Experiences as a Development Practitioner: August Field Visits

After slogging barefoot through a kilometer of muddy fields and monsoon rains, we reached our first ASHG (adapted self-help group) meeting of the week. We were greeted with warm smiles from the female members of one of the strongest ASHGs developed through the project to date. Trust levels and self-confidence are building incrementally, and a savings habit is being nurtured amongst our members. Over the next couple of weeks, we will work with the local government to link households to various welfare schemes (e.g., child and women's healthcare, NREGA, guaranteeing at least 100 days of employment or the equivalent payment of wages, etc.). Already this week, after meetings with district and block level government officers, we’ve been guaranteed that all of our households will receive their NREGA job cards in addition to 1-2 fruit plants per household by the end of September. While our households are eligible to avail such government cash and in-kind transfers, they either don’t have the required identify proof or the awareness of the schemes to pursue them. Our facilitation here allows them to see immediate, tangible benefits of engaging in the program as they begin to gradually access and experience the much-needed services that are rightfully theirs.

Understanding the mindset and the conditioning of a lifetime of chronic depravity of our clients is one of the most challenging aspects of this work. We, with our immense worldly exposure, an education, urban, modern lifestyles, and access to an abundance of amenities, are almost at a disadvantage. These luxuries suddenly become our greatest limitations, as practitioners, to relate to and understand a very different reality—that of the majority of our world’s population. A few visits allow one to skim the surface of this reality. And, it is a painful one, more so according to our perceptions than it is for these individuals, as this is all they know. We, however, compare it to our own conditionings and biases. In their case, I wouldn’t say ignorance is bliss; it simply relieves them of an awareness of their own, comparatively harsher reality. To live amongst them, or, at the very least, interact with them on a daily basis for an extended period of time provides us, practitioners, a window into their daily life challenges and garners our own understanding of their needs, the context in which they live, and the rationale behind the difficult daily decisions they must make such as how to feed themselves and their families, what they must forego for the survival of their children, and the sacrifices that must be borne by the entire household, irrespective of age. Designing a methodology, products, and services to create “livelihood pathways for the poorest,” as the project is aptly named, will be a process of trial and error these next 2 years.

One such household is that of Sunita Devi. Sunita is a 35-year old widow with 2 children in the village of Pali. She is the only breadwinner in her household, with an annual income of 21,600 Indian rupees, which is equal to 41 US cents per person per day. While Sunita’s ASHG is thus far one of the weakest ones, we hope through continued household visits, engagement with male members of the village, and concentrated mentoring services, her group will gradually catch up with the more quickly progressing groups. To help meet immediate consumption needs, we are linking households, like Sunita’s, to various government welfare schemes, such as NREGA discussed above, which will provide Sunita 100 days of employment or the equivalent minimum wage payment. As a widow and a BPL head of household, she will be eligible to receive cash and other transfers that she was not able to avail on her own. We are gradually working with her ASHG to begin internal savings on a monthly basis so that in urgent times of need, she will understand how savings can become a risk management tool. More advanced groups have been given a savings box, held by the Treasurer, and as a cost share, the members will purchase a lock and 2 sets of keys, to be guarded by the President and Secretary of the group. This balance of powers allows no single person access to the group savings. In September, we hope to provide Sunita and her peers training in kitchen gardening practices and agarbatti (incense stick) rolling. These two supplementary income-generating activities, combined with government linkages, should hopefully provide immediate relief for Sunita and her children, from both a financial and food security standpoint.

Mud and Other Stuff

Child of an ASHG Member in Shivrampur Village

Collecting Savings During the ASHG Meeting

Counting Her Change

Individual savings are noted in the individual's passbook as well as in the group savings register

Taradevi, an ASHG Treasurer, proudly holding the register she safeguards

Another sort of field work

Sunita Devi with her 2 children

Beautiful children of Pali Village

Once our households have stabilized and ASHGs are further strengthened, we will then begin training and introducing them to more high-skilled activities that generate stable, year around income. We’re hoping this gradual transition will lend to a more effective and committed uptake of entrepreneurial activities and a very different approach to life itself. To ensure this, the final key design will be of livelihood financing products, such as credit and microinsurance. But, how to customize these for such a poor population without adding to their indebtedness and daily strains? This past week has been one of stimulating financial product design, through discussions with some of BASIX's greatest minds and visits to local livestock markets. This process has developed in parallel with the final design of livelihood development services. Important questions we've been pondering and answering include: How should the introduction of supplemental income-generating and entrepreneurial activities be sequenced? Which elements of shariyat (Islamic) banking can actually be applied to vulnerable and poor populations? How can repayment be structured to sync with projected income cycles? What aspects of traditional systems can be embedded in the product design that will lend to greater understanding and acceptance of the financial products by our households? The answers to these are shaping some very innovative, finely blended products that we're looking forward to testing out over the next year.