moving to our destination for today , Shirur where another convention was organized by volunteers to followup on micro planning routines. I dozed off in jeep , Avdhut had plan to read lots of books which he could not read while trimester was on , he started with “ The art of war “ , I also tried to turn pages of “ Fortune at bottom of pyramid” but soon got overpowered by sleep. Avdhut woke me up after 1 hr , I could see Nakeeran sir was already jumping out from jeep which was yet to stop completely and someone was guiding him saying the rally started 5 minutes back , I came to know that we are in Shirur , a small town which is now block , it does not have any god infrastructure but still division of Osmanabaad has given such places status of town cum block.
We followed Nakeeran sir , we could hear loud slogans shouted by rally mass focusing different issues which are at heart of micro planning. Nakeeran sir did not waste a single minute , he submerged into rally , this is what I like about these social workers they are quick in taking action , they are ready to loose their identity in masses for cause , In fact they don’t want to have an identity of their own , their identity is their people for whom they work or should I say with whom they work. Rally stopped at a community hall near panchayat house in front of a Hanuman mandir , people entered into the hall , amazingly participation of women and children was overwhelming . I also belong to a village and can imagine how difficult it is for volunteers to gather such a mass in villages.
Morning I woke up early , after some time myself and Avdhut stepped out for some breakfast , when we come back Nakeeran , Zia and Shyna were already in heated discussion as what project should be given to us they discussed “ Child tracking system “ , Village information system “ and “ Communication strategy”. While disussing village information system I asked what are the chances of having commercial use of data in private and corporate partnership then Nakeeran and Zia mentioned that they were already in touch with HLL for such projects with their SHG units but eventually they did not work out because of ideological differences , this sounded interesting to me and I discussed with Avdhut that probably we can chart out a plan on this and give it to UNICEF , it will help them for taking discussins to the next level.
We started moving to our destination for today , Shirur where another convention was organized by volunteers to followup on micro planning routines. I dozed off in jeep , Avdhut had plan to read lots of books which he could not read while trimester was on , he started with “ The art of war “ , I also tried to turn pages of “ Fortune at bottom of pyramid” but soon got overpowered by sleep. Avdhut woke me up after 1 hr , I could see Nakeeran sir was already jumping out from jeep which was yet to stop completely and someone was guiding him saying the rally started 5 minutes back , I came to know that we are in Shirur , a small town which is now block , it does not have any god infrastructure but still division of Osmanabaad has given such places status of town cum block.
We followed Nakeeran sir , we could hear loud slogans shouted by rally mass focusing different issues which are at heart of micro planning. Nakeeran sir did not waste a single minute , he submerged into rally , this is what I like about these social workers they are quick in taking action , they are ready to loose their identity in masses for cause , In fact they don’t want to have an identity of their own , their identity is their people for whom they work or should I say with whom they work. Rally stopped at a community hall near panchayat house in front of a Hanuman mandir , people entered into the hall , amazingly participation of women and children was overwhelming . I also belong to a village and can imagine how difficult it is for volunteers to gather such a mass in villages.
3: Working with communities and UNICEF in Latur
Chapter 3 : JalCoat
After one hours journey from Udgeer we reached Jalcoat where in a small Aganwadi premise some 20 girls were trained by a qualified nurse and aganwadi instructor . The topics of training were much too bold even for girls of metropolitan city , I am sure that many of those things even a college going girl in Mumbai would not know which unicef is trying to teach to school students of villages. After welcome and introduction note Zia Didi thrown open the stage to girls and asked them what all they have learned , answers came quickly..About correct age of marriage , equality of gender , equality in the property of father… the correct age of pregnancy ..importance of education .. importance of sanitation . I have been in villages for 16 years but never seen village girls speaking so boldly and openly about these issues , if this is the impact of a 10 day training then I wonder what will a month long training do to these girls. Nakeeran sir asked from each girl as what does she want to become , in response we got very common answers of becoming teacher , nurse and police officer ,this shows the kind of exposure these girls are having for them there is no other profession exist outside this , consider why they want to become nurse and not doctor .. teacher and not principal..police officer and not IAS , reason is simple they don’t have any awareness whatsoever about different career options. Nakeeran also gave example of asking same question to a 4 year old boy in Delhi and in response he has been told by the boy that he wants to become an astronaut , this is the difference which proper exposure and general awareness about surrounding can make where children in cities dreaming to become astronaut , Software tycoons , IAS IPS officers , Engineers , doctors there the counterparts in villages are not even aware that such career exists.
Nakeeran insisted that girls should read newspaper daily so that they are aware of the things going on in the local and global level. Zia Didi also talked to girls and chalked out a quick plan as how these girls should not keep the knowledge to themselves and make sure that they spread words of wisdom to their friends in villages , how they should go about convincing and using local authorities and reputed people. Myself and Avdhut were also asked to say something , Avdhut gave a short introduction of ours and stated the purpose why we were travelling with UNICEF.
