sewa district strategic plan 2008 – 11 kheda and anand ... · sewa district strategic plan 2008...

SEWA District Strategic Plan 2008 – 11

Kheda and Anand Districts, Gujarat

Self Employed Women’s Association, SEWA Reception Centre,

Opp. Lok Manya Tilak Baug,

Bhadra, Ahmedabad - 380001

Phone No. : 079-25506477, 25506444, Fax No. : 079-25506446

List of Content:

1. Introduction ...............................................................................................................................3

2. Brief introduction to SEWA.....................................................................................................3

3. Description of the situation in Kheda and Anand districts ................................................4

4. The Kheda and Anand districts strategic plan (2008-2011) ................................................9

4.1 Organisational and Institutional Development of SEWA.................................................9

4.1.1 Organisational Development and Institutional Capacity Building..............................9

4.1.2 Human Resource Development.......................................................................................17

4.2 Tobacco Campaign and organising....................................................................................20

4.3 Capital formation and decreased economic vulnerability..............................................21

4.4 Income Generating Activities & new skills and capacity building ...............................23

4.4.1 Setting up of RUDI Processing Centre and 3 Processing HUBS.................................23

4.4.2 Agriculture Campaign ......................................................................................................24

4.4.3 Weaving...............................................................................................................................25

4.4.4 Nursery Raising .................................................................................................................27

4.4.5 Waste Paper Picker ............................................................................................................28

4.5 Increasing social security and reducing vulnerability ....................................................29

4.5.1 Water Campaign ................................................................................................................29

4.5.2 Health Care .........................................................................................................................30

4.5.3 Child Care Centres.............................................................................................................31

4.5.4 Insurance .............................................................................................................................32

4.5.5 Rehabilitation of Riots affected Widows (Shanta programme) ..................................34

4.5.6 Jeevan Shala (Life schools)................................................................................................34

Annex:

1: The Logical Framework Analysis (not included in this version)

2: Budget (not included in this version)

3: Implementation Plan (not included in this version)

Self Employed Women’s Association, SEWA Reception Centre, Opp. Lok Manya Tilak Baug,

Bhadra, Ahmedabad, Phone No. : 079-25506477, 25506444, Fax No. : 079-25506446

E-mail : [email protected]

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1. Introduction

The current write-up is prepared to present the strategic plan for the duration of 3 years

(2008-2011) of Kheda District Association of SEWA. It starts with a brief introduction to

SEWA, followed by a description of the situation of Kheda Anand District, and its district

association. Further this is followed by the strategic planning of the said District

Association along with the brief description of the said activity, its current status and plans

for taking up the same in coming years. The Plan is also supported with a Logical

Framework Analysis (LFA), the financial requirement and an Implementation Plan, which

are attached as Annexes 1 to 3.

2. Brief introduction to SEWA

SEWA is a membership-based movement and trade union with 9,59,698 poor, self-

employed women members from informal economy. Its primary goal is to organise women

workers to obtain full employment and economic self-reliance.

SEWA is a confluence of a labour union and a developmental movement and consequently

SEWA activities are a combination of struggle and development. In practice this means that

SEWA seeks to strengthen the position of labourers in the national economy through

typical, union-like activities such as demands for legal minimum wages, safe working

conditions, employment security and so on. However, experience has shown that, especially

in the rural areas, structural unemployment and underemployment renders the position of

the poor self-employed women as weak vis-à-vis employers making typical union activities

less effective. Hence, SEWA combines union activities with developmental activities, for

instance, the creation alternative employment. This in its turn will strengthen the position of

the women in the economy.

Based on this philosophy, SEWA has developed an approach that consists of following four

elements:

(1) Organising women for collective strength as individual poor women do not have a

voice

(2) Building new skills and capacities so that women can become owners and managers

and not just producers and labourers

(3) Encouraging capital formation at the household, group and community levels with the

income earned

(4) Increasing social security to enhance women’s well-being and productivity and reduce

the impacts of illness or sudden crises on fragile household economies.

Also it is very important to mention that SEWA pays ample attention to the capacity

building of its cadre of grassroots leaders and spearhead teams1 to ensure sustainability and

increase its grassroots capacity Over the last decade, more and more women leaders have

stepped forward as pro-active managers of SEWA’s programs thereby fading the line

between ‘the poor self-employed women members’ and ‘SEWA-organisers’. This gives an

1 Spearhead teams consist of SEWA grassroots members with proven leadership qualities who have acquired

an immense practical experience in various activities / fields such as water, savings-and-credits etc. They play

a pivotal role in SEWA’s activities, as they are familiar with local conditions, easily relate to poor village

women, and can mobilise their social networks to involve other women in SEWA activities.




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idea on the SEWA’s movement which is being carried forward by the self-employed women

themselves.

3. Description of the situation in Kheda and Anand districts

SEWA through its office in Anand works in both the districts of Kheda and Anand. The

district of Anand is divided in eight Talukas viz. Sojitra, Umreth, Tarapur, Anand, Petlad,

Borsad, Khambhat & Ankalav and 350 villages. Kheda is divided in 10 talukas viz.

Mehemdabad, Matar, Nadiad, Thasra, Balasinor, Kapadvanj, Virpur, Kheda, Kathlal &

Mahudha and 615 villages. The district of Anand & Kheda is spread over an area of 2940.31

sq. kms. and 3919.73 sq. kms. respectively. The total population in Anand District is

18,56,712 & that of Kheda is 20,23,354 persons.




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The sex ratio in Anand 910 women to 1000 men, which is lower than the state average

of 921. However, the sex ratio in Kheda district at 922 women to 1000 women can be

considered good when compared to the State average. The literacy ratio in both the

districts is good compared to the State ratio of 69.97%. The literacy ratio in these

districts is 74.95% & 72.71% in Anand & Kheda respectively. The literacy ratio among

males is 86% in both the districts and that among females is 62.54% in Anand District &

57.77% in Kheda district. The following table shows comparative details about the key

profile in the year 2001 and 1991. 44.81% (906640) of the total population in Kheda and

42.25% (784395) in Anand is working of which 36% & 32% are females.

ANAND

2001 1991

Population

Males 972355 858961

Females 884357 783654

1856712 1642615

Sex Ratio 910 912

Literacy ratio

Male 86.31 81.23

Female 62.54 53.38

74.95 67.92

Growth Rate 13.03 N.A.

% of urbanisation 27.34 25.17

Working Population as a % of

total Population (42.25%)

Males (55.20%) 536750 N.A.

Females (28.00%) 247645 N.A.

784395

KHEDA




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2001 1991

Population

Males 1052869 928500

Females 970485 858294

2023354 1786794

Sex Ratio 922 924

Literacy Ratio

Male 86.58 79.83

Female 57.77 46.90

72.71 63.97

Growth Rate 13.24 N.A.

% of urbanisation 20.07 20.78

Working Population as a % of

total Population (44.81%)

Males (55.14%) 580586 N.A.

Females (33.60%) 326054 N.A.

906640

The total membership of SEWA in the District is 1,05,000 and all the members are the poor

workers from the informal economy.

Kheda and Anand, as such, belong to the comparatively more developed districts of Gujarat.

However, resources, wealth, and welfare are unequally distributed in favour of a small

group of big farmers and traders leaving a large part of the population dependent on fragile

livelihoods and in need of the most basic services.

Tobacco industry is one of the main economic activities of both districts and almost 80 % of

the tobacco in the country is produced in this Districts. Thus Tobacco industry is an

important source of income for poor agricultural labourers wherein more than 80 % of the

workers in the Districts survive on tobacco agriculture and tobacco processing. However the

employment opportunities of poor women in this sector is affected by a number of macro-

economic and technological developments which includes (a) increased mechanisation both

in the tobacco fields as well as in the processing units, (b) a larger influx of cheap, migrant

labour has caused an increase of the supply of labour simultaneously, (c) WHO and Indian

government has mounted an active anti-smoking campaign thereby reducing the demand for

tobacco.

Also decreasing tobacco prices have affected the small and marginal farmers in particular,

as these farmers do not have the capital to invest in proper storage facilities to store tobacco

until market prices goes up. Their situation is further exacerbated by increasing costs of

fertilizer, electricity, and water.

As a result the poor women members earn very low wages i.e only Rs. 10 – 20 / day despite

of hard work for 8-10 hours in a day. This makes survival very difficult and as a result,

many farmers are indebted and have been forced to mortgage their land to big farmers and

moneylenders.




