Equity or "equal opportunity" is the cornerstone to civilization. Every human being must have roughly the same opportunity to succeed in life, irrespective of where or how s/he is born. Unfortunately, this tends to not be true. The last two decades have witnessed a widening of the gap between the rich and poor in India. While the poor in India don't get a fair chance to succeed in life (lack of access to decent education, healthcare and livelihood opportunities), the well-off continue to enjoy benefits from a globalizing economy- greater incomes, reducing taxes, 100% inheritance, etc.
The net result is a ticking time-bomb of growing social unrest. A caring and sensitive well-to-do section can change this without waiting for the situation to explode. So the pertinent question of the hour is livelihood and of course food security.
Mamatha Makkala Mandira has given emphasis on livelihood part of the people so as to meet their basic needs in day to day lives. Obviously weaker sections based in rural and urban area are being targeted by the organization for promotion of livelihood. Capacitating in various trades followed by facilitation towards entrepreneurship are the key strategy being taken for dealing with the issue.
In Mamatha Makkala Mandira, Livelihood Promotion activities have been categorized further in order to get a comprehensive picture.
Skill Development is an essential tool that helps the micro-entrepreneur in scaling up and developing their respective enterprises. Participants for such skill development programmes are selected according to the kind of training programme designed. Technical Support required for carrying on various livelihood promotion programmes are provided by Mamatha Makkala Mandira Facilitation. I
Financial Resources are essential part of any economic activity. Such resources are provided by Development and Government bodies like NABARD, Ministry of Textile, Office of the Development Commissioner – Handicrafts etc. These resources are utilized for meeting trainer’s honorarium, hire charges of training halls, refreshments provided to the participants, tools and equipments that may be required for organizing such programmes. On completion of these programmes, the participant is ready and eager to get involved in the trade. At this point in time it may be necessary for providing financial support to the needy craftsmen. Initial seed capital required for setting up a micro-enterprise or working capital required for developing trade is partially met by Mamatha Makkala Mandira.
Market Linkage is an essential element in the process of making success of any livelihood promotion programme. The entrepreneur is provided with skill development trainings which s/he uses for developing the unit. Once productions are rolling out of the unit, these need to be marketed. Such support for gaining access to market is also provided by Mamatha Makkala Mandira for Development Facilitation.
Economic Development of a poor community can be brought about with an integrated approach comprising of the following components Micro Credit, Micro Insurance and Micro Savings.
Micro Credit has been defined as tool for economic development of the poor community. Support is given in the form of small doses of credit to women who form themselves into Self Help Groups. This movement has been a successful one and has been replicated in more than 100 countries across the world.
Mamatha Makkala Mandira adopted SHG model of credit delivery that are given for either initiating micro-enterprise or developing an existing one. Such activities generally form a secondary source of income for the family. Gradually with proper financial discipline and dedicated efforts, it becomes a primary source of livelihood for the family. The following table illustrates the performance level ofMamatha Makkala Mandira in micro credit initiative:
On analysis of data it is observed that micro credits have been utilized by SHG members mainly for the following income generation activities:
Micro Insurance - Most people fail to recognize the importance of insurance in their lives. Insurance plays a very important role in the lives of poor families who are the target people of Mamatha Makkala Mandira . In case of death of an earning member in such households, there is a major economic shock. With a view to mitigating such rude shocks, Mamatha Makkala Mandira has introduced micro life insurance of members of its SHGs. With the steep hike in cost of health treatment, it is economically inconvenient for people to fall sick! With a view to safeguard the interests of target community, Mamatha Makkala Mandira has helped them to face health shocks by linking them under micro health insurance programme. While life covers have been provided by Life Insurance Corporation of India, health insurance policies have been finalized with ICICI Lombard.
Micro Savings - There are many adverse features of illiteracy. The one affecting the target community the most is living lives without any kind of financial discipline. It has been observed that a majority of these families are engaged in occupations that pays them subsistence pay. With illiteracy added to this phenomenon, we have examples of people living on a day to day basis. That means that whatever they earn on any given day is spent the same day. Mamatha Makkala Mandira has arranged for linking SHGs with a number of banks where savings accounts of these groups are opened. They are also taught the importance of practising thrift. Once they start savings, they gradually grow this habit and it helps them to help themselves. This is the essence of SHG movement.
Mamatha Makkala Mandira is involved in developing Self Help Groups. These movements gather strength when similar SHGs join together to form apex level bodies like Clusters and Federations. Such bodies give their members great amount of confidence.
Mamatha Makkala Mandira strongly believes that women should have equal socio-economic, cultural and political opportunities as men. While doing research, it was discovered that gender discrimination was rampant both in urban and rural Karnataka . Not only were the women in the region uneducated and unemployed, but were also given no say in the decision making processes that included them and their family.
To combat this increasingly alarming issue, Mamatha Makkala Mandira start a comprehensive programme on Self Help Groups. The programme began with five villages and three groups consisting of 48 members. Through sheer diligence and determination, the project has now expanded to cover more than 1,000 groups with a total of 11,879 women in 84 villages.
A five-fold strategy was used to bring about this tremendous change –
These programmes need to be highlighted for an organization like Mamatha Makkala Mandira which stands for development of women. We live in the 21st century and boast about our material progress. However when it comes to gender discrimination, men of all colours, caste and creed feel that they are superior to women. Many a glass ceilings have been broken. We observe and take pride if a woman heads an enterprise. However it is regrettable that violence and discrimination against women are still not frowned down upon in any society in the world.
Looking into the dire living conditions of target community Mamatha Makkala Mandira in its own way is attempting to empower women. Periodical programmes are organized where awareness is generated among participants about their legal rights, dignity and their right to education and a decent life.
Sessions on counselling are organized where legal experts advise the women about the course of action to be taken if they have been wronged against. These advices are given by such experts without charging any professional fees.
Plight of a hapless, street child and her struggles to eke out an existence were factors that helped formation of Mamatha Makkala Mandira. Looking at the plight of these children, founder-secretary of Mamatha Makkala Mandira decided to take a constructive step in helping them. In due course of time, the society evolved.
Child development therefore takes a prioritized position in the programmes conducted by Mamatha Makkala Mandira . These are categorized under different heads like:
The following table will illustrate the kind of activities that Mamatha Makkala Mandira organizes for babies of working mothers and for education of street children:
Crèches
