Aruna Roy*
INTRODUCTION
Development planners view training as the 'open sesame' that will lead them to the riches of Alladin's cave, or at least, with the help of modern technology, to the right traffic indicators. Whenever there is a programme, they belive there has to be training. If these programmes proceed from a development ideology which does not work toward equality and the empowerment of the poor and oppressed, training becomes a trap rather than a means of development.
This paper discuss the problems with traditional development ideologies and training programmes. It describes the attitudes and values that underlie appropriate development and training, especially as they apply to women's issues. Finally, it discusses in detail a training experience that applies these attitudes and values to a women's development programme.
DEVELOPMENT TRAPS
Training is linked to development programmes, symbiotically. Programmes originate from development policy, and policy is determined by the politics of national priorities. If training is done by development agencies outside the government, it is often related to the ideologies, objectives and priorities of the agencies concerned. In short, training cannot exist in a vacuum. It has to be, and is, part of a much larger process. To understand training, we must understand development and its relationship to training strategies.
Many development programmes embody a dangerous and insidious assumption that Western values are superior to than all other value structures that exist. This assumption ignores cultural and social structures which not only determine interests all over the world but which influence our choice of values. It leads to development interventions that operate through rigid, hierarchical structures and attempt only to give information or skills to a target groups.
The concept of "participation" is gaining some recognition now. But ironically, the non-participation of the poor and women is seen as a development handicap primarily because these groups do not receive the benefits targeted to them. They do not receive the seeds, the fertilisers, the contraception, the bank loan - it is an endless list. Without participation even literacy levels cannot go up, as we have seen in India. Thus there is a great move to encourage or enforce - for that is what it is - participation.
DEVELOPMENT AS EMPOWERMENT
Development is a process which works towards equality. The basic assumption underlying the choice of the word is the belief that some of us have more than we need and others nothing at all. Development requires the recognition of conflict between class, caste and gender interests.
Building values into the process on development is very important. Strategies for development have to consider factors like communication between the "haves" and the "have nots", as equals. There must be an acceptance of the wealth of knowledge and information that exists in the community to be 'developed', and an understanding of the ignorance and limitations of the 'developer'. Developers process must understand that participation emerges as a result of this recognition, not because governments and international agencies in their wisdom have decided that it will be so. The participation of the community provide the opportunity to make realistic choices. These choices span a whole spectrum, from health choices to sharply defined political positions.
The development process is also an educational process. It should lead to a greater share in socio-economic and political decision-making. If development does not lead to more power for the poor, to greater freedom from hunger, and to greater access to basic services, it is meaningless. In other words, development is empowerment of the underprivileged.
Development cannot, therefore, be seen only in economic terms but will have to be seen contextually in relation to the sociological and cultural positions of the community.
WOMEN: WHAT DEVELOPMENT MEANS TO US. IS IT A QUESTION OF CHOICE?
Women's development has been treated as an important ingredient in the progress formula. Young women have been told to earn more, learn to read and write, innoculate their babies, practice family planning (a euphemism shrouding many thoughts), sterilise themselves, produce more, become salaried workers, nurses and clerical staff. It is agreed that women have to develop; how else can a country prosper? But this development should not lead them to ask for rights that step outside the boundary of development into custom and tradition.
Any questioning of "good tradition" is indeed frightening. Development radicals become conservatives when it comes to women's issues. They argue that women are already participating in income-generating activities, in sterilization camps, in health programmes. What is this participation that women development workers keep talking about?
Participation, like development, is a process. It includes learning and communication, and accepts the principle of equality and sharing. One cannot talk about participation as a prerequisite to activities in the field while at the same time making it part and parcel of a very rigid and hierarchical structure. This kind of contradiction makes the concept lack credibility from the very beginning.
Participation and equality are far-reaching concepts. The notions have an uncomfortable way of slipping beyond their theoretical confines and of questioning structures that one prefers not to have questioned. Taking participation seriously may mean taking the whole development issue and standing it on its head. The women's issues, all of them - beginning with fertility and ending with the right be a pilot or anything else - begin with a right to participate, to decide for ourselves, to know, to articulate and to redefine.
TRAINING PRIORITIES - WHOSE PERSPECTIVE?