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Apart from the problem of low and irregular work / employment, the poor workers in this

sector are facing various other problems such as (a) no identity of workers, (b) financial and

capacity problems such as poor access to basic financial services, (c) lack of land and space,

(d) poor knowledge of technical and economic issues and (e) lack of social security etc.

Summarizing the above, the women workers in the Kheda and Anand districts are facing a

situation with:

� High economic dependency of the tobacco industry (with low wages)

� Limited skills in other trades than the tobacco industry and low potentials for

alternative income generation.

� Being predominantly workers in the informal economy, they are in a vulnerable

situation with low level of protection and security at the workplaces and livelihood.

� Weakened bargaining position in the labour market.

As a response to this, SEWA started organizing in Kheda and Anand District in mid 80’s

and has till date organised 105120 women workers from 400 villages in 10 talukas, which

mainly comprises of agro and tobacco processors, small and marginal farmers, weavers,

nursery raisers, and vegetable growers. There distribution is as follows:

Taluka No. of Members

Kheda/Anand 26800

Anklav 12640

Borsad 10720

Petlad 11840

Sojitra 1160

Khambhat 6720

Umreth 880

Nadiad 12640

Thasra 9360

Matar 2280

Memdavad 1560

Maudha 440

Total 1,05,120




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TRADE CATEGORIES NO. OF

MEMBERS

Vendors

Fruit & Vegetable Vendors 571

Cutlery seller 41

Other Vendors 101

Total Vendors 713

Producers & Service Providers

Agriculture 193

Animal Husbandry 749

Others (Includes book binding & Paper work,

plastic cement bags clean etc.)

86

Total Producers & Services 1028

Labour & Services

Agriculture Labour 86756

Tobacco Worker 13259

Casual Labour 1001

Others (Includes construction worker, cleaners,

domestic worker, fire-wood worker, soil worker

etc.)

424

Total Labour & Services 101440

Home-based Worker

Bidi Roller 548

Weaving 81

Garmnet Sticher 222

Bead Embroidery 34

Others (includes agarbatti roleer, bamboo worker,

broom maker, carpenter, rope maker, toy maker,

etc.)

1054

Total Nome-based Worker 1939

TOTAL 105120

SEWA initiated its activity with organising tobacco workers for regular employment and

minimum wages which included

� Liaisoning with Govt. / local authorities / employers,

� Inspection of tobacco processing units,

� Gramsabhas / village meetings / awareness among the members regarding rights,

collective bargaining, capacity buildings etc. / workers education classes,

� Provision of I-cards for the tobacco & bidi workers, and

� Facilitation in getting scholarship for children etc.

Given its experience and its reach and impact at the grassroot level in the rural areas in 1997

– 1998 SEWA was invited to conduct a survey by the Government of Gujarat for its Poverty

Alleviation Programme (PAP). This survey comprised of 700 villages situated in 9 districts

including Kheda and Anand. The survey was conducted to bring about infrastructural

changes in the villages in order to make each village an ideal self-sustainable village.




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During this survey along with the villages profile the family profiles were also filled in

which included (apart from the basic information) the details related to traditional arts &

occupations as well as willingness to undertake non-traditional economic activities.

Referring to the Kheda and Anand the above mentioned survey was conducted for 14489

community members from 112 villages. During this survey the demands and need for the

major occupations hat came out in the District were animal husbandry, nursery raising and

weaving.

Thus in its journey towards this and recognizing the needs SEWA also facilitated in

generation of alternate employment opportunities (weaving, nursery raising and vegetable

growing) and social security and related services for the poor workers from the informal

economy (childcare, health care, savings, insurance etc.)

4. The Kheda and Anand districts strategic plan (2008-2011)

The overall SEWA’s strategy in the districts is to organise women into a union and at the

same time create alternative employment for the women combined with social security

programs and capacity building. The strategy is based on the demand of its members– and is

developed in close cooperation with these.

The strategy has the following strategic elements:

� 1: Organisational and Institutional Development of SEWA

� 2: Tobacco campaign and organising

� 3: Capital formation and decreased economic vulnerability

� 4: Income Generating Activities & new skills and capacities

� 5: Increasing social security and reducing vulnerability

Major highlights from the same are as mentioned below.

As noted in Annex 2, the expected costs of the 3-years strategic plan amount to Rs. 56.8

million. Of this, SEWA will – with own funds - be able to contribute with Rs. 20.4 million

and will seek external funding for the remaining Rs. 36.4 million

Annex 1 provides an overview of the outputs and activities of the strategic plan. It does also

present the objectives and indicators, which describes the fulfilment of the activities. The

indicators will be a main part of the regular monitoring system.

4.1 Organisational and Institutional Development of SEWA.

As mentioned, today 105120 women workers from 400 villages in 10 talukas are members

of SEWA in the districts. It is expected that this will increase to 200000 members within the

three years of this strategic plan. This increase in membership puts a high demand on

developing SEWA as an organisation and its human resources. It also increased the needs

and potentials for cooperation with other institutions.

4.1.1 Organisational Development and Institutional Capacity Building

The strengthened capacity of the rural poor and their organizations is one of the strategic

objectives of SEWA. SEWA believes in the primacy of local ownership and knowledge.




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SEWA supports its members to organize into groups or co-operatives, so that they

themselves become the owners and managers of the programmes / organisations.

Figure 1 provides a diagrammatic overview of the organisational set-up of the SEWA

Kheda District Association (KDA) in the districts.




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FIGURE 1 - KHEDA DISTRICT ASSOCIATION - ORGANOGRAM

District Coordinator

Local Coordinator

(Tobacco, Nursery

Campaign, IT)

Local Coordinator

(Insurance, Childcare,

Savings & Credit and

Shanta Programme)

Local Coordinator

(Capacity Building

Trainings,

Jeevanshala,

Healthcare)

Organizers/

Spearhead Team

80:20

Organizers/

Spearhead Team

80:20

Organizers/

Spearhead Team

80:20

Organizers/

Spearhead Team

80:20

Aagewans

Aagewans

Aagewans

Aagewans

Local Coordinator

(Weaving,

Agriculture, Water

Campaign, Research

and Administration)

Team Leaders and

Organizers

Team Leaders and

Organizers

Team Leaders and

Organizers

Team Leaders and

Organizers




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The role and function of the KDA, and its relation to SEWA are as specified below.

SEWA’s approach to rural organizing is area-specific and demand driven; the

communities themselves are the designers and implementers of all community-based

activities, under the leadership of SEWA’s members. SEWA helps women members in

rural communities build and operate their own organizations. By organizing themselves

into cooperatives and district level federations, the members develop collective bargaining

power and create for themselves alternative sources of employment, and thereby,

livelihood security for their families.

Thus District Associations are federation of poor women members owned and managed by

them. The district associations are headed by an elected Executive Committee of the

members with the District Coordinator acting as Secretary of the Association.

KDA is an association formed by members for chanelizing their collective efforts towards

achievement of full employment and socio-economic security. KDA is managed by

members through their elected representatives. KDA Executive Committee (Karobari) is

the district level body of members’ representatives. It has the role of a strategist planner

and monitoring resource for activities of KDA. This unit receives strategic inputs from

SEWA’s Rural Development Department. KDA strategic frame work follows the broad

guidelines and policies provided by SEWA. Also the activities of Kheda District

Association is more directed to employment creation and income generating and are

supported by SEWA to gain more sustainability and independence.

Programmes and activities being implemented in KDA area are in congruence with

SEWA strategy. To facilitate implementation, annual business plans are prepared. Budgets

are also used in programme/project planning and review. Before beginning of a new year,

KDA prepares and presents these plans before SEWA members at the Annual General

Meeting (AGM). Prior to this presentation, KDA teams at the grassroots level and the

Executive Committee invariably spend a lot of time and effort in preparation of business

plans and budgets, and their approval at the district-level.

Table 1 below provides an quantitative overview of the organisational structure and

capacity of SEWA in the districts and provides, where relevant, the target figures by 2011.




