Sheerni micro-credit project
Meeting in Setrawa village on 14. February 2010
Today Ma’am Jacqueline de Chollet visited the Sheerni project in Setrawa, she is the builder of our motivation to the project. Since many years Ms. de Chollet has been working with the Women Empowerment and we have a lot to learn from her experience.The women of Setrawa are fortunate to meet and interact with a person like herself who came to the village to know the situation and understand the problems women have personally.
First of all women welcomed Ma’am with the red vermillion and Shawl, they sang traditional welcoming songs, Ma’am looked very happy.
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With the help of Govind Singh Rathore, Founder of the Sambhali Trust, Ma’am got her questions and answers translated.
Women spoke to Ma’am about their problems and solutions. Ma’am also purposed girl children to go to school and invited some girls on her level to come to Jodhpur for those who are unable to attend the school in the village.
Women want to become financially independent of Setrawa by perfecting themselves with the help of a professional trainer and there was a lot of discussion related to it, for example women wanted to do papad, dry preservative snacks making, tie and dye, sewing, embroidery and keeping milk cows.
Women have desire to start their own production and with the help of an administrator want to find a better market.
Sheerni project aims to give little credit to help for small scale business set up until the SHG’s have joined with the bank credit system on the bank’s criteria, which would take another year.
In this meeting we invited the newly elected Sarpanch, Mr. Bheeka Ram Choudhary, an other backward caste (OBC), a middle aged Gentleman. He is a strong candidate of the village with modern views, believes and supports women empowerment. He gave us ideas of how to promote and motivate our mission of Sheerni project and its participants with the help of TV-shows, document films and should bring idol SHG members inside our Sheerni project for introduction, awareness and motivation.
He also wants to help by giving the Trust some land where the Trust could carry forward its work instead of renting a building in Setrawa. The women spoke very freely with him about their other problems of water, electricity, hygiene, caste identity certificates etc. Because of the Sambhali Trust Sheerni project the women had a chance to mingle with the male Sarpanch for the first time.
We also invited the Bank manager of UCO Bank in Setrawa, Mr. P.C. Meena. He spoke about the programs his bank is running for SHGs and about the processing between bank and SHG linkage on loaning system. He also said that bank gives subsidy to SHG individuals after noticing and grading the SHG members and their SHG. He gave information on other SHGs running in the villages that are in grip of one or two women of the group and he also informed that no other SHG has ever taken credit for business and have not returned money on time.
He also promised any help from the bank at any time for our model we have operated for our SHGs. Mr. Meena said that the UCO bank has been awarded for working very successfully with the SHGs.
We invited Mr. Kanwar Raj Singh who has been keeping a very close eye on the Sheerni project in Setrawa and has taken great interest. He has been present in each program and meeting since the establishment of the Sheerni project in Setrawa and monitors it as an outsider. He speaks well about our programs in the newspaper which motivated the villages around Setrawa to know more about our project and its work.
All the ladies and guests had refreshments together and were very happy to have been there on this occasion. After Ma’am Jacqueline de Chollet and the guests left, Ms. Manju Mehta the administrator had a meeting about the workshops for the Sheerni project participants and they decided that women of the groups will be sent out or professionals will be brought in for the training of sewing, embroidery etc. and these trained women will be teaching the other Sheerni participants. This way the whole village can become part of the evolution process.
For our ambition with the Sambhali Trust Sheerni micro-credit project, we look forward to Ma’am Jacqueline de Chollet’s support in any possible way in the battle of women empowerment.
Govind S. Rathore and Manju Mehta |
On the 12th of this month we had two students of NIFD (Institute of Fashion and Design), Jodhpur, Divya and Khushboo, coming to Setrawa to make a sewing workshop for the Sheerni project participants. |