Development and women's development are now seen primarily as the empowerment of those who have been marginalised or kept away from skills that would enable participation in decision-making. This understanding of development changes the conventional way in which the training needs of women are viewed. It is no longer important only to see that women get health care and sewing machines. It becomes important to acknowledge a woman's total person and work toward her participation and liberation. Training in this context means acquiring skills to work towards economic and social liberation.
Repeated skills training programmes like those for income generation have failed to effectively raise living standards or income for women. Training objectives in the new context will shift from mere skills training to those aspects of human development that have so far been less important than specialized skills training in the development agenda. The stereotype of the "mahila mandal" making pickles and papad (without a market), and the child care and maternity centre will have to be replaced by the issues that concern the wage worker, the agricultural labourer, the industrial worker, those in the middle-classes oppressed by dowry, exploitation and a host of other problems that have not so far been articulated or acknowledged adequately in the development world.
Basic Concepts
Some basic concepts must be built into training to make it part of a development process that bridges the gap between sexes, rich and poor, literate and illiterate, the teacher and the taught.
The first is that training ought to be an experience of working together to understand. The assumption that there are some who know and others who do not leads to training programmes which are nothing more than a series of lectures. The notion of training has to be replaced by that of learning.
Such an explicit statement often comes under heavy criticism, because training and education are said to fall into two different frameworks. Training is seen as a one-time occurrence relating to specific skills and leading to tangible achievements. There is a general expectation that the training programme will equip the trainee to go out and start functioning like a programmed robot. Conventional training puts great emphasis on information collection, and arbitrarily fragments information into "subjects".
While one cannot question that information is power, it is impossible to give all relevant information during a training programme. What trainees need to learn is how to seek information. Also, while it is necessary to focus on issues and relate them to our learning, time-bound lectures do not even begin to take into account cultural and educational levels and differences that may require a slower or faster pace.
The second basic concept is that the training programme will be non-formal in methodology, following the interests of the group within the defined limits of the training programme's objectives and allowing for the formation of a cohesive group of willing listeners. The creation of a group of trainees is the first step in the training programme, and time must be allocated for this.
The non-formality in the adjusting of the sequence of events does not, as is so often feared, prevent completion of the 'syllabus'. It has been seen time and again that the subject is not only covered under this approach, but gets sufficiently internalized to become part of debates and arguments.
The third basic concept is that the appropriateness or otherwise of the training will have to be the trainees' decision. The group of trainees must get a chance to influence the training programme and to change priorities. Adjustments should be made to me thods, techniques and subject matter during the course of the training, given a broad framework of agreement about the content, time span, and discipline.
Because of the heterogeneity of society, appropriateness of training will be determined differently by each small group. This is not a cause for concern. What is important is that attitude changes are possible only when there is identification, and identification is rough more likely when the trainees themselves decide what is appropriate and what is not.
The final concept is that the trainers have to believe in and practise the values of this kind of training. The team of trainers must regard each member as an equal and take decisions on a collective basis. Even resource persons who come for a day have to be fully participant in their brief while with the group. It is worth saying here that disagreement is not non-participation. Full sharing of ideas and methods is very important, whether or not there is agreement on them.
THE CONCEPT IN PRACTICE: AN EXAMPLE
The Women's Development Programme (WDP) was drawn up by the government of Rajasthan in a participatory manner. The initial draft policy document was discussed twice at the regional and national levels to reformulate policy emphasis and objectives. The participants included grass root level workers, women researchers, women activists, specialists and representatives of international agencies and national and state bureaucracy. The initial plan document took formal and final shape as the women's development programme 1984. It got the sanction of the state government and implementation began in September 1984.
The WDP recognizes that there has not been sufficient communication between women and the government, between women and women specialists, among women themselves. It emphasised the essential nature of sharing and learning through a better communication process. The second feature of the WDP is that it does not define programmes with time-oriented targets. It attempts to formulate structures of participation so that the programmes are planned from below. Thirdly, the WDP attempts to minimise traditional hierarchical structures, within the government framework. It seeks to promote a culture of 'equality', 'partnership' and 'mutuality of interest'. Fourthly, the WDP does not have separate economic or educational programmes but seeks to harness the existing ones. Fifthly, it attempts to work towards raising the dignity of women. WDP will attempt to provide a forum for women who are oppressed. Lastly, the WDP gives considerable importance to training, which* is seen as a continuing process, rather than a one time intervention.