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Table 1: Quantitative overview of the organisational structure, today and by 2011

Parameter Status by

June 2007

Target

(June 2008)

Target

(Dec 2009)

Target

(June 2011)

Members

Members (total) 105000 125000 150000 200000

Members in SHGs 11068 14500 16500 17500

Members with income from

nurseries

120 70 80 120

Members with income from

weaving

75 105 120 140

Members participating in water

campaigns

12000 12000 12500 13500

Members with ID cards (tobacco,

bidi and Agriculture Workers)2

45000 45000 45000 45000

Members who has insurance 27000 42000 62000 92000

Members participating in life

schools

350 475 600 850

Children in Child Care 800 1000 1200 1300

No. of Members Children who

have received Scholarship

7000 7500 8000 8500

Members with assistance from

healthcare

30000 35000 40000 50000

Shanta Program : Shanta Women

Hamare Bachche

17

35

17

35

17

35

17

35

No. of members Associated with

Marketing of RUDI Products

125 150 175 225

No. of members covered under

Agricultural campaign

2000 5000 7000 12000

No. of Trade Representative

Members

508 625 750 1000

No. of active Trade Committee

Members

150 200 250 300

HRD

No. of village leaders 1200 1500 2000 3000

No. of village leaders with

education

50 %

literate but

mostly till

standard 3

50 %

literate but

mostly till

standard 3

50 %

literate but

mostly till

standard 3

50 %

literate but

mostly till

standard 3

No. of spearhead teams 100 110 125 150

No. of spearhead teams with

education

60 %

literate but

mostly till

standard 3

60 %

literate but

mostly till

standard 3

60 %

literate but

mostly till

standard 3

60 %

literate but

mostly till

standard 3

2 As regards to the I-card for the tobacco / agriculture workers, SEWA has done lot of efforts with the labour department for issuance of I-card to this workers. But now the labour department has stopped giving the I-cards, given the situation SEWA foresees that no more I-card would be issued during the period. Though SEWA plans to work on the same and work out other options through lobbying with the labour department.




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or standard

5

or standard

5

or standard

5

or standard

5

No. of members trained in

Members education 50000 52000 54000 56000

Leadership skills 1200 1500 2000 3000

Kadam 150 170 190 210

No. of staff 52 54 56 58

Trained staff in

Sustainability Approach 100 110 120 130

Planning and Monitoring 150 155 160 165

Costing 50 75 100 125

Marketing 150 215 275 340

Organisational and institutional

Number of Block in which SEWA

Works

10 11 12 13

Number of villages in which

SEWA Works

400 450 500 600

Number of villages “developed”

consolidated Villages*

129 134 139 144

Number of Village Resource

Centres

2 2 2 2

Number of HUB centres for RUDI

purchase

3 4 5 7

Water Committees / Kisan Vikas

Mandals

30 45 47 50

No. of SEWA supported Weaving

Centres

8 10 11 13

SEWA Supported Child Care

Centres

30 30 30 30

No. of Jeevan Shalas (Life School) 17 22 28 38

No. of SHGs 571 700 800 850

No. of Community Learning

Centres

5 5 5 5

Local advocacies with local

governments (which ones)

Labour Officer, Bidi Welfare Board, Workers Education

board, Collector, District Development Officer, DRDA,

DHO, DFO, Income Tax Deprtment, Charity Office,

Government Banks, Seed Corporation, Agriculture

Department, Land Development Division, Education

Department etc. * These are the villages wherein the infrastructure and related facilities are comparatively comparatively good. This

includes road connectivity, facilities for child care / schools, Primary Health Care Centres etc. Further this facilities

villages may be due to several efforts taken up by SEWA as presently atleast 4 activities of SEWA is in operation in

these villages. Further during this reporting period the District Association will also plan out and see how should hey

expand their reach so that more villages becomes developed consolidated villages.




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The list of direct / indirect individuals, organisational and institutions that are involved and

are co-operating for carrying out the activities of Kheda District Association is as

mentioned below. Also a brief on the SEWA’s concerns is included below

� SEWA and its District Association : Guidance in strategic, managerial as well

operational issues and expousure / experience sharing

� SEWA’s sister concerns : Following is the list of SEWA’s sister concern and

support provided by them – write a brief on each of the sister concerns

o SEWA Bank is registered and operates as a cooperative bank. The Bank functions

economically independently of SEWA and operates with independent books of

accounts and decision-making structures headed by the Managing Director.

SEWA bank facilitates with the micro-finances and related service to the poor

members of SEWA. It facilitates the District Association with the microfinance

and related services

o SEWA Academy is SEWA’s training and capacity building institution and the

major activities includes (a) Member education, (b) orientation training of

resource persons on SEWA’s principles, strategies and approaches; (c) media

resource development; and (d) research at field level to feed into and update the

training activities. Thus SEWA Academy supports SEWA to run various capacity

building and literacy programmes. It supports the training and capacity building

activity in the District.

o Mahila Housing SEWA Trust facilitates housing and related technical services to

the poor members of SEWA. It was set-up in 1994 to help women obtain housing

finance and technical services. It advises members on house construction with

many members accessing finance through SEWA Bank. It also works closely with

the Municipal Corporation in Ahmedabad to help poor neighbourhoods obtain

basic amenities and services like water, sanitation, street lights, garbage disposal,

etc. In the rural areas, the Housing Trust also assists in the implementation of the

government programmes for house construction for below poverty line families.

o SEWA Gram Mahila Haat provides marketing, technical and related services to the

small and marginal farmer members of SEWA. Started in 1999 with support from

the Gujarat Government it is a state level apex organization aims to eliminate

exploitive middlemen and provide direct technical, financial, and marketing

assistance to agriculture producers

o SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre facilitates in marketing. A Section 25 company

under Indian Companies Act. It is a unique (grassroot) commercial enterprise

formed by more than 15,000 rural artisan-shareholders from desert districts of

North Gujarat to overcome their impoverished condition through enhanced trade.

STFC has transformed their activity into a sustainable commercial viable

enterprise, providing full income and livelihood security to its shareholders

through effective integration with mainstream national and global markets.

o SEWA Manager’s School provides Managerial Capacity Building. It is set-up

with an objective to (a) empower members at the smallest level of organisation

within SEWA into “grass root leaders” through enhanced basic membership

training and (b) transform the intermediate level “spearhead leaders” into a cadre

of “barefoot managers” capable of training and managing individual and group

activities inside and outside of SEWA




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o SEWA Social Security s running SEWA’s health care, child care and insurance

programmes

� Technical experts : Technical support in various specified fields eg. Agriculture –

Anand Agriculture University, Management Trainings / Education – Ahmedabad

Management Association, Healthcare and related trainings through VRC – Apollo

Hospitals, Computer and Related Trainings – Dharamsingh Desai Institute of

Technology etc.

� Local / regional / state / national level authorities and Legislative bodies: This

includes Labour Department, Bidi Welfare Board, Workers Education board,

Collector, District Development Officer, DRDA, DHO, DFO, Income Tax

Deprtment, Charity Office, Government Banks, Seed Corporation, Agriculture

Department, Land Development Division, Education Department, Primary Health

Centres etc.

� Partner organisations / agencies : In its journey of the development of the

informal economy workers Kheda District Association has partnered with various

national / international organisations, Government etc. for technical / financial

support. This includes LO-FTF, Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging FNV,

Banayan Tree Foundation, Community Aid Abroad (CAA), UNIFEM, Gujarat

State Government, Central Government of India etc. Since last 10 years LO/FTF of

Denmark and - FNV of Netherlands are among the major partners to Kheda District

Association.

� Factory Owners / Trade Owners / shop owners / Contractors

� Community members, Beneficiaries and Family members of beneficiaries

A study of the institutional capacity of SEWA in the Anand and Kheda districts were

recently undertaking. The study, which was supported by the organisation FNV,

Netherlands, were focusing on achieving efficient management of the activities undertaken

by the District including (a) implementation, (b) financial monitoring (c) financial &

physical reporting and (d) performance measurement/evaluation.

The study provided a set of recommendations on strategic planning, M&E, human

resources and trainings needs, finance and accounting, and IT development, which SEWA

in general agreed to. With reference to the above recommendations with support from

current FNV Programme trainings for (a) Human Resource Management & Systems (8

participants) and (b) Strategic Planning & Control Systems (10 participants) is planned.

Partly as a response to the study, SEWA have started a process in which SEWA is seeking

to become more cost-efficient and sustainable. The major efforts taken up in this context

are as mentioned below.