I chatted with girls for some time insisted that whatever they have decided they should do , at any cost they should not let their dream go . They must increase their physical and mental level to attain the goal which they have set for them , Whether goal is achieved at the end of the day or not is a secondary issue but they would surely gain a lot in the process. We sat for some more time and discussed problems and expectations and then we finale started back for home.
Till the time we reached Latur everyone was very tired , it was exactly 12 hours from 9 AM to 9 PM . Nakeeran sir said that next day we should meet district CEO to get more clarity on the project which we are supposed to work .Zia mentioned that tomorrow morning we can go and see the room which she has arranged for us but today we have to sleep in office only , the only problem which I was worried about is mattress , in winter it is difficult for me to sleep on floor without mattress but then there was no choice but to take the call.
After one hours journey from Udgeer we reached Jalcoat where in a small Aganwadi premise some 20 girls were trained by a qualified nurse and aganwadi instructor . The topics of training were much too bold even for girls of metropolitan city , I am sure that many of those things even a college going girl in Mumbai would not know which unicef is trying to teach to school students of villages. After welcome and introduction note Zia Didi thrown open the stage to girls and asked them what all they have learned , answers came quickly..About correct age of marriage , equality of gender , equality in the property of father… the correct age of pregnancy ..importance of education .. importance of sanitation . I have been in villages for 16 years but never seen village girls speaking so boldly and openly about these issues , if this is the impact of a 10 day training then I wonder what will a month long training do to these girls. Nakeeran sir asked from each girl as what does she want to become , in response we got very common answers of becoming teacher , nurse and police officer ,this shows the kind of exposure these girls are having for them there is no other profession exist outside this , consider why they want to become nurse and not doctor .. teacher and not principal..police officer and not IAS , reason is simple they don’t have any awareness whatsoever about different career options. Nakeeran also gave example of asking same question to a 4 year old boy in Delhi and in response he has been told by the boy that he wants to become an astronaut , this is the difference which proper exposure and general awareness about surrounding can make where children in cities dreaming to become astronaut , Software tycoons , IAS IPS officers , Engineers , doctors there the counterparts in villages are not even aware that such career exists.
Nakeeran insisted that girls should read newspaper daily so that they are aware of the things going on in the local and global level. Zia Didi also talked to girls and chalked out a quick plan as how these girls should not keep the knowledge to themselves and make sure that they spread words of wisdom to their friends in villages , how they should go about convincing and using local authorities and reputed people. Myself and Avdhut were also asked to say something , Avdhut gave a short introduction of ours and stated the purpose why we were travelling with UNICEF.
I chatted with girls for some time insisted that whatever they have decided they should do , at any cost they should not let their dream go . They must increase their physical and mental level to attain the goal which they have set for them , Whether goal is achieved at the end of the day or not is a secondary issue but they would surely gain a lot in the process. We sat for some more time and discussed problems and expectations and then we finale started back for home.
Till the time we reached Latur everyone was very tired , it was exactly 12 hours from 9 AM to 9 PM . Nakeeran sir said that next day we should meet district CEO to get more clarity on the project which we are supposed to work .Zia mentioned that tomorrow morning we can go and see the room which she has arranged for us but today we have to sleep in office only , the only problem which I was worried about is mattress , in winter it is difficult for me to sleep on floor without mattress but then there was no choice but to take the call.
2 Working with communities and UNICEF in Latur: chapter 2
Chapter 2 : On the way to UdGeer Ms Zia kept us informed about different places from where the sumo was moving.After some time we discussed the condition of agriculture , rain , business and education in Latur and near by villages . She told us how the NGO Sath was founded when 7 of her friends come together after earth quake in Latur . The major work of this NGO was to coordinate between other NGOs and hence it was named as SATH network , gradually some of the members left and now only 5 of the founder members are their. Zia got introduced to UNICEF in an event in Mumbai slum rehabilitation and since then there has not been any looking back , sath has proved itself a worthy partner of UNICEF. Zia and her colleagues have been across the nation for different projects.While going passing through a village we noticed a rally of girls school for sensitizing people about importance of iodinated salt. Zia looked out from the window and cheered to a group of girls and reply did come .. a thank you in unison. I was amazed to see that the literacy level in girls was good. We reached to UdayGeer where a convention of talluka level was arranged by local volunteers. It was a very arrangement in a big open hall , food was prepared at one side . There were already some volunteers and villagers from near by places , SATH and UNICEF team started interacting and introducing us to volunteers. Mr Nakeeran mentioned that this convention is about informing people about 5 key concepts Sanitation , Education , Child care . Human trafficking and Child marriage. One Keynote speaker Mr. Kulkarni who is also an economics professior and associated with this work from last 23 years would be addressing the gathering. People have gathered from many near by villages , they come in groups by arranging truck or tractors , this is the most common mode of mass transport for villages. The preparation and communication for this convention has started one month back . The main challenge in attracting people to such convention is no tangible take away , from this convention the take away will be only intangible information which will be provided with the help of various musical presentation and keynote speeches.
