Housewives in Watawala Plantations taught cash-flow management
Friday, 7 February 2014 01:41
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Empowerment of women has been tried by many, on various platforms; however, Watawala Plantations has taken a unique approach by teaching household cash-flow management to women estate workers. The objective is to socially position the women as a housewife who understands and practices thrift and knowledge in making ends meet in the household budget.
Keeping in line with the company’s policy on gender equality, the focus of the women’s empowerment program is to give an opportunity for the women to get involved in decision making process at work as well as at home, which is denied traditionally, and thereby remove the stigma of a woman taking a lesser role in the family hierarchy and as well at home, to emerge as decision makers and leaders.
The operational approach to this program is to set up women empowerment teams in the estates that could collectively find solutions for their socio economic issues. Watawala Plantations has implemented this project in four estate (Homodola Estate, Talangaha Estate, Nakiyadeniya Oil Palm Estate and Nakiyadeniya Rubber Estate) in Udugama region.
About 5 to 10 individuals get together to form a group and share their thoughts and difficulties amongst the members to find practical solutions. As most of their domestic issues are stemming from financial hardships, a fund is established by the participants by collecting a nominal contribution, monthly from each member, through which they can obtain a soft loan, whenever the need arises without having to borrow from a third party.
The motto being to recognise female estate workers as ‘partners in progress,’ the Women Empowerment Program, first implemented in 2012 sets out common goals, such as, encouraging female involvement in the decision making process, educating them on identify solutions for their socio economic issues, enabling them face the challenges in an organised manner and develop and identify the leadership qualities in them.
The initiative runs parallel to the ongoing ‘Happy Family Concept’ project carried out by the organisation.
Watawala Plantations South General Manager Yajith De Silva, who mooted the concept, says the program has brought about significant results in terms of motivating the female plantation workers to break barrios in the hitherto male dominant plantation sector.
“When the female of the house who plays the role of the wife or mother is not treated with respect, it could have an adverse effect on the overall growth of the family. Through the Women Empowerment Program, we try to fill that void by creating a platform for them to emerge as leaders.
“Since this arrangement came into being, we have witnessed a great deal of enthusiasm in them - how they collectively come up with new ideas, tackle their financial problems and have various tasks achieved is remarkable,” De Silva said.
Beneficiaries also receive financial assistance in the form of soft loans to invest in part time income generating activities such as orchid cultivation programmes, undertaking sweetmeats and food preparation orders for kovil functions, dress making or to purchase provisions for the monthly pola. Beneficiaries can obtain grants to buy furniture for household or support children in their education.
According to De Silva, the funds collected over the years, have now accumulated into a sum of Rs. 400,000 and the team members use this fund to overcome their financial obstacles.
In addition to inculcating the saving habits, the Women Empowerment Program had guided the female plantation workers to follow domestic cost reduction practices. With a view to cut down the monthly expenditure on grocery items, the teams come together, on a particular day of the month, to purchase provisions needed, in bulk as against the traditional approach of individual purchasing and benefit from the concessions that come with wholesale buying.
Being the facilitators of the program, Watawala Plantations has deployed Family Welfare Supervisors and Health and Medical Staff to monitor the implementation and the progress of the project. For sustainably purposes, these female empowerment teams meet the facilitators on a monthly basis. The inputs of the resource persons are obtained once in three months to conduct various capacity building and counselling sessions targeting the teams.
However, according to the GM Yajith De Silva, their ultimate target is to empower the females to sustain this project on their own, and thereby become the decision makers.
Apart from setting up Women Empowerment Teams, through the Happy Family Concept Project, Watawala Plantations has successfully conducted several other programs aimed at uplifting the lives of the community attached to their plantations. Counselling programs for married couples, alcohol and drug reduction programs, HIV/Aids awareness programs, health and nutritional advice programs are some of the activities through which the estate communities have greatly benefited.