KDA adopted a new strategy in 2006 in re organising the work. The karyakartas now look

after all the activities of a cluster. This is very different from the earlier arrangement of

having different karyakartas for different activities. Each taluka is broken into clusters of 4

to 6 villages, depending on member-size or number of activities. Each karyakarta is




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assigned a cluster, wherein she looks after all the activities of the particular cluster.

Besides this, activity-wise teams look after a specific activity throughout the districts.

It is experienced that the new arrangement has led to cost cutting up to 40 percent

especially in travel bill. It is expected that the organisers’ capacity will also be built as

they now supervise all the activities to be carried out in their particular allotted clusters.

Training programmes on monitoring have been conducted under the new structure so that

the team leaders and organizers understand the proceedings of all activities. Regular

meetings and review have helped them in becoming aware of all kinds of activity.

Also the District Association is progressing towards the sustainability of the community

members and the groups. This especially includes the members associated with the

alternate employment support / income generating activities eg. the members engaged in

nursery raising and weaving are over a period of time withdrawn certain type of support

and are now carrying out their activities on their own with an handholding support from

KDA with respect to revolving fund and marketing.

Within the coming 3-years strategic plan, SEWA plans – partly with point of departure in

the findings of the institutional assessment study - to continue to upgrade its organisational

capacity in the Kheda and Anand districts through a need assessment of operational

strategic planning, monitoring (and financial management and reporting) on response to

growing membership, development of MIS (Management Information System), related

trainings and its implementation, installation of IT and related infrastructure. Also a

number of strategic and managerial trainings event, workshops and meeting for the human

resources are involved. These are presented below:

� Capacity Building Trainings (strategic and managerial)

o HRMS - 10 members

o Finance and Accounting – 10 members

o Marketing Sales and Distribution System – 10 members

o Strategic planning and Control – 10 members

� Vision Development Workshop

� Spearhead team Meetings (no cost as this would be covered in the honorarium to

spearhead)

4.1.2 Human Resource Development

SEWA believes that the sustainability and self reliance of any programme or organization

fundamentally depends on the capacity of its managers and leaders. Therefore, SEWA

works on the capacity building of cadres of local managers and establishing committees.

These are presented below (see table 1 for numbers):

Leadership training

� Aagewans (leaders) is the one who brings others forward”. In the process of

organizing its members SEWA conducts Gramsabha in each village several times

followed by ‘Members Education’ training. During the gramsabhas, the village

community themselves elects their leaders i.e Agewans from all the members from a

particular village. During the selection of Agewans, it is taken care that certain

qualities i.e (a) pro activeness, (b) understand their area, members, issues and needs;

(c) commitment & dedication for her community, (d) willing to know and share with




18

the community members for their benefit, (e) unselfishness, (g) willingness to work

and take responsibilities etc. are in existence / seen during the various forums like

gramsabha, meetings etc. An agewan may or may not be a literate but should be from

among the local community members with above qualities. To strengthen their

leadership qualities SEWA trains them. Aagewan is the bridge between members and

the organization. Aagewan share out the new things with the members and community

and conveys needs and problems of villagers to the organization. Success of the

organization depends upon how good aagewans it has.

� Spearhead Team Members are on the core position for the implementation of any

activity at grassroot level. The members are given grade once they have undergone

members education training. The members who have received ‘A’ Grade are elected to

undergo ‘SEWA Movement Training’ which covers (a) introduction of SEWA, (b)

detail information of SEWA’s activities, (c) economic condition of a woman, (d)

importance of savings, (d) gandhian philosophy, (e) drawing competition, (f) structure

of SEWA, (g) roles and responsibilities of Agewan, (h) video replay, (i) identity, (j)

leadership development, (k) women empowerment. Based on the results of SEWA

Movement training a person who is having more capabilities are converted in

spearhead team leaders from agewan. The spearhead team members are grassroots

aagewans (Leaders), who develop their knowledge skills. Each spearhead team has

aagewans and local SEWA organizers in the ratio of 80:20 respectively, who take

charge of all of SEWA’s activities. Their management skills are also enhanced through

planned capacity-building inputs.

� Trade Representatives (Pratinidhis) are the elected representatives (1 for every 400

members). The election takes place every 3 years. ‘Pratinidhi’ is a link between the

members and management. They are responsible for motivating members to take over

and run local women organization in the villages. A monthly meeting of the

‘Pratinidhis’ from different districts is held in which the representatives, leaders and

organizers discuss and exchange experiences and develop a shared vision for every

year. Different issues like rights and duties of members, philosophy, approach and

importance of SEWA, its activities, marketing, quality management, globalisation etc.

are taken care.

� DWCRA Leaders are the leaders of group formed under governments DWCRA

(Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas) Programme, launched in 1982

as part of the Integrated Rural Development program (IRDP) with an aim to empower

rural women living below the poverty line (BPL) by way of organizing them to create

sustainable income generating activities through self-employment. In SEWA under

DWCRA programme, the women’s groups were formed and registered with the

District Rural Development Agency (DRDA).

� Savings Group Leaders : SEWA members’ form SHG of 15 to 20 members. Each

SHG has 2 leaders. Each SHGs select their own leaders. During the selection it is

taken care that the selected member possess certain qualities including (a) leadership,

(b) unbiased of cast and creed, (c) ability to handle meetings, (d) enough flexibility to

go out of the village for work etc.

Committees




19

� Trade Committees is elected by and from among the aagewans of the different districts

in different trade. The number of trade committee members is elected based on various

factors which are (a) number of members in the village, (b) age group of the members,

(c) trade of the members and (d) community of the members. The trade committees are

elected for 124 different trades. This elected trade committee members represents each

of the SEWA members engaged in different trades.

� Executive Committee is elected from amongst the elected ‘Pratinidhi’ members,

depending on the membership strength of each trade group. SEWA’s executive

committee has 25 members, of which 21 are from the elected members and 4 are

nominated members. SEWA’s Executive Committee is also elected every three years.

An executive committee has a president and 3 vice presidents. SEWA has a tradition

that the trade having highest member can have president from their trade. The

executive committee of SEWA meets every month. Their major role is to plan, review,

discuss, and evaluate the functions as per the plan. Where at first step planning is a

very crucial factor to lead the organisation’s activities as per its vision and mission. So

it is very essential to have capacity building training of the EC.

� Village Development Committee are formed to implement the village plans prepared

as per the demands / needs of the community. VDC is responsible and are directly

involved in the training and management of the activities to be implemented under the

community services. VDC members will be the one who will plan and take decision

for the village development activities to be done from the funds of the village

development account. SEWA District Associations arrange for selection of the

members of VDC in gramsabha. In this way the community themselves appoint the

members from their village who they think are (a) able to take the responsibilities, (b)

have co-ordinating abilities and (c) successful in implementation. The VDC usually

comprises 10 members of which 8 should be women. However, procedures and

number of members can be decided on a case-to-case basis. The office bearers of the

VDC would comprise the chairperson, secretary and treasurer. The Village

Development Committee forms the contact point between SEWA District Associations

and the village.

This cadre of local leaders and managers play an increasingly important role in the

implementation of the Programmes of SEWA. The implementation capacity of the SEWA

movement has grown tremendously over a period of time. The emerging spearhead teams

and cadre of grassroots leaders forms an important contribution to the growth towards

sustainability and self-reliance of the SEWA movement in Anand and Kheda. For

instance, trained spearhead team leaders are conducting training programs to members

without any support from the SEWA organisers. Further the capacity building and the

active involvement also increases the self-confidence of the grass root women. It is

expected that the leaders will train 300 numbers of members in SEWA movement courses.

Another cost-efficient and impact-enhancing effort, that SEWA has implemented in recent

years is the establishment of 2 Village Resource Centres (VRCs) in the District with the

main objective to facilitate knowledge sharing on the IT initiatives planned by the state

and central governments, corporates and others. It is also sought to create a platform to

facilitate the involvement of civil society and community-based organisations in these

interventions so that the benefits of ICTs reach every village.




20

VRCs are envisaged as single window delivery mechanism for a variety of space based

products and services, such as tele-education, tele-medicine, information on natural

resources for planning and development at local level, interactive advisories on

agriculture, fisheries, land and water resources management, livestock management, etc,

interactive vocational training towards alternative livelihood, e-governance, weather

information, etc. VRCs will also address a variety of social aspects locally, and can act as

help-lines.

Capacity building and related trainings has played an important role for the human

resource development of SEWA over a period of year. Considering the growth and

sustainability aspects of the District Association, certain capacity building trainings to the

cadre of leaders is envisaged during the planning period. The details of the same are as

follows.