The structure of the WDP is as follows. The 'sathin' or village level worker forms the nucleus. A block of ten 'sathins' are coordinated and supported by a 'pracheta' in the block. The 'prachetas' in the District are supported and coordinated by the Project Director and the Project Officer. They report to the Director of Women at State Level. Women staff all position.
Three WDP training programmes have so far been held, one to train 'sathins' and two to train 'prachetas'. Some of the experiences are recalled in what follows to illustrate how it is possible to have participatory training even within the confines of government work. The sources are the Pracheta Training Programmes, which were held for 21 days, each with groups of twenty trainees in Rajasthan.
Phase 1
The first week of the training programme is left free so that the group can get to know each other and begin to talk. This is important if there is going to be any kind of genuine communication among us. Because we are unable at first grasp that learning can take place without hierarchy, we hesitate to exercise the power we have to make decisions about time allocation, about what to discuss when. But our non-hierarchical pattern of sitting on the floor, the washing of utensils, the discussion of sleeping arrangements and whether and if so, how, to pray are excellent ways to break the ice and learn about communication, participation, and learning methods. We debate whether or not there should be collective examination and questioning of issues, and are surprised to learn that every issue is debatable and there is learning on all sides. The continuous questioning .."Why did you say that?".. provokes resentment, irritation, argument or acquiescence. The responses are examined to see why some of us react the way we do.
The autobiographical stories that we all begin to tell on the second half of the first day bring out the various problems that we have faced as women. All the major women's development issues are made explicit through stories of sorrow, happiness, anger, race, impotent frustration, economic problems, violence against our bodies, education, discrimination against women in the family, in marriage, jobs, society, in the functioning of the law. The issues become our issues. All further analysis and reference gets easier because it relates to our own experience, which has echoes in that of the others.
We also learn to listen, something rare in our lives. No one has had time to listen to us, nor have we listened. We learn that listening is very importante if we are to genuinely participate in development. Working with the community begins with listening with as open a mind as possible, not dismissing. By beginning to listen, we begin to learn.
Learning becomes exciting. We realize that there is no place where one cannot learn. The games that we play, the sessions, the out-of-session discussions make us realize that learning does not exist within the covers of a book. It dawns on us that there is much to be learned from the village women whom we may have dismissed as illiterate and therefore uneducated.
An important training objective is the recording of our learning and our experience. Since are dealing principally with an illiterate group of women, we must develop methods of recording experiences that do not rely on literacy. We begin by looking our various experiences and the ways they can be expressed best. After listening to the exploitation of working women by the overseers in a village not far away, we write and sing songs—-the best way we have of expressing our anger and the will to do something about it. Left to our own ways of recalling the day's experience, some of us do it like a radio broadcast--a broadcast full of irony, humour, and perceptiveness. Some of us do straightforward reporting, but express ourselves in various ways. We spend time discussing the different methods.
Since communication is one of the most important components of development work, there is an effort to look at it theoretically. But the theoretical discussion only takes place after we have learned the value of the various aspects of communication we have experienced and looked at. Role plays, dancing, singing, poems, talking, listening, group discussions, methods of discussing the way we convey messages with body postures and the manner in which we do our daily chores, have already been internalised.
We try to evolve a group that experiences the joys of solidarity and discuss the translation of this to the village and to organising women is discussed. This will be one of the principal objectives towards which the women will have to work in the village. We recognize that although collective decision-making has its problems, those problems and limitations do not take away its effectiveness in bargaining for greater participation in development.
Periodically during this first phase, the trainer has to make us self-conscious about the training itself. There is a need for continual discussion about the training objectives and self-evaluation against those objectives. As a start, the group categorizes its collective learning over the week. This becomes a lesson on analysis as well as evaluation, skills that we have to learn. The process of evaluation is seen primarily as a learning process for one's own development rather than a monitoring or an imposition from outside. We recognize that problems do not have to be defined in any one way, that each cultural group will define problems in a manner that is appropriate to it. One group of women from the same class and caste background concentrates on violence against women as the central theme, while the second group tends to look at women and marriage and work. And the manner of expressing the problems varies from group to group. Just as we find it easier to talk while sitting outside the formal session, the village woman will have her own method and place for genuine communication.
