Parivartan Dhara(परि�वर्त�न धा� )

Women Empowerment Amit Kumar

• As per Census 2011, 74.0% of the population is literate comprising 65.5% females and 82.1% males whereas in rural areas the literacy rate of women is 58.75%.

• The 66th NSSO (2009-10) round observes that 46.7 % rural females are illiterate 31.8 % are literate up to primary, 11.1 are literate up to middle level and only 10.3 % literate up to secondary & above .

• There is wide gap between girls enrollment ratio and dropout ratio• Illiteracy among women is the major source for all the sexual and

physical violence over women.

?

Why

Model for the village girls education fundEvery house hold (HH) of the village will

contribute Rs.20 to the fund, simplifying it as the male member will give Rs.10 (33p per day) and female member will pay the similar amount.

The Teachers of the school situated in the village will contribute Rs.30 (Re. 1 per day)

The Gram Panchayat will contribute 5% from Women and child development fund.

The project Parivartan Dhara was initiated in Devkurli village in December 2012, Osmanabad district of Maharashtra. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf8bnsVzBc8 

Village Girls Education fund

Sr. No. Participant of Fund Generation Collect Sum for Entire year (Rs.)

1 280 house hold @ Rs.

20x12x280,

(Total no. of House hold 350, assuming 20% will not contribute for entire year then the figure)

67200

2 10 teachers @ Rs. 30x12x10 3600

3 5% from women and child

development fund (From Gram

Panchyat)

3000 (subject to

actual)

Total = 73800

Expenditure (one Girl)

Sn. No. Expenditure on the education Sum (Rs.)

1 2 year of tution fees of college including

tuition fees (Tamalwari college, a nearby

college)

1500

2 Computer education for two years (Provided

by nearest MS-CIT centre , Tuljapur)

3000

3 Transportation cost for two years (actuals) 500

4 Miscellaneous expenditures on teaching

and learning materials (actuals)

1000

Total 6000

Approach The project is an attempt to create an educational fund which

will support the higher education (10+2) of girls in rural areas. The fund will be created and maintained by girls of class IX and X with the support of Gram Panchayat, school administration and villagers on yearly basis.

Every month on Second Sunday girls with their ward member and Parivartan mitra will visit each HH of that particular ward for collection. From teachers the collection will done Second Monday per month. Gram Panchayat will contribute the money one time in the last month of financial year.

A joint account will be opened in the nearest bank, managed by a senior most female member of Gram Panchayat along with a girl student of class X (who will be elected by the class).

Implementation (stage 1) Entry Point Activity (EPA) : covered under MGNREGs and

Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) will build trust and co-operation between villagers and the project.

Selection of parivartan Mitra which will include girls and SHG members for sensitizing, implementing and monitoring of project

Preparing and display of pictorial pamphlets on the importance of girl’s education as preliminary part of sensitization.

Meetings in groups – Initially, the meetings would be in small and homogeneous groups composed of mothers, fathers, adolescent, SHG members etc. Later the groups can be magnified to parents, teachers, teenagers and lastly with gram sabha.

Stage 2 During meetings, every idea, issue, constraints will

be recorded and then framed into general issues and bringing out solutions with them.

In every meeting, the issue of security of girls should be given priority and remedies for any problem girls face.

Attendance register, Minutes of the meetings & maintenance and updates of resolution register will be done by the rural volunteers. To ensure the flow of the work.

parivartan Mitra will be monitoring and evaluation of the project at every step.

Last phase. Once in a year the total collected money will be

withdrawn from the account. The total sum will be distributed equally to all the girls who has not only successfully cleared their matriculation examination but also want to pursue higher education.

The distributed amount will cover fees of two years , local transportation costs and miscellaneous expenditure on learning materials. Which will be (actuals) calculated by parivartan Mitra in consultation with Gram Panchayat.

Merits Community pools resources and re-distributed within itself.

The Contribution from every household (HH) is small but overall collection will suffice girls needs for higher education and will lessen the burden.

Entry Point Activity (EPA): covered under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. and Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA)

Liaison between the schools at village to district level will provide sharing of knowledge and information

Driven by community participation which will sensitize the overall community for women education and will increase the marriage age of girls

The financial empowerment of girls would challenges the social stigmas attached with girls education and will a step to reduce crime against women.

Measuring the impact of Project : Indicators Level of understanding and acceptance of ‘parivartan Dhara ’

among villagers. Attendance register of meeting for ‘parivartan Dhara’ Minutes of the meeting Account register (This include collection of funds, withdrawn of

funds and number of girls utilized it etc. ) Resolution register (This include existing plan of the project,

strategy and add on of external support etc. ) After three years who are the external partners joined to scale up

the project. Frequent Discussions and meetings with parivartan Mitra and

villagers. Village develops a culture of promoting girls for higher education. Effect in near by villages and its implementation in high girls

dropout rate block of the district in two year.

Grey Areas to be worked

Continuation of fund collection for entire year.

The project is not an radical approach to change the structure or belief of the village but an attempt to work with villagers for a small reform in the structure, which always to be restored by parivartan Mitra .

The security of girls will be the foremost concern when they will be moving to near by town for higher education.

ReferencesKUMAR, K. (2010). Culture, State and Girls: An

Educational Perspective.Economic and Political Wekly, XLV(17), 75-84.

Kumar, K., & Gupta, L. (2008). What Is Missing in Girls’ Empowerment?.Economic and Politically Weekly,XLIII(26-27), 19-24.

Saxena, S. (2012). Is Equality an Outdated Concern in Education?.Economicand Politically Weekly,XLVII(49), 61-68.

Sen, A., & Drèze, J. (2002). India: Development and Participation . New  York: Oxford university Press.