� Trainings to 250 trade representatives

� SEWA Movement and Leadership trainings to 300 leaders

� Operation of 2 Village Resource Centre (VRC) and purchase of Equipment for the

same

� Session / Training through VRC on telemedicine, NRM, e-education and e-

governance - 15 sessions / month and 25 members would participate in each

session

� Trainings for Preparation of Solar Light (7 days trg. to 10 members)

4.2 Tobacco Campaign and organising

On its journey of organising the poor workers from the informal economy; SEWA was

also working for the welfare of bidi workers in Ahmedabad City. Working towards this

and working for the issues related to the bidi workers, it came out that chronic issues exist

among tobacco agriculture / processing workers. Given the fact that more than 80 % of the

Tobacco is produced in the district of Kheda and Anand district, SEWA initiated

organising women tobacco workers in Districts in the mid 1980s.

SEWA continued its efforts for the poor workers in the district and this was done through

educating the workers in classes as well as gatherings, meetings with owners, liaisoning

and co-ordination with Government etc. Some of the important activities which occurred

with SEWA / District Association’s intervention for the development of the poor tobacco

agricultural / processing workers included:

� Organising approximately 500 Workers education classes in which around 17500

to the members wherein members are educated on various information with respect

to their trade and their rights and benefits they should get as a workers eg. I-card,

daily wages etc. This also worked as a platform to bring out the issues pertaining to

workers at their work place. Moreover the effect of the same is seen in the whole

village

� Issuance of more than 45000 I-cards to bidi workers, tobacco workers and

agriculture workers. The I-cards are important to the workers as they get the legal

identity and helps them in getting their rights.

� Improvement of socio-economic conditions of the workers through SEWA’s effort

for the tobacco processing workers which included maintainence of records and




21

registers, regular payment of salaries, leave details, bonus, employers contribution

on completion of the workers tenure, contribution of the factory owners in SEWA

operated child care centres etc. Also SEWA facilitated for the improvement in the

Socio Economic conditions of the workers through its Social Security programmes

i.e. health care, childcare, housing.

� Regular inspection in tobacco processing units and tripartite negotiations with the

tobacco industry and government organisations. As a result the minimum daily

wages has increased from Rs 10-12 to Rs. 40 – 50, and the influx of migrant

workers have decreased.

� Facilitation in getting scholarship of Rs. 42 lacs for educating more than 7000

children of the workers

These activities have improved the socio-economic situations of the tobacco workers and

their children substantially, both through increased and more stable income, and through

increased social security (scholarships, i-cards etc.)

As a result, SEWA plans to continue this campaign in the coming years for the betterment

of tobacco agriculture and processing workers. During the period of this strategic plan,

SEWA will continue its campaign and strive towards increased wages / income and social

security for 50.000 agriculture and tobacco processing workers in the districts. It is the

hope that minimum wages of these workers will be raised / maintained to Rs. 60 - OK /

day by the end of the period. In addition, scholarship to 1000 Children will be the results.

The activities proposed to achieve the above are as mentioned below.

� Trade council Meetings – Monthly – 300 participants

� Organising 300 Village Meetings for Organising

� Trade Committee Meetings – Monthly - 150 members

� 18 Tripartite / block meetings with employers

The activities, with a budget will mainly be carried out by an organiser, a team leader and

10 spearhead team members

4.3 Capital formation and decreased economic vulnerability

Given the members are poor workers from the informal economy, day to day survival

itself is a disaster for such members. Furthermore they are the one who are most affected

from the manmade as well as natural disaster and does not have any ownership in their

own name. Thus at the times of disaster and fulfilment of their needs they have to depend

on the money lenders / traders who charges very high rate of interest and as a result they

cannot get out of the trap of the money lenders / traders. Considering this SEWA started

savings and credit activities in the members to provide support, security and provide

protection to poor members against risk and disaster.

Presently around 11000 –members of the District are organised in 571 savings groups and

the total yearly savings amounts to Rs. 75 – 80 lacs (750-800.000). The District

Association plans to consolidate and extend its reach in below mentioned manner.

� Opening of 279 new Self Help Groups (SHG) thus totalling 850 SHGs with 25.000

members.




22

� Credit Facilities to to additional 3000 members totalling to Rs. 30 millions for

trade, agriculture, housing, animal husbandry, education, medical, land, to pay old

debts. The credit will be provided to (a) Khedu Mandals (farmers groups) at village

level, based on the need of the farmers’ group and (b) the individual members for

building pucca houses considering the fact that since last three years Kheda and

Anand districts are facing continuous floods and their houses are damaged due to it.

� 10.000 members will join integrated social protection mechanism3.

� In addition, it is also estimated that the members will save an amount of Rs. 1

million as Livelihood Security Fund. This fund is saved by the members wherein a

nominal amount per month is taken aside from their livelihood and is then utilised

during the disaster, when they have to invest for reviving their livelihoods.

In order to achieve this, the following activities are planned during the period.

� Capacity Building

• Members education – 4000 members of new SHGs will be trained

• Leader’s training- 18 trainings will be given 400 members on Formation of SHGs,

“How to run SHGs”, Role of leaders, Book keeping, credit management, How to

make group self reliant

• Spearhead team trainings – Total 6 trainings and 120 members on how to prepare

loan document, interest calculation, group management, Annual meeting of SHGs

• Association Trustee’s trainings- 9 trainings

� Meetings

• Monthly meeting of trustees

• Annual General Meeting of District Association

It is budgeted that the cost of carrying out the activities would be around Rs. 7,000,000/-

against which inflow from interest spread from different category loans and other related

income would be Rs. 7,89 millions in the three years (2008-2011). Thus the operational

and management cost of this activity would be covered by the same. A brief calculations

for the same are as mentioned below.

3 Under this an arrangement is done in such a integrated manner that a member saves for membership fee

and is linked with Savings , Insurance, Livelihood Security Fund (LSF).




23

Particulars Year I Year II Year III

6% intreset spread on outstanding loan of Rs

90,00,000 in year I; 10000000 in Year II and

Year III

5,40,000 6,00,000 6,00,000

New loan at zero percentage Rs 5000000 in

Year I and II; and 7000000 in Year III

10,50,000 10,50,000 14,70,000

New loan at 10% interest Rs 4500000 in

Year I & II and 3000000 in Year III

4,95,000 4,50,000 3,30,000

New loan at 15% interest Rs 2000000 in Year

I; 3000000 in Year II and 5000000 in Year III

1,20,000 1,80,000 3,00,000

Hall Rent 25,000 25,000 25,000

Service Charge 1,20,000 1,50,000 2,00,000

Interest Income 40,000 40,000 50,000

Entrance Fees 10,000 5,000 5,000

Total 2.400.000 2.500.000 2.980.000

4.4 Income Generating Activities & new skills and capacity building

As mentioned earlier, SEWA has experienced that employment threat was one of the

major issues among the tobacco agriculture / processing workers. In addition the majority

of the members are agriculture workers, who do not count on a sustainable source of

income. Given this SEWA started working towards the generation of alternate

employment opportunities (IGAs). Considering the situation in the district and the existing

skills among the members SEWA has facilitated its members with a number of alternate

employment generation activities. The major among them have been weaving and nursery

but are now expanded to other IGAs.

One of the central points of the SEWA strategy is therefore to impulse the generation of

other income activities (IGA), among others through upgrading of skills and capacity

building. The following IGAs are the most important ones, which will be promoted in the

districts:

� RUDI processing centres/HUBS

� Agricultural campaigns

� Weaving

� Nursery raising, and

� Waste paper pickers.

The content of those are described below:

4.4.1 Setting up of RUDI Processing Centre and 3 Processing HUBS

RUDI is a rural distribution network that comprises procurement, processing, packaging

and marketing of food grains at the local level. In 2004, SGMH with support from




24

Grassroots Trading Network (GTN)4 and Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), an Indian

subsidiary of Unilever, established a Rural Distribution Network (RUDI) with an idea to

(a) internally rotate scarce funds of the rural producers in a way that fetches maximum

benefit and brings about positive changes in their lives and to provide multi-user facilities,

(b) reduce incidental expenses and build-up an integrated value chain in order to enhance

the efficiency of agricultural activities, (c) reduce the hardships by the producers,

processors and to create multiple employment opportunities and (d) link the producers

directly to the consumers. A pilot was initiated in 90 villages of the Sabarkantha district of

Gujarat with very promising results. Accordingly, SEWA is planning to expand RUDI to

all the districts, in which SEWA is working.

