Community Empowerment by Dr. SBM Prasanna, Dr. K Puttaraju, Dr.MS Mahadevaswamy (books under 200 pages TXT) 📕

PRA is a means of collecting different kinds of data, identifying and mobilizing intended groups and evoking their participation and also opening ways in which intended groups can participate in decision making, project design, and execution and monitoring.

PRA constitutes a process of involvement with rural people for indigenous knowledge building exercises. It is a way of learning from and with villagers to investigate, analyze and evaluate constraints and opportunities. PRA methods such as transect walk, social mapping, seasonal mapping, wealth mapping, health mapping, time trends, Venn diagram help people to deal with a community in a effective way.

Conscientization:

Paul Freire, a Brazilian educational theorist developed a popular and an education concept called Conscientization . Conscientization means critical thinking, making people to understand the reality about their surroundings and also mainly related with questioning attitude of people who are easily vulnerable in the society. This helps people to raise their critical consciousness to distinguish between what is right and wrong and to fight for their rights.

Community Organization

 In community Organization method the community is the client. Community organization solves the Community Problems and fulfills the needs of the community. Many of the community problems like social injustice, poverty, inadequate housing, poor nutrition, lack of health, lack of medical services, unemployment, pollution, exploitation, bonded labour system, illicit arrack, dowry, female infanticide, women and children trafficking, drug trafficking etc. can be solved by using community organization method. In problem solving generally we use three basic aspects. They are study, diagnosis, and treatment. The problem has to be studied. For this we have to collect information regarding the problem. From the information collected we have to find out the causes. This is called as diagnosis. Based on the findings or diagnosis a solution is evolved that is called as treatment. We consider this model as medical model because doctors study the patient find out the causes for illness and based on findings, treatment or medicine is provided. Similar model is used in community organization method. Problems are solved with involvement of people. The resources are mobilized to solve the problems. This method is applicable for Indian situations because in India a large number of people are affected by poverty or other poverty related problems. They need solutions. For this community organization as a problem solving method can solve community problems. For example people in the dry area suffer due to lack of water for their cultivation. With the help of the community organizer and people’s participation watersheds can be made and ground water level is increased. Water stored during rainy season can help the people to continue cultivation. Here the whole village problem is related with water for irrigation and drinking purpose, which is solved by using community organization method.

Sustainable development:

In present scenario, sustainable development has become a buzzword. Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own needs. In simple words, it is the process in which the set of desirable societal objectives or the development index does not decrease over time.

Thus sustainable development involves devising a social and economic system, which ensures that these goals are sustained, that is, that real income rise, that educational standards

Women Empowerment:

‘Empowering women’ is a vital social process mainstreaming women for development process. Development is a multi-dimensional process, involving major changes in social structures, popular attitudes and national institutions. Empowerment as a concept was first brought at the International Women’s Conference in 1985, at Nairobi. During the last 4 decades there has been a growing realization that achievement of sustainable development essentially needs the involvement of women in all the socio-economic activities and decision making process. Even though women are active agents of change and play a vital role both in the family and the society, the development processes have bypassed women and hence women still live in an unequal world. Women face discrimination in birth, health, education, employment, decision-making, legal issues etc. The Eight Five Year Plan has given a shift from ‘development’ ‘to empowerment’ of women.

Women empowerment is a critical part of sustainable development. The empowerment of women at the individual level helps build a base for social change. Movements to empower women as a group increase opportunities available to individual women, and economic empowerment can increase women’s status in their families and societies. The strategy of micro-credit is an ideal and indispensable tool of women’s empowerment. Provision of financial services and easy access to them is important for the development of poor women. SHGs have fulfilled the need of women for access to financial resources in a cost effective way. Further, there has been a phenomenal change in their confidence level, decision making ability, social status and family relationships. This self-realization of their potential is the beginning process of women empowerment.

Locality Development Model

Jack Rothman has introduced three basic models of community organization. They are:

Model A- Locality Development.

 Locality development model is a method of working with community groups .It was earlier used by the settlement houses. Here the important focus is about the process of community building. Leadership development and the education of the participants are the essential elements in the process.

According to Murray Ross the "process of self help and communal action is valuable in its own right". The model of locality development is based on this particular thought process. It originated from the traditional community organization practice. The main focus of this model is whole community or a part of it. The basic belief is that communities have some common needs and interests and once the people realize this need and work together democratically they can take appropriate steps to improve the quality of life. Here the role of the community organizer is to enhance the involvement of the people in the community and help the community to plan and help them find a solution to the problem. It is similar to work of community development, which is done in the underdevelopment world.

It refers to the community organization practice when a worker or an agency attempts to develop various schemes and programs to meet the needs of the target population in a defined area. It also includes coordination of various agencies providing a variety of services in the area.

Model B- Social Planning:

 It refers to the type of community work where a worker or agency undertakes an exercise of evaluating welfare needs and existing services in the area and suggests a possible blue print for a more efficient delivery of services; it is termed as social planning. It is concerned with social problems For example. Housing, education, health, childcare and so on. Its aim is to affect a large population. The community planner works in greater capacity with the government and is often identified with power structure of the community but interested in the needs and attitudes of the community.

