Seminar on:Developing a Common Assessment Framework on Social Inclusion of Marginal Communities, Organized by Centre for Economic and Social Studies and Centre for Advocacy and Research and Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust

29th October 2013

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Welcome Address: Dr S Galab, Director, CESS

“On behalf of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), the Centre for Advocacy & Research (CFAR), HLFPPT and community based organizations (CBOs)I welcome all of you to this seminar, which is providing CESS, with an opportunity to share our research findings on marginal communities. We have looking at issues of livelihood and the sustainability of communities such as artisans and weaverswho are struggling to keep their skills, their knowledge and their strengths intact, while trying to better their lives and adapt themselves to the realities of the present. Development has to undoubtedly go beyond welfare to the issue of rights but even sensitive academicians and scholars could be underestimating the challenges faced by these communities. From what I have gathered, large sections of sex workers are from socially marginalized communities that have faced challenges of displacement, violence and other forms of exploitation. Their representatives are here in our midst despite all the odds they have to face. I salute their never say die spirit.

“Thesecommunities have undertaken acomplex study and to a great extent they have been fair and open minded and not allowed their negative experiences to overwhelm their perceptions.My colleagues and I have been humbled by their initiative and feel that any researchor mediation that is undertaken on these communities must provide a platform to the community to speak up, shape the assessment and be part of all solutions.

“With these words I welcome all of you once again. There are many illustrious names among us and we hope each of them will give insights and suggestions that will enable the community to advance their agenda of social inclusion”.

Presenting Key Findings of the Report on Community –Led Assessment on Social Inclusion in East Godavari

Akhila Sivadas, CFAR:

“At the outset I would like to welcome all of you on behalf of the five community based organizations-WISE, Naari Saksham, Asha Jyothi, Udaya Rekha, Velugu Rekha and CESS, CFAR and HLFPPT. I especially welcome the community members from East Godavari who are here with us despite the huge personal losses they are facing due to the untimely rains and floods. Each one of us are feeling truly humbled by their resilience.

“Before I make the presentation to establish the thrust and scope of the study I would like to share some observations and what we are expecting this seminar to achieve”.

Basic observations:

“What the community is being subjected to is neither wholehearted inclusion nor outright exclusion. Their study has thrown up shades of grey which we need to engage with in order to prevent their issues and concerns from being reduced to a mere litany of woes and incessant complaints. All marginalized group face this problem of being asked time and time again on what they really want as though they are responsible for their perceptions.

“So what are the expectations of the diverse academic, women’s groups and people friendly organizations collected here? We are seeing this study as a seminal initiative that will establish the scope of all future studies; given the fact that the community has very clearly given it underlying tenants of what is it experiencing and what it is looking for. It may also become the responsibility of this group, in partnership with the community and those working with communities on the issue, to takethis study forward as a formal research evaluation. It is critical to establish this at the onset because if this is not done this generation will get stuck in this cusp.

“This report has highlighted some very powerful perceptions and it would be difficult to address all of them. Indeed, it may take generations to address them. But we know that hard core researchers like you can look at material facts and perceive where things are going right and where we need to contribute. As I just said, it may not be possible to address every perception because they are deeply engrained and have been bottled up for generations but it may be possible to address their hurt. However, there is alsothe possibility that after two years when we go back to the communities we are nurturing we will find that the inclusion has not healed their pain. This is because something called material inclusion has to happen before we start the healing; what are we going to heal when they remain excluded?”

Chandrika, Senior Program Manager, HLFPPT:

“The uniqueness of this study lies in the fact that the community is the main researcher. It all started in 2010 when the Planning Commission invited the NGOsto share their views on the 12thPlan. The community spoke of being excluded from getting their entitlements and said that they wanted an identity and at a more practically level they wanted houses and pensions.

“East Godavari was chosen because sex work is a traditional profession in this region. Moreover, the community is empowered and there are strong CBOs. Five CBOs were involved in this study and the tools that we used were: listening, mapping, questionnaires and scoring cards. The mapping exercise was done both with both sex workers and government officials and we were able to complete about 433 questionnaires and 91 key informants.

“In the Listening Exercise, we found out that each CBO findings were different. Nari Saksham said that 91 ration cards, voter cards and land pattas were sanctioned to the community. Asha Jyothi had good relations with the government. WISE had been sanctioned an Aadhaar Centre by the government and both Velugu Rekha and Udaya Rekha were sanctioned land for their offices by the government.