In the Kheda and Anand districts, SEWA plan to set up 1 processing and 3 hub centres,

which will link poor and marginal farmers within the districts. The effects of this are

various: 1) an estimated 150 poor women will be engaged in marketing leading to daily

income of Rs. 50 / day, 2) both SEWA and non-SEWA members will be able to purchase

the products at a lower price locally and 3) the producers (of which some also are

members of SEWA), will obtain a secure and stable markets.

To achieve this, the District association plans the following activities during the period.

� Setting up of processing and hub centres and Purchase of Equipments and

Infrastructure

� Related trainings – Purchasing, quality, Sales, Accounts and Record Keeping,

Management, Costing

� Provision of Seed Capital and Marketing and Promotion Expenses

4.4.2 Agriculture Campaign

The profile of informal economy agriculture workers consists of both producers as well as

workers in all other agriculture-allied activities. It has been very well experienced that

these farmers faces various difficulties and come across various processes which makes

them more vulnerable. This includes (a) increasing cost of inputs, (b) lack of access to

credit, (c) insecure profits, (d) increased dependence on chemical fertilizers, (e)

environmental degradation, (f) non-availability of standardization in quality of seeds and

government certification, (g) increased competition, (h) infrastructure constraints which

includes lack of access to technology, absence of adequate irrigation facilities, inadequate

transportation and storage facility for collection and procurement, non-availability of

modern tools and equipments etc.; (i) lack of technical awareness, (j) lack of market

access, (k) decrease in demand for labour due to increasing mechanization of farming,

change in cropping pattern etc. ; (l) increase in contract labour, (m) no recognisation of

women’s role, (n) health hazards etc.

4 GTN - An international network set-up initiated by SEWA and SEWA Trade Facilitation Center for the Grassroots

Producers Organisations (GPOs) in various developing countries. GTN in India is a deemed company registered under

Section 25 of Indian companies Act, owned by GPOs. The 2 major capabilities of GTN are (1) Creating linkages and (2)

facilitating trade. GTN in India is incorporated in the current year i.e. 2004 and will be expanded across Asia, moving

into Latin America in year 3 and Africa in year 6 of its operation.




25

To address the above needs SEWA started the ‘Agriculture Campaign’ in co-ordination

with its district association and sister organisation. This included also a campaign in the

Kheda and Anand districts as well. The objectives of the agriculture campaign are various,

namely (a) to better understand the issues of marginal, landless farmers and women in

agriculture, (b) to identify the types of safeguards needed (c) to provide economic security

to agricultural workers, (d) to bring them into the mainstream of development in

agriculture with regards to globalization and free market system and (e) to develop

strategic interventions to make agriculture a sustainable livelihood option.

As a part of this campaign the Kheda District Association plans the following during the

given period.

� Formation of Kisan Vikas Mandal (Groups) – 5 new groups would be formed (7

already exists). This group would be trained and the capacities would be built in

such a manner that they would take care of all the issues with respect to Natural

Resource Management in an integrated manner. This would include awareness

creation and education for water and hygiene related activities, agriculture –

technical knowledge, direct market linkages and increase in productivity and

products.

� Organise 72 Gramsabhas meetings

� Co-ordination monthly meetings with Government Officials

� Monthly Capacity building Meetings at SGMH

� Provision of linkages for certified seeds and fertilizers to 250, 300 and 400

members in 1st , 2nd and 3rd years

� Provision of Credit facilities to 500 members

� Provision of market linkages to 100 farmers through Krishi bazar

� 18 seasonal crops trainings to 540 members

� Monthly trade committee meetings to 30 members

� 18 Co-ordination meetings with SGMH

It is estimated that around 2500 poor small and marginal farmers will be able to reap the

benefit of SEWA’s agriculture campaign which would include (a) technical and scientific

knowledge of production leading to increased and quality produces, (b) market knowledge

and information to 150 such small and marginal farmers, which would further facilitate in

getting the fair prices of their produces and direct linkages to the market thereby

eliminating the middlemen, (d) credit facilities 200 such farmers which would save them

from the indebtness of the private money lenders and leading to increase in their

livelihood, (e) certified seeds to 300 members etc.. Through all the above the income of

poor farmers and the agriculture labourers would increase and thereby would lead them

towards the increased & sustainable livelihood; and asset building.

4.4.3 Weaving

SEWA discovered that many tobacco workers were traditional weavers and had

handlooms in their houses. SEWA took on the responsibility of identifying around 1000

weavers and reviving weaving as an alternative form of employment.




26

Presently SEWA is facilitating the operations of 8 weaving centres in 7 villages and

supports 77 weavers. 35 of these are able to earn a stable income of Rs. 2000 – 2500 a

month. Others are presently undergoing training. The weavers are supported with training

of improved weaving techniques, colour combinations, skill upgradation etc. Apart from

this the District Association also facilitates the weavers with marketing and related aspects

as well as their capacity building.

Following SEWA’s integrated approach after taking up the weaving activity in the villages

an effort is made that the benefits of SEWA interventions in various areas are reaped by

the poor community members in this villages eg. the poor community members in the

villages are linked with various SEWA’s Programmes that may be social security,

agriculture campaign, microfinance etc. Thus the spread of SEWA’s membership in these

villages is not limited to the weavers but has been widened over a period of time.

The District Association plans to open 2 new training centres yearly and provide support

to 45 new members under its weaving Programme. In addition, support will be provided to

the existing members of the 8 weaving centres in their effort of moving towards

sustainability.

The activities planned for the same are as mentioned below.

� Operationalisation of a total of 14 centres

� 8 centres will start production which will benefit around 75 weaver members

� Visits to training centres – 60 visits

� Skill upgradation training for a total of 6 new centers from the 10 villages viz.

Khambhat, Sasaj, Santokpura, Fangdi, Demol, Bochasan, Dabhasi, Gangadiya,

Changa and Vaso which will cover 90 members – 6 new centres and 15 members in

each centre will total to 90 members.

� Meeting with Weaver on quality control, selling, marketing, production at district

level 12 meetings in 3 years

� Trade committee meeting – monthly - 20 members

� Coordination with Government authorities - DRDA 36 meetings in 3 years

� Coordination with Handloom corporation, SGMH, STFC total 36 meetings in three

years

� Market promotion, exhibitions and related efforts for marketing the products

The weavers in the district were supported earlier through SEWA and its LO/FTF

Programme running in the district and this has helped in building the capacities of the

weavers. In the strategic plan, all the 8 centres which are presently run in the district will

be taken on production basis and will be doing the production with own revolving the

borrowed/own funds. The production plan and related details for the same is as mentioned

below. 4 types of products will be weaved from yarn and the details for the same are as

follows.

Cost of Production

Products Production (In

Number)

Yarn utilized

in production

(In Kgs)

Yarn Rate

(In Rs.)

Wages to

weavers

(In Rs,)




27

Sari 6060 3030 636300 303000

Bed sheet 24460 9784 1223000 391360

Towel 15600 3510 438750 156000

Napkins 6000 300 37500 18000

Total 16624 2335550 868360

Inflow from Selling

Products Production (In

Number)

Selling Rate

(In Rs.)

Selling Amt

(In. Rs.)

Sari 6060 200.00 1212000

Bed sheet 24460 90.00 2201400

Towel 15600 35.00 546000

Napkins 6000 12.00 72000

Total 52120 4031400

Cost of Production

Yarn Cost 2335550

Wages to Weavers 868360

Total 3203910

Inflow from Selling

Selling calculated

at 60% of total

production

2418840

Considering the above calculations it is assumed that if 60 % of revenues comes from the

produce products during the month Rs. 2418840 would be revolved in the groups while

the remaining amount of Rs. 785070 would be supported from the borrowed funds.

In addition to this, market support and related linkages would be facilitated to them by the

District Association.

Further to this it has been decided that a different method of production will be tried on a

pilot basis. Under this it has been planned out that the process of weaving would be

splitted into 2 teams, wherein 1 team would be involved in the process before putting it on

a loom which 1 team would be involved in doing the weaving on the loom. It is estimated

that this would save time as the team would be splitted depending on the person’s

expertise and would further result into increased production.

