By BGR Staff
A partnership between BGR and Building Bridges India is empowering the widows of farmers who committed suicide to escape the bane of poverty and learn new skills that enable them to earn a decent living. One project trains women in organic farming; the other teaches them embroidery and sewing.
As the Covid pandemic has shaken societies around the globe, India has been one of the hardest hit nations, home to nearly 60 percent of the people who fell into poverty (defined as those who live on $2 or less daily) in 2020. Most severely impacted were residents of rural areas and, especially, marginalized people and families including female-headed households.
A BGR partner since 2016, Building Bridges India (BBI) works to support and empower the widows of men who committed suicide because of poverty and indebtedness. Before the pandemic many of these women were already struggling with landlessness, indebtedness, and lack of supportive infrastructure; the pandemic this past year has only worsened their situation.
BGR supports two ongoing BBI projects serving these women. One provides training in sustainable and organic agriculture methods; the other offers vocational training in sewing and related coursework. Both projects successfully continued to serve women in need despite the additional challenges of the pandemic.
The organic farming initiative provides training in organic gardening methods, medicinal remedy preparation, and business skills to widows from landless or land-poor families, with a focus on small-plot and container gardening. At workshops held on land adjoining gurdwaras (Sikh temples) in Makod Saab, Balran, Hamirgarh, Chotian, and Khokhar, agricultural experts trained hundreds of women in nutrition, natural farming techniques, irrigation, environmentally sound pest control and fertilization, and other subjects.
Beginning in March 2020, the gurdwaras where BBI’s centers and organic gardens are held were closed due to Covid. When the gurdwaras reopened in mid-November, BBI resumed training in sustainable farming and organic vegetable gardening practices. For the three workshops held during this time, more than 125 women and men participated—far more than BBI had anticipated. Eighteen women participants from the workshops were selected to attend a two-day entrepreneurship development training, where they learned to select, package, price, and market their agricultural wares.
The farming project also organized health workshops for 35 women and girls. Rather than focus primarily on diet and nutrition, the trainers adapted to the needs of the participants and spent time exploring the stress, anxiety, and depression the women encountered related to the pandemic. They also identified resources in the community that the women could turn to for additional mental health support.
For years BGR has also supported BBI’s vocational training project, which provides coursework in basic sewing and embroidery, traditional phulkari embroidery, garment and home décor design, entrepreneurship, and business skills. Participants have reported an average 75 percent increase in their income.
In 2020, in addition to supporting training in the five existing centers, BGR supported the establishment of vocational training programs in five additional centers, doubling the number of women served by the project and offering new workshops in entrepreneurship, functional and numerical literacy, and other topics.
Covid-related closures delayed the opening of the new centers until mid-November 2020, but BBI was nevertheless able to meet its training targets, providing skill development workshops on sewing and embroidery for 125 women, and advanced design workshops for 125 women who were graduates of previous years’ trainings.
Twenty-five women then continued on to an entrepreneurship development workshop series, where they learned about accounting, pricing, quality control, maintaining consistent standards, reliable product delivery, identifying outlets for their goods, and market demand.
The grant also funded English literacy classes; informational workshops about the consequences of the farm acts passed by the Indian Parliament in September 2020; and pandemic food aid for impoverished families.
For the 2021–22 project year, BGR support will allow BBI to add computer training and vocational support as women seek service-sector jobs. This program will provide training to 125 women, 25 of whom will also participate in entrepreneurship development training courses.
Lovepreet Kaur, 38, from the small village of Khokar, was married and had children at a young age. When she first came to BBI, two years ago, she was trapped in a cycle of poverty; her husband was ill and an alcoholic, and she had no means to support her two daughters. Reliant on the good will and support of her neighbors, she felt dependent and hopeless. A friend brought her to BBI, where she was persuaded to participate in a workshop on organic farming. She used the seeds and seedlings she was given to create a vegetable plot. She now earns 5,000 rupees a month. Her own health and the health of her children has significantly improved, and she has become more hopeful. “I want my daughters to be stronger than I was,” she told BBI, “and I want them to be well educated.”
Amarjeet Kaur, 34, is the mother of two young daughters and a son. Until her husband committed suicide two years ago, she says, her life revolved around taking care of her family; she could not imagine her life without him. She first visited BBI’s vocational center in Lehel Khurd village with friends, shortly after her husband’s death. She was greeted so warmly that she joined the center, where she attended workshops to learn stitching and embroidery skills. As a result of her earnings, the family income has grown from 1,800 to 6,000 rupees a month. She is very proud of her new found self-sufficiency, and of the respect she has earned from her family and from the other women in the village. “In the past, I never experienced happiness,” she said. “Now I want to live for myself.”
This article is based on a grant report provided by Building Bridges International.