Once all the issues about women's development get raised, the theoretical analysis of women in development and development itself make sense.
Phase II
The task of the training programme now is to relate our learning to the work expected of us in the field. Methods, techniques, attitudes and values are examined in the context of our future work. Some are rejected as not useful. Other are understood, but postponed for a time when the community will be ready to receive them, while others are ready for immediate implementation.
At this stage in the training, resource people arrive. The use and evaluation of resource people becomes a daily routine. The expectations we have of the 'specialists' are discussed and the results are evaluated. Methods of seeking information are compared. Are questions better, or should we raise issues and formally invite the resource people to address us? The appropriateness of each method is evaluated by relating it to the kind of information or learning that is required. For instance, for banking details or information on laws, it is best to give the topic and ask for a straightforward lecture. The topic of health, on the other hand, is best approached through a mix of lecture, discussions and debate. The choice of method is also related to the time the resource person has to spend with us. In some cases we choose to present our own positions through song, drama, or even drawing the resource person's attention to the slogans we have written or the posters we have painted.
Finally, we spend two days reviewing and evaluating the training. We categorise our learning into formal subject areas and document the information we have or have not been able to collect. This exercise defines future training needs and helps us set priorities among those needs.
We look back at the training and evaluate it as a training that has made us experience concepts that were mere words in books and musty documents. We also record the information that we still need.
An Evaluation
The training programme managed to motivate a bunch of women whom many had dismissed as useless. The discussions revealed not a lot of disgruntled teachers and village workers, but women who had struggled in their ways against oppression. Some of them had worked as wage labourers; some of them had divorced their husbands, a radical position to take against marital oppression in lower middle-class India. Through discussions, these women came to understand the problems of poor women and also to understand that as women we all shared a set of problems. They came to see that if we act in solidarity with each other, we can break away from the exploitation, oppression and violence that threaten us wherever we are. The experience has made it possible for some of us who were initially skeptical to see that change and development towards an equal society is possible.
CONCLUSION
In order for training to be appropriate in its context, the following some basic questions must be asked:
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Whose appropriateness are we talking about? |
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Who decides? In other works, is it participatory? |
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What are the objectives of the programme? Who decided them? Do they |
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Are participants involved in these issues personally or profession |
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How does the programme relate to other similar programmes? |
We come round full circle to the issues that are implicit in the development debate. Participatory, appropriate training can be an Alladin's cave or a Pandora's box. What determines the value of the training is the ideology from which it arises. The effectiveness of the training and its appropriateness can ultimately only be judged if we are willing to honestly, examine our larger framework of development and development policy. Young men and women need to be involved in the programme planning process. Planning with youth, rather than for youth, adds a success factor that is often missing.
REFERENCES
Silver Shackles - Women and Development in India: Maitreyi Mukhopadhyay OXFAM 1984. Printed by Parchment (Oxford) Ltd.
Equality, Development and Peace. A second Look at the Goals of the UN Decade for Women. P. Antrobus.
New Approaches to Development. Building a Just World.
UN Department of Public Information. P. Antrobus.
Women in India - A Statistical Profile, New Delhi 1978. Government of India, Department of Social Welfare.
Approach Paper to the 7th Five-Year Plan, 1985-90. Planning Commission Government of India.
Critical Issues on the Status of Women. ICSSR, New Delhi, 1977
Development as if Women Mattered, D. Jain, Institute of Social Studies Trust, New Delhi.
Women.and Development, an Assessment and Future Vision. Gita Sen.
The Domestication of Women - Barbara Rogers. Discrimination in Developing Societies. Social Science Paperbacks, Tavistock Publications, 1980.
*SWRC Tilonia. Ajmer District. Rajasthan, INDIA. February 1985.
*Note on Evaluation; Dr. Anita Digha, Evaluation Consultant WDP Council for social development, Delhi.
