IND/12/072 - Socio-economic empowerment of dalit women through cow-centric economy

Objective: To provide low caste women with the means to feed their family and achieve equal status in society, and to reduce environmental hazards by production of biogas

Background: Women Economic Development is a community-orientated organization working for the development rights of ethnic caste minorities living below the poverty line. The group focuses on building self-sufficiency and developing equality of roles between male and female caste members.

Use of Funds: In each village a Women Economic Development Club will be formed, each with an elected governing body. The 20 women will receive training on rearing and protecting their animals, how to best sell milk and make and distribute milk by-products. Every beneficiary will build a shed to house the cow as her contribution. The cost of the cow is provided as the loan she has to repay. Instead of charging interest on the loan, with the consent of the beneficiaries, the service charge of one installment will be collected from them. The group has assured 1% that help would be provided to any woman who fell into financial difficulties. In rural areas every village has a milk collection centre, and demand for milk is growing rapidly in India. Good quality local cows are available. The beneficiaries will supply cow dung free of cost for one year to the community biogas unit, which in turn will help the project and employment to grow. Traditional practice is to spread dried cow dung in front of houses to compact the dust floor and to prevent insects entering (due to the smell). A field officer will conduct training programmes on non-conventional energy issues such as solar energy, smokeless chimneys and biogas units. One young member of the village will be trained for three months and will provide technical support on biogas issues. It is proposed to set up a biogas production unit with 4 m3 capacity to supply fuel to a minimum of five houses, with the capacity to convert the dung of 10 cows. The gas produced will be supplied to households that are willing to pay. The cost of gas from this unit will be four times cheaper than normal. The unit can employ two-four women. The biogas slurry is also valuable as there is high demand from farmers in the area who grow agricultural crops, groundnuts and lime crops Local government officers from the rural development welfare, women’s welfare and veterinary departments and regional and bank experts will be involved in the training programme. The government veterinary hospital is 7 km from the project area – visits are paid to villages once or twice a month.

Beneficiaries: Twenty women in two villages (= 40) and their families