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 No more training please

“We have had no benefits and do not want any more training !”

There are different opinions about why the women group of the small village of Ghanchaura in Dubya VDC in Kapilvastu District never became a success.

The members of the group come up with one explanation, while Jana Adarsha Social Centre (JASC) has a different opinion about why the women in the group decided to stop the relations with JASC after four years of existence.

According to group chairperson Basanta Sharma, there are three main reasons as to why the women in the group couldn’t function actively. One is their household situation, another is the question of transportation and then bad planning of JASC.

In the traditional Nepalese family structure a married couple lives together under the same roof as the parents of the husband. Since many of the husbands of the women in this particular group have gone to work abroad, the women are left with their in-laws. When the in-laws refuse to take care of the children during the time of meetings and training it becomes very difficult for the women to participate. Too much work prevents the women from finding time to involve in social work. The group also criticizes JASC for not taking their situation into consideration while planning trainings in the office in Imiliya.

“If we have to go to Imilya we have to pay 30 rupees for a rickshaw. It is far away and expensive. They should pay us that money. When JASC plans training to start at 8 AM and lets us go at 5 PM it is very difficult for us to go back before dark. It is a question of security,” says Basanta Sharma. “Being affiliated with JASC has not brought benefits - only loss!”

The women group already went off the track when JASC in the initial period provided seeds and training in vegetable production. The cauliflowers and the cabbage turned out bad and this did not encourage the women. “Actually it was because we did not have enough time and therefore paid less attention to growing and nourishing the vegetables. We spend our time in the paddy fields,” Basanta Sharma admits. “Many of us are illiterate. We do not understand much whether the trainings provided to us are productive. What is the use of learning how to raise chicken if we have no money to start the production? If JASC had provided us with goats it would have been better. If we take a loan to buy a goat and the goat dies what will happen? We do not know. They did not tell us. If we buy a goat from Woman Development Office and it dies, we will only have to pay 20% of the price.”

Talking about the shortcomings of the organization another issue comes up: The women do not want to take loans from JASC because they are afraid of high interest rate. Sarita Rana elaborates, “We heard from another group that the loans from JASC have to be paid back on a fixed date. And if someone is not able to pay back the loan with interest they will have to take more loans and pay double interests!”

Why is this group such a failure when other women groups in JASC and in other areas of Nepal have become empowered and socially and economically independent? Have there not been any changes for the better? Has four years of women development failed that bad?

“Actually domestic violence has been slightly decreased since we have learned about gender equality”, says one member. Five of the women interviewed for this article agree and the rest fall back into silence. After thinking for a while Basanta Sharma comments,”We are 16 members but we do not have a collective idea. Our motivation is low. I cannot explain how to overcome this and why other women have benefitted but we haven’t not… JASC has shown us respect and keeps inviting us to trainings...Some of our members are not interested in being in the group while other women outside want to join us.”

It seems that the chairperson is trying to say something which she actually can’t finish. Being asked directly about a conflict within the group the silence is even louder than before. The picture does not become clear until after the interview, when Coordinator for MS-JASC partnership programme Rom Lal Khanal and Program Assistant Giri Raj Khanal give their version of the story.

“The main mistake we have done is to have made a group with women whose economical status is not the same. Four members are from relatively better off families, while the others are very poor. The economically better off women are not that much interested in remaining in the group and having the income generating activities turn out fruitful. They have enough money, their husbands have a good income and they send much money back to them. When you have money in a small community you can lend money to other people. This is the real reason why someone in the group tries to disturb the activities. They simply do not want the other women to benefit because then they cannot continue giving them loans and then they will earn no money!”
Rom Lal Khanal continues, “We know they would like to have pocket money for the transportation and to have money for attending training also. This is a difficult question also because other NGOs pay for the beneficiaries to come to trainings. MS Nepal has made a decision against this matter and we do not believe this is the right approach. Regarding the transportation and time management, well, this is not a problem for other groups! Many women have even longer way to go and they come on foot.”