Mr Nakeeran briefed us about different kind of logistics and challenges involved . By the time convention started the place was full to its capacity , There were senior government officers like district health officer , block development officer , college principal and local politicians like MLAs and sarpanchs were present on the stage with senior NGO committee members and UNICEF representative .amazingly majority was women audience. It started by some native folk song singers performing musical which was made of information songs and discussion in the music troupit touched upon many sensitive issues like child marriage , sanitation and health of pregnant women . As it was put forward to the audience as a form of entertainment , the message was received well with full attention.The convention ended with a meaningful commitment where all villagers stood up and took oath together that no child in the village will be undernourished , Village will not be polluted by bad sanitary arrangements , All children will be educated , there will not be any child marriage .
After collective oath taking it was time for lunch together , we did not have time to attend the community lunch but we did take some time to see the art gallery arranged by local volunteers , I liked one portrait where a pen was shown against weapons , requested the painter to make a copy of that and left the place as we need to attend a training for adolescent girls in Jalcoat.
We had our lunch in a near by hotel , it was decent maharstrian food , as it is my first day on the field so I worried a bit about water and food but I had a clear idea , soon it is going to be daily routine . What is worth appreciating about these NGO workers and volunteers is they care least about their physical need. Nakeeran told us that usually he would have lunch at around 5 PM in the evening , that is the first thing he would get to eat after morning breakfast at home and he does not seem to care about it. I recall when I was in my ol organization I never missed even a tea , even if I missed it that is to for very critical issues and after lots of cribbing about it.
Mr Nakeeran briefed us about different kind of logistics and challenges involved . By the time convention started the place was full to its capacity , There were senior government officers like district health officer , block development officer , college principal and local politicians like MLAs and sarpanchs were present on the stage with senior NGO committee members and UNICEF representative .amazingly majority was women audience. It started by some native folk song singers performing musical which was made of information songs and discussion in the music troupit touched upon many sensitive issues like child marriage , sanitation and health of pregnant women . As it was put forward to the audience as a form of entertainment , the message was received well with full attention.The convention ended with a meaningful commitment where all villagers stood up and took oath together that no child in the village will be undernourished , Village will not be polluted by bad sanitary arrangements , All children will be educated , there will not be any child marriage .
After collective oath taking it was time for lunch together , we did not have time to attend the community lunch but we did take some time to see the art gallery arranged by local volunteers , I liked one portrait where a pen was shown against weapons , requested the painter to make a copy of that and left the place as we need to attend a training for adolescent girls in Jalcoat.
We had our lunch in a near by hotel , it was decent maharstrian food , as it is my first day on the field so I worried a bit about water and food but I had a clear idea , soon it is going to be daily routine . What is worth appreciating about these NGO workers and volunteers is they care least about their physical need. Nakeeran told us that usually he would have lunch at around 5 PM in the evening , that is the first thing he would get to eat after morning breakfast at home and he does not seem to care about it. I recall when I was in my ol organization I never missed even a tea , even if I missed it that is to for very critical issues and after lots of cribbing about it.
1. Working with Communities and UNICEF in Latur : chapter1
Chapter 1 : Morning in Latur. ( 17/12/07)
We reached latur early morning 5 AM , As instruction was given by Mr Nakeeran we have made our way to the office of Sath Network . Very apprehensively we called up Ms Zia Sayed of Sath and informed that we are downstairs , her response was very positive she made our stay arrangement in the office itself for few hours. Around 7 AM ( The electricity was cut down due to load shedding) we have interacted more with Ms Sayed and like any other social worker her passion was very much evident since the beginning of the conversation. Zia look like any other Maharastrian homely girl except the fact that she has done her masters in social work from Kolhapur and she speaks English with correct very accurate pronunciation that is without any mother tongue influence.
Ms Sayed started talking about the work which she is involved with UNICEF , she mentioned some of her very recent interaction with youngsters where the challenge was to give a direction to the enormous energy of the youngsters and make sure that not only they utilize their potential but they also earn their living and become a catalyst of change in current social scenario.She mentioned that recently in near by village a self help group was able to produce large amount of wheat , bajara and corn from a small 33X33 plot so she directed these youngsters to go to that village and look out for the best practice followed by these self help group and try to replicate it in their own villages .For now the plan of action might have been decided but it will be another challenge to sustain it in future.
