India - Weaving Empowerment - Almora
Scene 6 of
the TVP
documentary
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Episode 3 - MDG 3: Promote gender
equality and empower women
Weaving empowerment
Project implemented by Panchachuli Women Weavers, (www.panchachuli.com)
Almora, Uttarakhand, India
February 2011
Co-financed by individual donors
Cameras cannot capture the beauty of the Himalayan peaks that gradually emerge from the mist as we climb up the winding roads towards Almora. Almora is the headquarters of one of the six districts in the Kumaon mountain range of the Indian Himalayan State of Uttarakhand. Women living in these Himalayan mountain ranges are known for their hard work and traditional weaving and knitting skills.
We climbed these mountains to meet Mukti Datta and a group of women living in villages around Almora. In 1989, Mukti established, along with these women, a non-government organisation, called the “Jan Jagran Samiti”, or the Committee for People’s Awakening. The organisation helped women organise themselves into a group that could potentially earn a stable livelihood by applying improved techniques to their traditional skills of weaving and knitting. What started out as a small source of earning for a small group of three women now brings together 800 women in a shareholding cooperative called the Panchachuli Women Weaver's Cooperative. Women who live far away from Almora are also given the opportunity to work from home. Jan Jagran Samiti also opened day care centres and primary schools for these women shareholders so that they could dedicate time to their work. Today, around a thousand children attend these schools.
800 of these women are being trained so that a wider network of skilled women can start earning an income right from their homes. The cooperative has built a weaving centre where more than 300 village women sit and weave together. It has also bought a bus that picks the women up from their villages every morning and drops them back to their homes every evening. Now, the cooperative has sale outlets, two smaller centres in the region and outlets abroad.
Instead of the back-breaking jobs that they used to do, women from remote villages of the Himalayas have now learned new skills, have started contributing to the family income, and have entered the export market with their products. Today, their communities respect them and their husbands share in the daily household chores. Families in the remote Himalayas are now able to enjoy better standards of life.
Through solidarity, commitment and perseverance, the cooperative has grown by leaps and bounds. Being organised and earning an income has lifted women out of poverty and social exclusion and has brought them into the political arena as active participants in decisions that affect their lives.
Today, for the first time ever, women weavers are a strong group with political leverage. They influence local politics and support other women in demanding for their rights.
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Additional notes
"When we village women started working together, we could never have imagined that we would be equal partners in a big company as we are today", says a woman.
"Everyone has benefited from this activity. Men have also improved their behaviours because women have started bringing home money. Even if I die now, I can say to myself that I have achieved something in life", says one of the founder women.
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https://docs.google.com/open?id=1zG3y_L6ZAdtiTmlIkw6m1lkBpxdH5UdYHHYixKCNR_9NORMGV9tfAGplcGCZ
When you drive on the roads of the Uttarakhand Mountains in Northern India, you see many women collecting twigs and hay along the hill slopes, collecting water from public taps or knitting away. The women of the Indian mountains are known for their traditional weaving and knitting skills. Facilitated by a non-government organisation called Jan Jagran Samiti, (or the People's Awakening Committee) founded in 1989, and led by an activist for women's rights, the women of the mountains of Uttarakhand came together to make these skills a formal source of livelihoods. Instead of back breaking jobs that also contributed to destroying the environment, women started earning from weaving.
What started out as a livelihood option for a small group of three women, now brings together 800 women in a shareholding cooperative called Panchachuli Women Weaver's Cooperative. And 800 more women are being trained to expand the network of skilled and economically self-sufficient women in the region. A weaving centre was built in Almora with the support of the Danny Kaye and Silvia Kaye Foundation. Here, around 300 village women sit and weave together. The cooperative also bought a bus a few years ago that picks them up from their villages every morning and drops them back to their homes every evening. There are also sale outlets and two smaller centres in the region. Women who live too far from Almora are given the opportunity to work from home. Private and institutional donors responded to the increasing need for child care during the hours women dedicate to work by supporting the construction of the day care centres and primary schools. Today, around 1000 children attend the different schools. The women weavers have started teacher-parent associations in every village.
"When we village women started working together, we could never have imagined that we would be equal partners in a big company as we are today" , says a woman.
"Everyone has benefitted from this activity. Men have also improved their behaviours because women have started bringing home money. Even if I die now, I can say to myself that I have achieved something in life", says one of the founder women.
Through a sense of
solidarity and self-confidence, the cooperative has grown, bringing economic
prosperity to the families of the shareholder women. Women feel empowered in
their families and amidst their communities. Between 1998 to 2000, women from
every single village between the town of Almora and the forest villages of
Binsar, learned new weaving and knitting skills and entered the export market
with their products. Today, for the first time ever, women weavers are a
stakeholder group with political leverage. They influence local politics to
support women in claiming their rights.
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Additional
Information
Essential medical services for the region have also been created: the
foundation stone of the hospital was laid in 2000, and in October 2002, the
hospital itself was opened. In 1992, the organisation, Jan Jagaran Samiti,
founded a leprosy rehabilitation centre in the town of Almora.
With support from the ministry of welfare and the German Leprosy Relief
Association an infrastructure was created to offer support to outcast lepers
from as far away as Kumaon and from bordering Nepal and to teach them how to
weave, giving them the opportunity to achieve financial independence. Doctors
and nurses were also employed. Today, 52 adults and 13 children live in the
centre. There are 3 workshops, a clinic and several living quarters.
Today, all of the children in the rural area of Almora go to school. The
adults are some of the best weavers in the area and not only make a financial
contribution to the centre but also help the village women to learn about
traditional weaving.
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