Challenges:

  • Low levels of education among the community,hence there was less awareness
  • Street based sex workers are not able to access schemes and they are not covered by outreach workers.
  • Lack of necessary documents needed for applying for schemes. Landlords do not permit the community to use the house address for address proof.
  • There are more migrants in these districts
  • Stigma and discrimination is very high in East Godavari. There are instances where members of thesecommunities have changed houses 3-4 times in a month.

Aadhaar Findings:

Of the 91 respondents, 70 respondents knew about Aadhaar while31 saw it as another ration card that could be used asIDproof. Only 2 persons said that it was a permanent identity number. 63 respondents have received their Aadhaar Cards and 33 respondents had received various benefits by using the card.

All 443 respondents knew about Aadhaar. 395 respondents wanted to know more about Aadhaarand388 respondents hadreceived their Aadhaar number

Pension Findings:

Of the 91 respondents 54 of the respondents knew about Old Age, Widow and Disabled pensions. 15% knew about ART user’s pension. 21 respondents felt thatWidow Pension was essential and said that it was their right to get all the pensions. 38 respondents had benefitted fromvarious pension schemes. 53had not received anybenefits.

290 respondents knew about pension schemes.223 respondents knew about all 4 pension schemes.379 respondentswanted to know more about pension schemes.55 respondentshad benefitted from pension schemes and 385 had not benefitted.

Education Findings:

Of the 91 respondents, 24 respondents knew about education schemes. 16 respondents knew about scholarship. 2 respondents knew about residential hostels, 6 respondents identified the Girl Child Protection Scheme as a vital scheme.17respondents had benefitted from scholarship schemes and SC & BC hostels. 74 had not benefitted.

386 respondents wanted to know more about education schemes. 217 respondents knew about the schemes, 13 had benefited from the schemes, 255 were in the process of getting benefits and 375 had not benefited.

SHG Findings:

Of the 91 respondents 69 respondents knew about SHG. 13 respondents stated that they wanted to know more about- subsidized loans, alternative livelihoods, the criteria for sanctioning of loans and the criteria for forming SHGs. Of the 38 respondents, 26 respondents said that it was a financial assistance scheme. 2 respondents called it a poverty reduction scheme, 4 respondents perceived it as a skill development and livelihood scheme and 3 respondents saw it as a women’s development scheme. 32 respondents were part of SHGs

411 respondents knew about SHGs, 388 respondents want to know more about the scheme, 135 respondents had received benifits from SHGs. Applications of 67 respondents are being processed.241 respondents had not benefitted.

Housing Findings:

Of the 91 respondents, 68 respondents knew about housing schemes.Only 6 respondents knew the names of the schemeslike Indirammaillu, Rajiv GruhaKalpa and the provisions like land for constructing houses. 10 respondentswanted to know more aboutloans, subsidies and the B form. 9respondentshadbenefitted from housing schemes. The applications of 10 respondentswere being processed.

417respondentswere interested to know more about housing schemes.310 knew abouthousing schemes.103 respondentsknew about Rajiv Swagruha. 112respondents knew about ‘IndirammaGruhaalu’. 36 respondentshad benefitted from the scheme. Applications of 39respondents are being processed. 335 respondents had not benefitted from the scheme.

Mr Jaya Kumar, Team Leader, TSU:

“In Andhra Pradeshthere are 1, 86,000 registered sex workers.The number of female sex workers is 1, 34.000. Targeted Interventions (TIs) have been conducted for the 10 years but we gained momentum only in the last 4 years.

“In NACP III the focus is on activities and interventions. The program in Andhra Pradesh is much more focused than the programs in other states because we are going beyond the quality service provision to social protection programs.This will help in reducing the vulnerability of the population. We use the data we have on the eligibility criteria of the 1, 86,000 registered workers to approach officials’ and follow up their cases. DAPCU also follows up the cases with the concerned departments at the district level and on many occasions camps are conducted in government departments.

“For instance, in Nellore – 67 house pattas were distributed by the DistrictCollector to Transgender persons (TGs) and the remaining 43 will be sanctioned soon. So,in all,110 pattas have been sanctioned to TGs in this district.

“We are gradually mainstreaming these populations though such activities”.

Retracing the Process, Methodology and Tools: Community Sharing

Radha, Udaya Rekha: “When we started the program we used the tool of advocacy to negotiate with officials. When we were doing this research the community told us that in government schools they are not able to get the facilities that were available in private schools. Some of them said that their children got uniforms and food in schools and that the Governmentwas providing livelihood and social schemes like houses, ration cards etc.

