A study to examine literacy programs for women in rural villages in India interviewed all program directors and staff and some women involved in nongovernmental (NGO) projects in the Pune area. NGO officials were universally disenchanted with government programs. NGOs’ goals varied from preschool education in the villages to agricultural reform to entrepreneurial projects for women. All NGOs had improvement of the state of women mentioned prominently in their goals. Upper caste Brahmin ran NGOs, whereas the village women were lower caste or tribal women. All of the literacy programs were run with a top-down management style. The attitudes toward the lower caste women varied from respect to outright “paternalism” and influenced the type of work for which they were trained. Two NGOs trained women to become maids or make handicrafts. Conversations with the women in one village showed they were vitally concerned with literacy as a way to help their children have a future, but they were more fatalistic about chances to improve their own lives. Only two of the six NGOs had active literacy programs where women were instructed in educational skills necessary to accomplish a stated self-sufficiency goal. The most successful program, in terms of the difference it made in women’s lives, was the Vanashthali Rural Development Project operating in 17 villages that offered 6-month preschool training courses to young village women. (An appendix highlights goals and effectiveness of the six projects.) (YLB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
LITERACY ONLINE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1996 WORLD CONFERENCE ON LITERACY The Role Of Literacy Training In NGO’s Efforts To Improve The Self-Sufficiency Of Rural Indian Women i.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 0 ice of Educational Research and Improvement E CATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Rosemarie J. PARK University of Minnesota 325 Vo Tech 1954 Buford Avenue St. Paul, MN 55108 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE CATIONAL RESOURCES INFO CATION CENTER (ERIC) I The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) I A question of class I The village settings I Conversations I Women of the model village I The women weavers I Literacy in fact and literacy in published goals I Successful literacy gives women a role to play I Some conclusions based in the data I References I Appendix: Participating NGOs in the University Intern Program I In third world countries the role of women in economic development is being recognized as crucial. This role is increasing recognized by the World Bank and other international development 0 30 agencies. In India improving the literacy rate among rural women is included as a major goal in nearly all government and nongovermental (NGO) projects. Whereas the literacy rate for males in 0 India is 64%, the female literacy rate is 39%. There are also huge variations in literacy between \t.) 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE states (Kerala is 73%, Rajasthan 12%) and between rural and urban women (7.96% versus 42.82%). Our goal was to find out more about literacy programs for women in rural villages. External agencies seeking to improve the economic status, self-esteem and the literacy of women abound in India. However, these efforts that often come from outside the villages themselves may be differently perceived by the village women who are the intended beneficiaries. In addition, the implementation of the programs varied considerably. Whereas literacy was a stated goal, what methods were being used to implement it? How was literacy taught? Was literacy regarded as an intrinsic skill needed to meet other goals or was literacy taught as a goal in itself. Were programs being implemented. I spent three months in Pune, Maharasthra, as part of a University study program I acted as mentor to five undergraduate young women who learned the local language and interned in non-governmental projects in the Pune area. Over this period I was able to visit six NGOs that acted as hosts to our student interns. I was also able to take part in several trips to villages that had been actively involved in self-sufficiency programs for women. Literacy was included as a goal in each project. Interviews were conducted with all program directors and staff. In addition, I was able to interview 10 women in two villages in rural Maharashtra. Interviews were conducted with the help of the local Indian in-country coordinator. The questions included “Do you think village women have benefited from the program?”; ” Do you see the program making a difference for your children?” ; “Do you think literacy has given the women more say in their everyday lives?” Our taped conversations were translated from Marathi to English. As a group we functioned as participant observers and were able to monitor implementation strategies first hand. The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) The most striking element in talking to officials working in the NGOs was a universal