4.4.4 Nursery Raising

Kheda district has relatively good supply of water and the land is fertile. SEWA therefore

promoted nursery raising as an alternative employment. Technical trainings for raising

saplings were given to members by linkages with Agriculture Universities. Market

facilitation for the nurseries raised is also been provided by the District Association.

Government Forest Department is also approached to link the members for allocation of

nurseries to its members. Presently more than 100 women have obtained steady work from

this activity and raise saplings of fruit, non-fruit and decorative plants. These members are

able to earn Rs. 1500 to Rs. 2500 per month during the season through nursery raising.

Also 2 members are raising nursery by getting the allotment from Forest Department and

are able to earn Rs. 3000 / month during the season.




28

Apart from the above 4 Groups comprising of 40 members (including 10 members of

Devpura village wherein the land has been allotted by the Gram Panchayat to the members

through SEWA’s effort) are involved in nursery raising, vermicompost, seed collection,

vegetable growing, floriculture, preparation of by-products wherein the handholding

support such as Bags, seeds, accounting regular meetings etc. is facilitated by the District

Association. Through this the members are able to earn Rs. 9000 – 10000 / group as well

as Rs. 1500 – 2000 / member during the season.

Given this the District Association plans to continue the support to the members in the

district through this activity for achieving alternate employment. In addition, support to

extra 90 members from 3 villages is being planned during the period. Here each of women

would raise 5000 saplings.

In order to achieve this, the following activities will be implemented.

� Survey in 15 villages, which would be with respect to selection of members, land

availability for raising nursery, connectivity / availability of market etc. as every

year 3 new villages need to be included during the period and thus the above survey

in 5 villages in each year is estimated to be conducted

� 7 new villages will be included in Nursery Raising activities and 90 women will be

trained and each of this women would raise 5000 saplings in each year

� Purchase of bags, seeds, fertilizers, drugs etc. for 150000 saplings in each year

� Grafting training – 20 members

� Trade committee meeting - monthly

� Set up a new sales centre for marketing of nurseries

� Coordinate with District Rural Department and Forest Department.

The existing members involved in nursery raising will plant and nurture the saplings on

their own and the District Association will facilitate in providing linkages to them for

technical trainings, marketing etc. Also the new members involved in nursery raising

would not be supported with the wages for the nurseries raised. They will only be

supported with bags, seeds, fertilizers etc.

4.4.5 Waste Paper Picker

The poor women members earning their livelihood by collecting the waste paper have

formed their own co-operatives. The members of the co-operative are engaged in

collecting waste paper pickers and they are liaisoning with the offices also for collection

of waste paper. Presently 51 members are associated with the group but this 10 members

are regularly earning their livelihood of Rs. 400 / month through this.

In the strategic plan, it is estimated that 15 members of the co-operative would be

supported with the livelihood through paper pickers co-operative. It is estimated that this

members would earn an estimated income of Rs. 600 / month. The activities planned for

the same mainly includes meetings with the government and non-government agencies, as

mentioned below.

� 24 meetings with Government and non-government agencies

The focus of the above meetings would be basically for collection of the waste papers

from various governmental / non-governmental agencies. Further this meeting would be a




29

step for increasing the income of this members / association of regular work to more

members.

The budgeted cost to be incurred for carrying out this activity will be done by the co-

operative in co-ordination with the District Association.

4.5 Increasing social security and reducing vulnerability

The poor women workers are almost entirely informal economy workers and are - as a

consequence of this – in an often extreme vulnerable situation with limited social security

safety nets.

As mentioned, one of the main strategic elements of the overall SEWA strategy, and also

the Kheda and Anand district strategy, is to reduce the vulnerability of the SEWA

members to man-made and natural shocks and disasters and to increase their social

security. To that end, the following activities are included in the strategic plan:

� Water Campaign

� Health Care

� Child Care Centres

� Insurance Schemes

� Rehabilitation of Riots affected Widows, and

� Jeevan Shala (Life schools).

The content of those are described below:

4.5.1 Water Campaign

The poor members of the districts continuously experience water related problems, such as

water-borne diseases. Given this fact, SEWA and its water campaign team has facilitated

in solving the issues related to water problems. A number of gramsabhas meetings have

been held in more than 100 villages and the water campaign teams have worked to make

clean water available at poor peoples’ doorstep and have provided servicing and repair of

hand pumps for them. SEWA’s district association in Kheda and Anand has also

organized trainings related to use of water in association with the Gujarat Water Supply

Board.

Presently, the water campaign activities are undertaken in 3 blocks. This includes (a)

organising rallies, street plays etc.; (b) maintenance and repair of hand pumps, (c) capacity

building of members and water committees, (d) formation of Kisan Vikas Mandal under

integrated campaign for water, forestry and agriculture and (e) awareness trainings.

Within the strategic plan, the district association will continue this campaign and continue

the activities related to awareness creation (in context of water and hygiene related issues).

It is estimated that a total of 5000 school children and 8000 community members will

direct benefit from this. In order to achieve this, the following activities are planned.

� Organise 8 Rallies in each year to create awareness on Water and Hygeine related

issues

� Education in 10 Schools in each year for awareness creation on water and hygiene

related issues




30

The District Association with support from SEWA and its Programmes has built-up a

cadre of water technician, who are engaged in hand pump repairing through contracts with

the Gujarat Government. Hand pump repairing has directly created stable jobs to 25 – 35

members. It is foreseen that these water technicians will continue the same with support

from the district association.

In addition, the capacity building of the village water committees, which have been carried

out over a period of time, has given the result that the Committee members are now able to

solve the water related issues on their own. Therefore, no extra investments are being

included during this coming period.

4.5.2 Health Care

Based on the members demand and the occupational health hazards prevailing among he

poor tobacco agriculture and processing workers; SEWA initiated primary training

concerning their health. This was also done in the view that although Government PHCs

exist in the district, the benefits of the same were not reachable to the poor community

members. Thus SEWA advocated with such PHCs as targeting the poor community

members also. The trained grassroot leaders of SEWA are engaged in the same.

Other SEWA health care programmes are:

� SEWA in association with District Association in Kheda and Anand has conducted

general, gynaecological and children’s health camps in the district to reach more

members.

� SEWA has linked her health care programme with the government immunization

programme.

� SEWA has built-up the capacity of its health cooperatives and midwives

cooperative in the district to make them accessible to as many members as possible

and for the safe deliveries of the community members. Efforts are on to link this

midwives to the Government Programmes. Under this, the District Association in

co-ordination with SEWA also facilitates the members in providing low cost

medicines.

In the strategic plan, the above programmes will be continued. Apart from the linkages

with the Government scheme and programmes it is also planned to establish linkages with

the local hospitals for providing health security to the poor members. It is envisaged that

5000 – 6000 members will be covered under the health Programme.

In order to achieve this, the following activities are planned.

� Linkages with Local Hospitals

o Organising Camps – 12 in each year – 4000 – 4500 members would be

linked

o Monthly Meeting

o 1500 TB patients would be linked with PHCs

� Capacity building of 25 spearhead Team members

� Co-ordination meetings with hospital (monthly)




31

4.5.3 Child Care Centres

At SEWA it is well understood that without childcare, including child development, its

goal of full employment and self-reliance will remain unfulfilled. Working mothers cannot

take their children to their workplaces without jeopardizing their own work efficiency and

their children’s safety. SEWA believes that women’s struggle to emerge out of poverty

through the quest for work and income security, must be supported by quality childcare.

SEWA’s childcare programme emerged in mid 1970 from the needs expressed by its

members. At present 115 childcare centers are being operated for the SEWA’s rural and

urban members i.e. poor women workers employed in the informal sector economy. These

centers are managed by co-operatives of childcare providers, which have been formed

with SEWA’s support. 30-35 children starting from the age of 0-6 years are served at each

of this centres and focuses on the overall development of the children, including their

physical and intellectual growth.

Similar to this SEWA’s district association in Kheda / Anand focuses on capacity building

of a child care cooperative to manage the programme at the district level. 1200 children

benefited from the 30 child care centers run in the District.

This child care centres play a very important role in the life of poor workers from the

informal economy as this are the centres of their own kind i.e. (a) it serves the children for

the whole day that to as per the working hours of the poor women members from the

informal economy and (b) cater services to the children as small as 15 days old. From the

work experience of three decades in the Childcare Programme, the following major

impacts have been seen.

