DECCAN DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY
HYDERABAD, INDIA
(Currently under construction)
RURAL, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT : WOMEN FOCUSED INITIATIVES
For over a decade, the Deccan Development Society, a primarily voluntary organisation, has implemented successful programmes to improve the poorest of the poor's lives, in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh based on environmental sustainability, gender justice and traditional knowledge. Initiatives have been implemented for dahlit communities in over 90 villages in the statešs Medak district. Community development has been the focus through the empowerment of women, with more than 90,000 taking an active part in the formulation and implementation of innovative programmes.
The Alternative Public Distribution System : Women's economic independance and a community's food crop.
In the dry areas of Andhra Pradesh, land that for many years has laid fallow has been reclaimed by village women, planted with traditional, rain fed grain crops that, in the past, have been grown successfully. The planning, growing, harvesting and redistribution of seed has been the responsibility of each particular community of women, farming practice recognising the necessity of ecological biodiversity and seed gene banks whilst encorporating permaculture farming techniques.Initially, funding for this internationally acclaimed initiative was made available from state government sources but following a questionable defunding decision, these thousands of women have been abandonned, unceremoneously. Financial support is being sought, worldwide. Without financial assistance, these women's lives are in crisis.
Local Health Care : Women, actively, deal with health issues.
Easy access to health resources and women's control over their own health have been the emphases of DDS planning, encouraging preventative health practices ( increasing the availabiltiy of clean drinking water, collecting and distributing wild greens and giving gynaecological care a priority ) and reclamation of lost, traditional healing systems (coding, growing and distributing the plethora of local medicinal plants) with an emphasis on women's health needs. Selected, commmitted women in each village consult regularily, sharing knowledge and planning appropriate health strategies to be implemented, locally.
The Personal is Political : Women's self empowerment, self esteem and public voice.
Underlying the direction of DDS programming is the constant intent to empower women. At all times, women are encouraged to take control of their lives and are given the opportunity to develop skills to enable personal as well as economic independance.Literacy is facilitated through formal learning opportunities. Strong patriarchal values underpin the rural culture : domestic violence and pressure for arranged marriages, often for girls still in childhood, demean women's lives. The construction of a SAFE HOME is a current project, to provide immediate physical and emotional safety and a stepping stone to new live directions. Women are encouraged to evaluate and act upon socio-political concerns, publically demonstrating against policy and practices considered inapproriate for the region : cotton growing (setting up negative environmental and economic consequences), violence against women, child marriage, water shortages, just government agricultural policies.
Return to Safe Home home page