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SUTRA
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| Society for Social Uplift Through Rural Action. |
“SUTRA believes that all the democratic institutions created under the Constitution of India shall fulfil their constitutional obligations towards citizens only when people are collectively empowered and the State evolves all its policies based on principle of
Gender & Equity.”
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| Situation of women in rural India today |
When we think of Indian women we often first think of them wearing saris, singing popular Bollywood tunes and dancing bear-foot on folk music. Alas, the daily life of Indian women is not as glamorous as one would like to think. Reality is in fact somewhat different.
Traditionally and still today, a woman is considered a lesser individual than a man. The extent of the problem is yet clear and its effects speak for themselves:
Violence within the married couple is a taboo and there are hardly any ways to deal with them. For example, boys are preferred to girls and the girl : boy ratio has worsen over the past years. There are also cases of food deprivation, where women are only to eat the left- overs. And these are just a few examples.
Defenceless, without support, Indian women are often left alone to suffer daily physical and psychological violence.
Their situation is overlooked, their fate ignored and their destiny uncertain.
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| Sutra's Area's of Activity |
| Gender And Equity & Life Free From Violence |
 SUTRA seeks to raise awareness about the different forms of violence against women and offers solutions and support to those needing it.
The term violence against women encompasses any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threat of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.
SUTRA is concentrating on the dissemination of information and the upgrading of women’s skills, in order to sensitise women about their self and the society, mainly in the fields of gender and health. This is done through training programmes and awareness camps. In the discussions, women can exchange their experiences in order to uproot them. Awareness camps and training programmes are considered to be important initiators of the empowerment process.
Furthermore SUTRA undertakes capacity building of village groups, especially of women and men from weaker sections, adolescent girls and boys.
To build up capacities of these groups and collectives, SUTRA regularly organizes training programs at its HQ and undertakes continuous follow-up by organising monthly, fortnightly meetings at village and cluster levels.
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| Micro-Credit |
 Economic independence is a prerequisite for long-tern women empowerment. Sutra aims to achieve this through its micro-credit programme. It is normally difficult for women to take up a loan that has a reasonable level of interest rate. These loans are given by a group to one of its own members and it is decided democratically who is most in need.
On the other hand, SUTRA runs a programme of external credit assistance in order to give loans for bigger investments. Most of these loans are used to purchase cattle or to start a small daily needs shop. This enables women to earn a regular income and at the same time, to rise their self-esteem and their relative position within the family.
SUTRA’s philosophy of facilitating access to economic resources is an important aspect of self-development. The fact that the collective has the capability to directly help a member of its group can be seen as positive step towards their own financial freedom. Women feel better as they know that they are not completely dependent on someone else.
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| Local Self-Governance |
SUTRA believes that if a collective of people is formed at grassroots level and their capacity is built through an integrated approach, then one can have true democratic governance.
This is first achieved through the empowerment of individuals by means of teaching, better access to information (such as relevant laws and articles of the Constitution) and skill building (leadership). As a result, the community is then itself empowered to achieve its common aims.
SUTRA gives an update on government policies, informs women on their constitutional rights and help communities address their request to the government.
Local Self-governance has been SUTRA’s longest running program (over 20 years) and has improved the life of hundreds of women. Requests made to local, regional and national governments have been very diverse and include the construction and repair of roads, the improvement of water supplies and the construction of health and school facilities.
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| Awareness Programme for Teenagers |
 SUTRA mobilises adolescent girls (13-20 years old) on gender issues in the context of health, violence and economic self-reliance.
In “Awareness Generation Camps” girls are taught about their physiology, and are given a psychosocial analysis of women discrimination in society. The girls should be enabled to act as agents of change.
 There is also a “Leadership Development and Capacity Building” workshop for girls, which aims at bringing out the potentials of each girl, enhance self-esteem and confidence along with raising their political awareness vis-à-vis India’s constitution and their fundamental rights.
There is also a programme for adolescent boys (13-17 years old). In camps, their awareness on gender issues is raised. |
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| Sutra promotes women rights in rural India |
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Through building local women groups in order to participate in local governance.
Local self-help groups in which the violence women encounter is discussed and appropriate solutions are sought. It is also a basis for encouragement in their daily struggle.
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One-day and one-week-long camps are organised where women are taught the basics about their sexuality, nutrition and other most important aspects of their daily lives are addressed.
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Micro-credits are organised. All the women of a community save a small amount per month and then decide who is most in need of it. They are mostly used to buy income generators such as cattle.
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Education and sensitisation of teenage boys and girls about gender and equity issues.
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Other projects such as watershed development and crèches are developed in function of the current needs. Such flexible projects allow an all-round support to women in their daily lives.
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SUTRA shares its knowledge with other NGOs. Members of other organisations are given training and resources are produced and readily available to other NGOs, government and UN bodies.
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| Challenges before SUTRA |
| For the near future, SUTRA has set itself the objective to tackle the following challenges: |
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Reproductive health
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Declining girl:boy ratio/female foeticide
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Sustainable micro-credits
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Transparancy of local governance
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| Reproductive Health |
| Awareness among women about their reproductive health (menstruation, nutrition during pregnancy, etc.) is still low due to a culture of silence. Furthermore, there is a lack of services provided by the government. Although these are part of official policy, they are not implemented
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| Declining Girl:Boy Ratio/Female Foeticide |
| Families are having fewer children (one to two children) and boys are usually preferred. As a result, there has been a noticeable decline in the number of baby girls (in comparison with total births), which is due to an increasing practice of ‘female foeticide’ (sex of child is determined before its birth and abortion takes place if it is a girl). |
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| Sustainable Micro-Credits |
| Micro-credits are considered a mean towards women empowerment rather than an end. SUTRA thus wants to make its teaching a prerequisite to ensure micro-credits are used appropriately. A failure to do so may mean a regression in general knowledge about women’s rights and health care. |
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| Transparancy of Local Governance |
| SUTRA wishes to improve the transparency of local government in their daily business. Furthermore, there is a need for a more active participation of the population in decision-making. This can be achieved through the supervision by locals of basic services such as education, drinking water, health care, etc. |
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