� Due to the operation of the child care centres the children of the poor women from

the informal economy are protected from various diseases as they do not have to

accompany their mothers at the unhealthy work-place or they are not just roaming

around.

� The child care centres assures the workers from the informal economy that their

children are taken good care of and thus they could go for work which amounts to

increase in income. Further to this their productivity also increases and they can

also do qualitative work

� Children who have been in SEWA childcare centres value learning and education.

� The overall development of the children, who attends the child care centres are

much better compared to others.

� The meetings with mothers etc. educates the mothers on how to take care of the

children when they are at home and also briefs them on the various aspects related

to cleanliness and nutrition which further helps the development of their children

This shows that SEWA’s Childcare Programme not only provides safe childcare for

working mothers, but also lays a strong foundation for the sound physical and intellectual

growth of the children who are involved in it.

Within the strategic plan, the District association will continue the successful operation of

30 child care centres during the planned period. It is estimated that 1200 children will be

taken care of, be provided with nutritious food and supported with medical check-up. In




32

order to run this Programme in an efficient manner, the following activities are planned

during the period.

� Approximately 1200 children will be taken care at the Centres and benefited by

nutritious food

� Medical check up for 1200 children

� Celebration of Festivals during year – Kite flying, Holi, Janmashtami, Christmas,

Independence day, Rakhi festival, Nutritious food Week etc.

SEWA is working towards making the child care programme sustainable and to create the

awareness among the community members so that they will contribute towards the

operation of such child care centres (which is for the development of their children and

will also lead them towards the increase in their livelihood). The community members’

mindset is in the process of accepting this. Based on this, the District Association has

expecting to receive contribution from the parents, from the community members and also

from the owners of the tobacco processing units. The estimation of the contribution to be

received during the planned period is as mentioned below.

Particulars

Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Grand

Total

Parent Contribution 1300

children * Rs. 25 / annum 32500

35,750

39,325

107,575

Tobbaco owner Contribution 100000 100000 100000 300,000

Contribution for Food from

Villages 60000 60000 60000

180,000

Total 192,500 195,750 199,325 587,575

4.5.4 Insurance

SEWA has set up its insurance programme in 1992 as a support to tackle as many possible

risks in the lives of poor women members. This programme provides social protection for

SEWA members to cover their life cycle needs and the various risks they face in their

lives, through an insurance Programme wherein they themselves are the users, owners and

managers of all services. The brief overview of the existing insurance schemes 1 and 2 is

mentioned below.




33

Premium Sum Assured Scheme I

Annual Fix Natura

l Death

Hospitali

zation

Loss of house

/ household

equipments

Accident

al Death

Accident

al Death

(Husban

d)

Insurance

of Whole

Family

325

Insurance

of Member

125 2100 7500 Upto

2000

Upto 10000 40000 15000

Insurance

of

Members’

Husband

100 1500 7500 Upto

2000

25000

Insurance

of Children

100 Upto

2500

Premium Sum Assured Scheme II

Annual Fix Natura

l Death

Hospitali

zation

Loss of house

/ household

equipments

Accident

al Death

Accident

al Death

(Husban

d)

Insurance

of Whole

Family

600

Insurance

of Member

275 5000 20000 Upto

6000

Upto 20000 65000 15000

Insurance

of

Members’

Husband

225 4000 20000 Upto

6000

50000

Insurance

of Children

100 Upto

2500

27000 members are presently insured in Kheda and Anand districts. It is estimated that

within the strategic plan total of 45000 poor community members will be covered under

the insurance programmes. In addition total of 10000 members would be under the

“Integrated Social Protection Mechanism “ by the end of the period.

A brief on the activities planned to achieve this is as mentioned below.

� Trainings to leader – 6 trainings – 35 members in each year




34

� Meetings in villages – (10)

� Claim committee - monthly

� Co-ordination meeting / Claims checking – monthly

As a part of the capacity building of the district association to run insurance programme,

the capacities of the District Association and its member has been built-up over a period of

time. In Kheda and Anand districts, the implementation and processing is done at Anand

by the District Association and thus for managing this the District Association receives

certain funds from VIMO- SEWA as its contribution for management and administrative

cost. It is estimated that 60 % of the budget allocated for carrying out the planned

activities will be covered from this.

4.5.5 Rehabilitation of Riots affected Widows (Shanta programme)

The Shanta Programme was started with the aim of helping Riots affected women and

children in overcoming mental and physical disturbances and help them in attaining

sustainable livelihood. Main activities of the project are trauma, vocational guidance,

health education for children; and livelihood, insurance, housing, health and trauma

counselling for Shanta women. Different traditional means of livelihood were made

available to the women as per their skills, education and interest. In this way this

programme aims to rehabilitate the Shanta women and children in such a way that they get

integrated into the society with economic security and self-confidence.

A total of 15 widows from 12 villages and 38 children are covered under this Programme

from Kheda and Anand district. Within the strategic plan, the District Association in co-

ordination with SEWA plans to continue the support to the beneficiaries in the following

ways.

� Livelihood

o Linkages with SHGs with integrated approach and provision of credit in

second year

o Vocational trainings to 6 widows – 4 Stitching, 2 RUDI, 2 Nursery raising

o Management trainings to 10 widows

� Health

o Trauma counseling of 10 children’s of widows

o Regular medical check-up on quarterly basis

The members would also be linked with the Insurance Programme

4.5.6 Jeevan Shala (Life schools)

“Jeevan Shala” is SEWA member’s informal school. It is a “life school” based on what the

members want to learn and is designed to engage adult learners and build their interest,

confidence and self-esteem. A life school is started in the village following the member’s

demand for education. Any woman in the age group of 15 to 45 years can join the Jeevan

Shala. The timings of the Jeevan Shala are fixed by the members as per their convenience.

The education imparted in this Jeevan Shala is in an innovative way so as to make it more

understandable and interesting for the poor members of SEWA. The education provided to

them is of the type that they can relate to their work environment and day-to-day

necessities. Apart from the education, Jeevan Shala also organises celeberations, fairs etc.

wherein the members participate in different educational games. Presently 27 Jeevan




35

Shalas are running in 26 villages in the district of Anand, Patan, and Surendranagar. These

Jeevan Shalas are attended by 526 members.

Although literacy is relatively high in Kheda and Anand district, members need the kind of

training imparted in Jeevan Shalas as it is directly related to their lives and work. Presently

15 Jeevan Shalas are functioning in Kheda district, in which 250 members are benefited.

Within the strategic plan, it is planed to continue the running of the present Jeevan Shala

and to open 5 new ones. The following activities are planned during the period.

� Open 5 new life schools which would be attended by 75 new participants. Thus

during the period total of 20 Jeevanshalas would be functional / operational totaling

to participation of 325 women members in this Jeevan Shalas

� Organizing 3 Akshar Mela (Education Fair) covering participation of 300 women

� 3 trainings to covering 21 Vidya gauri (life school teachers)

� Lateral learning through life school meetings – 325 members

� Monthly meeting of Vidya Gauris (Life school teachers)

* * * * * * * *




36

Annex 4 – SEWA Organizational framework

ADMIN. ACCOUNTS

FACILITAION

UNITS

SEWA

RURAL & ECO.

DEV. DIVISION

URBAN

UNION

ACADEMY SOCIAL

SECURITY

FEDERATION

STFC DIST.

ASSOCIATIONS

INSURANCE CHILDCARE HEALTH

SGMH

• Ahmedabad

• Gandhinagar

• Mehsana

• Anand

• Sabarkantha

• Banaskantha

• Patan

• Kutch

• Surendranagar

• Vadodara

• Panchmahal

• Dahod

• Surat

SEWA

MANAGER’S

SCHOOL




37

SEWA ORGANOGRAM

ACCOUNTANT

(DISTRICT LEVEL)

SEWA

DIRECTOR,

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

CONSULTANTS

� ACTIVITY WISE

TECHNICAL

� MANAGEMENT

� FINANCE

ACTIVITY- WISE

COORDINATORS DISTRCIT

COORDINATORS

PROJECT

COORDINATORS

(DISTRICT - WISE)

LOCAL DISTRCIT

COORDINATORS

ACCOUNTS AND

ADMINISTRATION

TEAM LEADERS

(ACTIVITY-WISE)

ORGANISORS

(ACTIVITY-WISE)

SPEARHEAD

TEAMS

SELF-EMPLOYED

WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION

SEWA

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