ENSS / Astha Sansthan

ONDERSTEUNING VAN GEDISCRIMINEERDE VROUWEN IN INDIA

In Nederland worden ze getroost of gewoon met rust gelaten. Niet in de Indiase deelstaat Rajasthan. Daar worden vrouwen gediscrimineerd, beledigd en mishandeld als hun mannen sterven of de relatie verbreken. Geen echtgenoot meer hebben, is in dit patriarchale gebied reden genoeg om vrouwen sociaal buiten te sluiten.

Die situatie begint echter langzaam te veranderen. Mede dankzij het in 2000 opgerichte Ekal Nari Shakti Sangathan (ENSS, letterlijk: 'Vereniging van Sterke Alleenstaande Vrouwen'). Met hulp van leden van deze organisatie komen alleenstaande vrouwen en weduwes uit lage-inkomensgroepen voor zichzelf op. ‘Zij laten aan hun omgeving zien dat ze wel hun man, maar niet hun menselijke waardigheid zijn verloren,’ zegt Ginny Shrivastava, directrice van Hivos-partner Astha Sansthan.

Astha Sansthan heeft veel ervaring in de ondersteuning van gemarginaliseerde groepen in Rajasthan. Hivos ondersteunt ENSS via Astha Sansthan, die de vrouwenvereniging oprichtte en onder haar hoede heeft. ‘We begonnen door alleenstaande vrouwen te vertellen over hun rechten, de Indiase wetten tegen discriminatie en de mogelijkheden zelf hun situatie te verbeteren,’ vertelt Shrivastava. ‘Nu verspreiden de leiders en leden van ENSS zelf hun succesverhaal over Rajasthan. Hoe ze hun recht op land en bezit claimen, bijvoorbeeld. Of hoe ze de gebruiken in hun kaste of gemeenschap doorbreken. Daar trainen we hen ook in. En zij trainen anderen weer.’

In bijna elk district van Rajasthan heeft ENSS nu een “frontliniecomité” op buurt- of stadsniveau. Dat comité draagt oplossingen aan voor lokale problemen van weduwes en gescheiden of verlaten vrouwen. Shrivastava: “Ze spreekt zich publiekelijk uit tegen misstanden en lobbyt bij de overheid voor structurele veranderingen en wetswijzigingen.’ Astha Sansthan stoomt ENSS klaar om binnen enkele jaren een zelfstandige organisatie te zijn.

‘We geven hen de mogelijkheid om de leiding te nemen over hun eigen leven,’ aldus Shrivastava. ‘De noodzaak om temidden van alle vijandigheid te overleven en hun kinderen te laten opgroeien, heeft sterke vrouwen van hen gemaakt. Aan wil ontbreekt het hen niet. Zo weigeren steeds meer weduwes verstek te laten gaan op de bruiloft van hun kinderen. Zij weerspreken het geloof dat hun aanwezigheid ongeluk brengt – of dat zij schuldig zouden zijn aan de dood van hun mannen. Door dit soort protesten begint hun omgeving ook vraagtekens te zetten bij de manier waarop ze gezien en behandeld worden.’

OVER DEZE PARTNER (ENGELSTALIG)

Astha Sansthan is a registered society (1986) that works in Rajasthan. It has used a two-pronged strategy of organising people and training them (issue-based training and leadership training) very effectively to increase the influence that people have over development processes within their communities. Astha combines its efforts to build people's organisations and develop local leadership capabilities with projects and programmes which improve the socio-economic conditions of the poor and the disadvantaged.

Astha Sansthan has supported Association of Women Alone (ASWA) since ASWA emerged as a membership-based self-help organisation of widows and single women in January 2000. ASWA is one of the many people's organisations that ASTHA has helped to emerge in Rajasthan. The Rajasthan-wide ASWA now has a membership of about 26300, all low-income rural and urban women who are widowed or separated. This membership is spread across 28 of Rajasthan's 33 districts. The steady growth of the constituency is indicative of the slow, measured approach that ASWA/Astha takes to ensure as much of effective implementation as possible.

