.::Global Helping Hands Inc.::.

Concept of Development Education

“Education is a process of drawing out of the human potential, so that Human Resource Development takes place to the maximum extent in an individual.” Over the years, Development Education has come to be identified with the development of the down-trodden and the marginalized communities through meaningful and relevant learning taking place in their own environment using their own resources through participation modes of transaction.

Development education involves awareness building. Opening the eyes of the learner takes place gradually over a period of time he/she is being down-trodden by oppressive structures and forces. Awareness building will help the learner, to reflect upon the experience of being oppressed. For the learner, reflection leads to action. The action is to get liberated from oppression. The facilitator helps the oppressed people to break off from the “culture of silence” and begin to speak out in sharing their experiences with the fellow-sufferer and with those in authority. Development education, therefore, has a liberating potential through a process of Reflection-Action. Development education becomes Education for Liberation and Joint Action towards transformation of the communities by the people themselves. Of course, this will not happen overnight and there would be a long struggle.

Development education creates conditions for change to take place. People begin to understand the prevailing situations of the victims of oppression and exploitation. Therefore, they begin to struggle for justice. This brings people together in the struggles. This process generates immense people’s power (Human Collective Energy). When an oppressed community struggles, it is in reality in the process of experimental learning. Dialogue or sharing is the crucial methodology in Development education. True dialogue will take place between equal partners only.

Generally development education effort, in a community starts with an information campaign. We initiated information campaigns in the villages and the message is conveyed to the communities through wall posters, placards, street plays and role plays. The facilitators then visit house to house and conveyed the message through face to face dialogue. This was found to be more effective in conveying the message.

To promote self-employed women entrepreneurs in the villages through promotion of individual/group entrepreneurship.
To empower them through participatory facilitative interventions to overcome their practical barriers to entrepreneurship development and develop trade-related practical skill to organize, plan, implement, manage and evaluate actions.
To empower them to acquire inward-looking social skills, outward-looking social skills, occupational skills, technical skills, commercial skills, managerial skills, accounting skills, etc.,
To empower them through participatory consultancy interventions to provide consultancy services at their request after the project period is over.
To empower them through participatory networking interventions for shaping and exchange of information and develop skills, in response to management and social mobilization.
To replicate the project in other areas.

Micro Credit Scheme is an income generating activity which will provide continuous or seasonal employment. The schemes are both collective as well as of individual nature. Some include training in skills.“To provide opportunity for individual or the community to improve their economic conditions and to supplement income”.

The target groups are mostly agricultural laborers and have work only during the agricultural season. In the absence of adequate income and employment, adults migrate to distance places in off season in search of employment causing displacement to the families. Hence the need to create alternative and supplementary employment was considered.

The MCS activities have enabled the sangham to come together and conduct meetings. Wherever the total community is not involved, the direct beneficiaries meet and discuss issues related to the activity.

The type of MCS for each sangham has been discussed at length by the members in the sangham meetings taking the following criteria into consideration.

Each sangham will decide whether the MCS should be a individual project or community based project after sufficient discussions and deliberations and the conditions that are prevailing at that time in the sangham.
Balance between outside dependency related to local resources viz, skills, raw materials, production, marketing and finance control.
Maximum investment per beneficiary
Viability of the MCS and replication
Whether the MCS involves training for the beneficiaries, if so, duration of training and the availability of instructors.
To establish clearly the role of a MCS, if it will provide continuous employment or provide employment in the non-agricultural season or provide employment except in peak agriculture season.
To establish a minimum wage from MCS

All the proposals that are finally accepted and approved by the sanghams have been screened by us and reviewed by a team of experts. A detailed budget for each MCS was worked out and also the economic benefits from the project in terms of increase in income, employment generation and benefits in qualitative terms. Limited MCSs were initiated by some of the sanghams up to now.

Apart from imitating the sanghams, thrift and credit schemes and MCSs, we have organized orientation and training programmes to the members of village sanghams and Mahila Sanghams and also conducted training camps for the leaders of the sanghams and for the MCS beneficiaries.

The women have learnt the importance of education and are sending their children to schools regularly
Pledged to avoid child marriages
The sangham members are enlightened and are able to approach the MRO, MDO and other governmental officers
Familiarize in Bank transaction and are avoiding middlemen
Closely coordinating with gram panchayat members and other interested groups in the village
Improved awareness about health, hygiene and sanitation
Taking collective sensitizing the angarwadi workers, teachers and health workers
Avoiding caste discrimination, as a result sitting together in trainings and meetings
Able to tell about causes of poverty and how to utilize the resources to eliminate poverty
Unity among women has improved, as a result are continuing thrift and credit and using it as a revolving fund to initiate MCSs for individuals.
Becoming self reliant and self sufficient by using thrift money as well as proper utilization of government resources like watershed, IRDP and DWCRA programmes
Change has occurred in their personal attitude and are asking the gram panchayat about drinking water, street lights, drainage system and sanitation facilities
Self confidence has increased and are planning to establish collective MCS such as Dairy Units, Poultry units, Goat and Sheep rearing units, Brick making units etc, for their livelihood and continuous employment and to supplement their income

Despite the improvement in their social awareness and thinking , their economic status need to be improved. The Mahila Sanghams in the target villages are lacking the required support to become self reliant despite the efforts make to improve their economic status. The projects and programmes from the government are not exactly reaching these groups and our intervention is necessary to promote MCSs for these Mahila Sanghams.

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.