Model C- Social Action:

According to Friedlander,W.A. ( 1963) " Social Action is an individual, group or community effort within the framework of the social work philosophy and practice that aims to achieve social progress, to modify social policies and to improve social legislation and health and welfare services". Another model of community organization suggested by Rothman is that of social action. According to him social action is a strategy used by groups or sub communities or even national organizations that feel that they have inadequate power and resources to meet their needs. So they confront with the power structure using conflict as a method to solve their issues related to inequalities and deprivation.

The role of social worker may be of advocate, activist, agitator, broker or negotiator. It is a process. This organizing process goes through different stage .So the role of the organizer will also change as per the roles of the organizer at each stage

Research Methodology

Title: “Sustainable Community Empowerment through the Non-Governmental organization: with special reference to Chikmagaluru”

Objectives of the study

To know the socio-demographic profile of the respondents

To study the role of NGOs in sustainable development

To study the activities imparted by the organization

To suggest strategies for sustainable development

Universe:

For the purpose of the study few Selected NGOs of Chikmagaluru City were opted and the working employees of respondents 50 were taken.

Sampling Method and Technique:

The researcher has adopted Purposive sampling as a technique of Non-probability sampling.

Tools of data collection:

Primary Data includes Interview schedule

Secondary Data includes texts, journals, and internet

Major findings:

70% of the respondents belong to the age group of 30-39

66% of the respondents are Male

55% of the respondents have the work experience of 5-9 years

68% of the respondents agreed that agricultural development to be considered most

70% of the respondents agreed that rural development is focused

70% of the respondents also agreed that importance is also given to empowerment of women

68% of the respondents consider ecological sustainable development is also taken care of

90% of the respondents opined that education is the best strategy for sustainable development

76% of the respondents opined that they had no co-operation in their organization

92% of the respondents agreed that collaboration among NGOs results in Sustainable Development

92% of the respondents agreed that lack of proper training leads to face many obstacles and challenges

80% of the respondents support the concept of community participation

92%of the respondents agreed that improper provision of basic requirements causes for problems in sustainable development

Conclusion:

In present scenario, sustainable development is the top line concern of the NGOs. The need for sustained growth and development has grown tremendously with the changing society. The country’s goal of sustainable growth, poverty reduction and equitable development cannot be achieved unless directly tackled at the rural level. Rural areas hold considerable potential for high return activities and productive livelihoods. Sustainable community development should emphasize on strategies for significant development of the community. Thus, the above mentioned strategies would help social workers to deal with the rural community for effective participation of rural people for rural progress, in turn resulting in development.

Through this research, the researcher found that the NGOs are largely emphasizing on the need for sustainable community development, which requires a clear vision, with the envisioned activities and proper personnel to monitor the development process.

It can be concluded that the “sustainable development of the community can strive the best results in the upliftment of the community”.

References:

David Atchoarena, lavinia Gasperini(2003), Education for Rural development, Rawat publications, New Delhi.

Katar Singh(1999), Rural development, Sage publications

Kanchana Ratnam S (2000), Strategies for Rural Development, Dominant publishers and disrtributers, New Delhi.

Kaushil S, & Surat singh(2006) Reforms, Rural development and The human face, Deep and Deep publications.

Krishnamoorthy J (2000), Rural Development, Rawat publications.

Misra P D & Beena Misra( 2004), Social Work Profession in India, New Royal Book Co, Delhi.

Narwani G S(2002), Training for rural development, Rawat publications, New Delhi.

Neela mukherjee (1998), Participatory Rural Appraisal-methodology and applications, Concept publishing company,New Delhi.

Singh R B ( 2002), Sustainable Development, Rawat Publications, New Delhi

Singh R S ,Gautam P R (2011),Social work and Rural Development, Centrum presss, New Delhi

Sulbha Khanna, Upma diwan (2003), Rural Development, Sonali publications, New Delhi

Verma S B, Sankaran P N, Shrivastawa R K (2006), Rural- Based Developmental Strategies, Deep & Deep publications Pvt Ltd

Globalization and Rural Women Empowerment

H.M. Mohana

Research Scholar, Dept. of History, Manasagangothri, Mysore

Introduction

The status of women an India can be assessed by quantifying the rate of female infanticide, foeticide, abduction, dowry death, torture, molestation, sexual harassment, unequal inheritance and property rights, desertion, polygamy etc. The persistence of sharp gender inequalities in many different forms is one of the most striking aspects of Indian society, and it yields disparities in well being as well as differences in power and decision making authority.

The different focus of gender inequality can be stated as

Survival inequality

Natality inequality

Unequal facilities

Ownership inequality

Unequal sharing of household benefits and chores

Domestic violence and physical victimization

These inequalities will be eradicated only through empowering women in all aspects viz., socially, economically and politically. Moreover the women empowerment can be done through providing proper education, health and nutrition facilities. Government is making continued efforts to