Zia also mentioned one of the key goal of the UNICEF for which Sath spreads awareness in rural areas , hygiene and better sanitation facilities. It is very difficult to convince villagers about creating a toilet at their home , They have been habitual of answering natures call in open and they don’t see any need to spend couple of thousand rupees for creating a toilet .So what do these NGO’s do? Zia told us that they used all kind of tactics , Proper awareness was created by using nukkad natak and speeches in different forums and gatherings . reputed people from villages were requested to convince locals. Labours were warned that they would not get their wages till the time they construct toilets at home , influencers like housewives and children were taken into confidence and asked to pressurize decision makers at home to do the needful. At times the activity went so intense that UNICAFE volunteers started raiding open grounds during morning and evening hours with search light.
While speaking all this Zia’s eyes had shining of doing something meaningful. She mentioned that not only end result but also the process is so beautiful . This was enough for me to understand what motivation drives these social workers , It is their involvement in a project where they fall deeply in love with the process of making people aware and bringing change , They visualize the end result and keep themselves motivated by the beauty and impact of these end results. Till the time we finished Tea Zia also talked about role of college students like us , as of now she did not sound too happy with recent interns from one of the college “ They kept playing on computers , what can you do without going to field and without knowing ground realties” I felt that now our responsibility has doubled , we would have to prove that our presence is not merely an educational formality but we also care!!.
After finishing our tea we roamed a bit in near by areas , when we came back Mr Nakeeran who is a consultant in UNICEF Latur and our mentor in Latur was ready with his sumo and waiting for us , we confirmed that even we would like to come to the field . Nakeeran discussed with us that even he is not sure where exactly we can contribute , we mutually decided to go on filed and meet some people in government offices and then find out what can we contribute . My worry was to do something worthy for UNICEF and SATH in this tenure of one month.
Myself , Avdhut , Zia , Shyna , Nakeeran and Girish started for todays convention at Udgeer
We reached latur early morning 5 AM , As instruction was given by Mr Nakeeran we have made our way to the office of Sath Network . Very apprehensively we called up Ms Zia Sayed of Sath and informed that we are downstairs , her response was very positive she made our stay arrangement in the office itself for few hours. Around 7 AM ( The electricity was cut down due to load shedding) we have interacted more with Ms Sayed and like any other social worker her passion was very much evident since the beginning of the conversation. Zia look like any other Maharastrian homely girl except the fact that she has done her masters in social work from Kolhapur and she speaks English with correct very accurate pronunciation that is without any mother tongue influence.
Ms Sayed started talking about the work which she is involved with UNICEF , she mentioned some of her very recent interaction with youngsters where the challenge was to give a direction to the enormous energy of the youngsters and make sure that not only they utilize their potential but they also earn their living and become a catalyst of change in current social scenario.She mentioned that recently in near by village a self help group was able to produce large amount of wheat , bajara and corn from a small 33X33 plot so she directed these youngsters to go to that village and look out for the best practice followed by these self help group and try to replicate it in their own villages .For now the plan of action might have been decided but it will be another challenge to sustain it in future.
Zia also mentioned one of the key goal of the UNICEF for which Sath spreads awareness in rural areas , hygiene and better sanitation facilities. It is very difficult to convince villagers about creating a toilet at their home , They have been habitual of answering natures call in open and they don’t see any need to spend couple of thousand rupees for creating a toilet .So what do these NGO’s do? Zia told us that they used all kind of tactics , Proper awareness was created by using nukkad natak and speeches in different forums and gatherings . reputed people from villages were requested to convince locals. Labours were warned that they would not get their wages till the time they construct toilets at home , influencers like housewives and children were taken into confidence and asked to pressurize decision makers at home to do the needful. At times the activity went so intense that UNICAFE volunteers started raiding open grounds during morning and evening hours with search light.
While speaking all this Zia’s eyes had shining of doing something meaningful. She mentioned that not only end result but also the process is so beautiful . This was enough for me to understand what motivation drives these social workers , It is their involvement in a project where they fall deeply in love with the process of making people aware and bringing change , They visualize the end result and keep themselves motivated by the beauty and impact of these end results. Till the time we finished Tea Zia also talked about role of college students like us , as of now she did not sound too happy with recent interns from one of the college “ They kept playing on computers , what can you do without going to field and without knowing ground realties” I felt that now our responsibility has doubled , we would have to prove that our presence is not merely an educational formality but we also care!!.
After finishing our tea we roamed a bit in near by areas , when we came back Mr Nakeeran who is a consultant in UNICEF Latur and our mentor in Latur was ready with his sumo and waiting for us , we confirmed that even we would like to come to the field . Nakeeran discussed with us that even he is not sure where exactly we can contribute , we mutually decided to go on filed and meet some people in government offices and then find out what can we contribute . My worry was to do something worthy for UNICEF and SATH in this tenure of one month.
Myself , Avdhut , Zia , Shyna , Nakeeran and Girish started for todays convention at Udgeer
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