ASWA's key activities include mobilizing and organising widows and single women, leadership development, lobby and advocacy. ASWA has effectively lobbied with the state government of Rajasthan to increase the widow pension from Rs 250 per month (in 1999) to the present Rs 400 per month to all widows in Rajasthan. In line with their approach towards fighting all kinds of discrimination they have been tackling property rights cases, changing caste and community customs and stopping physical and mental atrocities against single and widowed women.

ASWA has also played a pivotal role in triggering similar movements in other states like Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra in India.

Astha Sansthan has 63 staff members of whom 19 are women. Astha Sansthan's has a process of revolving leadership and at present is headed by a man. The former coordinating director (a woman) is now contributing all her time to working and strengthening ASWA. Astha's seven-member Executive Body has two women. In ASWA eleven members are elected every three years to form the Executive Committee and this group provides leadership for both the mass-based membership Association, as well as for the registered Society. There are 4 office bearers (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer). All office bearers are women.

Hivos supports Astha Sansthan/ASWA for their holistic and overall objective of social transformation through strategies of organising, collectivizing women to hold the state accountable is in line with the GWD sector policy.

Type organisatie

Network

Werkveld

Gender, Women and Development

Land

India

Opgericht

1986

Hivos partner sinds

1987

Website

Meer informatie

» | Over deze partner (Engelstalig)

» | Over door Hivos gesteunde projecten van deze partner (Engelstalig)

CONTACT

ENSS / Astha Sansthan

Astha/ASWA- Empowering Low-Income Widows & Separated Women through Organisation, Training & Action
DAC-sectors	Strengthening civil society Human rights
Location	Udaipur, Rajasthan
Beneficiary	not relevant/other
activity	Single/Widow women will have better access to government resources and services
Direct outreach	3100 - Beneficiaries: poor and/or marginalised women and men
Indirect outreach	15500 - Policy level/ public opinion
activity	Stregthen leadership at Block level through trainings
Direct outreach	3000 - Beneficiaries: poor and/or marginalised women and men
Indirect outreach	15000 - Policy level/ institutional
activity	Expand contituency base to 31 Districts of Rajasthan, and in 132 Blocks and cities/towns in the state
Direct outreach	37000 - Beneficiaries: poor and/or marginalised women and men
Indirect outreach	185000 - Policy level/ public opinion
Contract total	261.549
Contractperiod	01-04-2009 until 31-03-2012

Description

The emphasis over the next three years will be on expanding the strength and base of the constituency, not just in Rajasthan but also to other states in India with effective networking with civil society under the banner of National Forum for Single Women's Rights. ASWA will also during this period build its own capacity to manage its affairs independently, build effective and representative second-line leadership and raise funds independently.
Activities will include:
- Expanding Committee structures and ASWA's work to 31 Districts of Rajasthan, and in 132 Blocks and cities/towns in the state
- Training 4700 women at Block level committees to assume leadership roles
- Training 250 new women to move into second and first line leadership positions in the Association
- Sustained advocacy activities on the issues of widow's pension, issuance of health cards, land rights, and other entitlements
- Undertake one research study highlighting the position of single/widowed women in eight states in India
- Undertake initiatives related to legal and other interventions on widow's land and property rights
- Providing guidance and leadership to the National Forum for Single Women's rights and emerging networks of single/widowed women in at least eight states in India

Astha Sansthan/ASWA anticipates that as a consequence of these activities, widowed and separated women in Rajasthan will
- have better access to government resources and services.
- face less harassment and persecution.
- have a membership organization that is able to function independently.
- have a new confident and articulate leadership.
- have a membership organization with 37000 members.
- Develop into a nation-wide movement

Hivos supports Astha Sansthan/ASWA for its consistent and pioneering efforts to ensure better rights, better lives for women of ASWA and a better society based on values of justice, equality and humanism.