“Aadhaar:East Godavari was one of the 5 pilot districtsselected to implement Aadhaar so an extensive drive was conducted to provide AadhaarCards to everyone, resulting in almost 80% receiving their Aadhaar Cards. The remaining 20 % were not issued the cards because they did not have address proof, were migrants, or because they were not available when the officials came to conduct enquires etc.

“When we analyzed what we needed to provide us security in our old age we thought of pension. Presently, more non-community members are getting pension than community members and even those who are eligible are not getting it. Since this is an entitlement that we should get we have decided to go and meet the concerned officials”.

Sudha, Velugu Rekha:

“We got trainings in health care services, leadership qualities, the forming of CBOs etc but the training we received on conducting research was different. We have used this training toidentity the challenges faced byour community,their various needs and concerns etc. While doing this research we haddone an in depth study on the problems the community faces in accessing schemes and used the findings to try and change the mindset of officials. When we were doing the HIV intervention program, the problems faced by the communities in accessing the schemes were different.

“The community is not asking for the schemes as their right but in the form of a request that is made through friends, the CBO etc. The community also lacks knowledge on the documents that are needed to get the schemes.It has also been seen that even if they have the necessary documents it still takes a lot of time get the benefits of the scheme.

“Radha, one of our community members,used to get an ART Pension of Rs 200. When she was widowed we pursued the matter with the concerned officials and she was also sanctioned Widow Pension. But after a few months of getting it was cancelled. When we asked why she was being denied the pension the officialstold us that since she was availing of ART Pension she could not getWidow Pension. Nevertheless, we fought for her pension and the officialsfinally give it to her.Through such experiences we have learnt that we have a right to avail of pensions and schemes”.

Rajeshwari, Udaya rekha:

“There were 16 community researchers. We did interviews on all the schemes and used the feedback to assess the reasons why the community was not getting access to schemes. One of the factors that became very evidently was that the community was not able to produce all the necessary documents. For example, for getting Widow Pension, the person was required to produce either a divorce certificate or a death certificate. Many in the community did not have them because their husbands have either left them long back or in the case of those belonging to traditional sex workers families they were never married and the onus is on the women to take care of the family. Hence, many in the community don’t have either divorce certificate or death certificate of their husbands.

“Most of the community membersfrom the Kalavatu clan are single womenbut the government insists that they produce the necessary documents, which is the main challenge. Moreover, the community is not being respected and they are not given loans.

“Even in the case of SHGs the bank don’t sanction loans unless we save money with them.The reason they give us is that community members are constantly shifting from one place to another”.

Venkatalakshmi, Velugu Rekha:

“I conducted the research in an urban village. The communities there told us that though there are schemes theyare not able to accessthem because when they go to the officials they are told to come again and again so it often takes years for them to get access to schemes. Since this happens even when they have all the necessary documents and they feel very dissatisfied and discouraged.

“In comparison,community members living in villages are very happy with the way they are getting the schemes. They said that information on the schemes was easily accessible and the process of availing schemes did not taking much time”.

Debating the Pros and Cons on Social Inclusion-The Motion: Is the Cup half-empty or half-full-

Chandra Kumari, Nari Saaksham, Rajahmundry:

“When we were doing the research, the community said that they knowabout the schemesand had also benefitted from them.We asked them how they had benefited they replied that they got houses through MLCs and Coorporators andthat the politicians and officials were very cordial and paying heed to their concerns. The communities were also inviting these officials for their meetings.

“When we asked them about rights, the community said that they were trained as Para Legal Volunteers and were working to stop minor trafficking. But some community said that they did not share this opinion because the government hasnot done very much for them.

“We havean AadhaarCentre through which many community and non community persons had got their Aadhaar cards. We call government officials for our programs and they in turn invite us to their programs. Recently we participated in aSamaikyandra dharna which they had organized.

“We are making every effort to access schemesbut we also want the government to come forward and give us a supporting hand in getting the entitlements”.

Parvathi, Rajamundry:

“The community says that not all schemes are coming to them and that even in the case of those that they are able to access, it is only to a certain extent.We have done many programs through our CBO, starting with an HIV prevention program. And as members of a sex workers CBO we feel greatly empowered. But we are not saying that we are fully empowered. We still have a long way to go.We have reached here after crossing many hurdles and challenges.

“The CBO has helped us in getting Aadhaar Cards and pensions for the needy. But challenges, like the lack of documents for getting Widow Pensions documents remain. The Government promises to help, but they do nothing. Twelve members of the community have been sanctioned houses but when we went to the Housing Departments and the Collector’s Office we could not find their names though the MLA assured us that houses had been sanctioned to them”.