Use of IT to Empower Marginalised Women - India

SEARCH's approach involves bringing together marginalised women (who were previously isolated by cultural barriers prohibiting their free mingling in groups) for their own empowerment. In 1987, SEARCH began the process of organising these women into groups called sangams. In discussion, the women identified concerns such as water scarcity, insufficient food supply, increased HIV/AIDS due to migration, unemployment, illiteracy, female infanticide, exploitation of women by money lenders, and poverty. Through negotiations with the local government departments, the women advocated for action on these issues. For example, varieties of local millets were identified that could be grown in drought terrain. In addition, poverty alleviation strategies evolved (e.g., providing micro-credit for income generation programmes). In the year 2000, small thrift and credit groups were consolidated into a micro-finance company called Karimangalam Ontriya Pengal Semiipu Amaipu (KOPSA) - women's group saving federation.

To instutitonalise and strengthen KOPSA, SEARCH created an IT data management programme in the local language (Tamil). SEARCH then trained sangam coordinators to use and administer the system. Data operators feed the data into the software; the monitoring officer then analyses the reports and presents them to the Project Manager. Each month's data is then shared at KOPSA staff meetings. The staff see the performance in particular areas; the Project Manager provides feedback and guidance. This data is also shared with SEARCH's corporate team so that they might offer their perspective on the status of the project to the Project Manager. The same information is shared with the 350 sangam core leaders so that they have complete knowledge about the status of their groups. The aim here is increasing transparency so that all stakeholders may participate in creating and revising strategies and activities.

Specifically, the IT system has 4 central tools:

1. Baseline Management: This package enables the project to systematically record and maintain information on income, children, health, and the asset profile of families. It also records the economic profile of the villages and the political profile of the Panchayats in the project area. This information is used as an input to calculate the HDI (Human Development Index) and GDI (Gender Development Index) at family/village/panchayat levels. Various reports may be generated by selecting criteria such as family, religion, gender, etc. to identify the parameters on which the project is performing inadequately and highlight the issues that need attention. The package also plays a role in determining the sort of activity that can be implemented in a village or a panchyat.
2. Self-help Group (SHG) Monitoring System: This database includes the social and economic profiles of individual members and groups. The SHG monitor provides frames that are designed to enable the Project Manager to find and enter information efficiently and quickly and retrieve it with ease when required. The package has become a tool for monitoring overall performance across a range of social variables with qualitative and quantitative indicators that could capture the impact of sangams on communities. Identification of impediments in performance and the status of marginalised communities are also facilitated through cross-tabulation of relevant social and economic variables.
3. Micro Credit Rating: This tool was developed to ease operation of micro-finance transactions for the benefit of marginalised women. The software package has banking features and a credit monitor and rating system built into it. The package monitors each transaction among village committees and gives a rating for each member taking advantage of credit facilities from KOPSA, based on the member's loan history and repayment schedule. The product also automatically maintains necessary accounting and banking details. KOPSA monthly performance indicators are generated and tabulated.
4. HIV/AIDS project monitoring: To empower women beyond economic development areas, SEARCH has adopted a community care approach to address the issue of HIV/AIDS at the village level. It designed a monitoring tool to look at how a person is identified with the symptoms of the disease and what process the health worker and the patient go through at different stages. For example, the system might detail and record the fact that a person attended an awareness camp and then went to meet a health worker to talk about her health condition and apprehensions. The health worker records these details and monitors what happened at various stages, including counseling for voluntary blood testing, efforts to continue employment, willingness of the family and the village community to accept the affected individual, and initiatives to build community support. Medical details and nutritional levels are also monitored.

Development Issues
Women, Economic Development, HIV/AIDS, Technology.

According to SEARCH, severe drought has had a negative impact on life in the Kariamangalam block. Due to deficiency, uneven distribution, and high degree of variation in rainfall, around 53% of the district's cultivable area is under dry farming, which results in low production. When the government offered subsidies for growing mulberry and sugarcane, many people opted for it, not realising what would happen to the soil conditions. Though food crops were scarce, people could not explore ways of accessing and cultivating food grains. Wages at the block were very low: men received Rs. 5/- per day and women were paid Rs. 3/-. Many people have opted to migrate to nearby cities to pursue work in unorganised sectors. Women and children are left behind and, according to SEARCH, are forced to work for exploitative landlords, at low wages.

SEARCH claims that poverty alleviation strategies have, to some extent, given women more opportunities to explore income generation programmes. The credit and savings programmes, which were introduced in the 1990s, later grew in size of membership and fiscal resources. Women were slowly able to access to higher credit for livestock development, vending, or coir making (fibre is made by cracking the outer brown husk of a coconut, shredding it into coarse fibres, then twisting or weaving it into items such as doormats). Through programmes like SEARCH's, women grew savings of Rs. 5 per annum into Rs. 1000/- per annum. Partially as a result, SEARCH claims, the women in this marginalised community are better able to tackle social issues: Economic empowerment and the solidarity-building process at a block level has helped them negotiate with district administration and enjoy better bargaining power at the family and community level.

Migration, SEARCH says, continues to be an issue. The national highway passes through the block and many poor, vulnerable women have become commercial sex workers. The high migration by men has also adversely impacted the community: When they return from urban areas, they bring HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) with them.

Operating since 1975, SEARCH is an NGO whose mission is "To strengthen capacity building and institution building processes among civil society organizations and government departments in augmenting their efforts towards promotion of sustainable development, gender equity and social justice." SEARCH operates as a management institute, facilitating organisational processes from grassroots to middle management and management levels. The organisation sets up systems based on diagnosis of the organisation and facilitates focus on various development issues.

SEARCH is in the process of developing a KOPSA page to be hosted on its website.