impact of training interventions on women development: a report from Balochistan

ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to assess the impact of the major activities of the project on women beneficiaries. In all 63 women on six schemes were interviewed by using a questionnaire. The respondents mostly belonging to the age group of 25-40 have been divided into owner, cultivator and tenants preferably of equal weight. The women were found to be benefiting from the Potable Water Supply PWS, providing them clean drinking water within the house compound. The PWS caused reduction in their work load and the spare time availed is being utilized for other productive purposes and enabling them to create hygienic situation through more water use by the households. The women have also more or less, benefited from the health and Hygiene training where on average the children, women and houses look cleaner than before and water related diseases have decreased on average. The impact of training on malaria was assessed mainly through determining the incidence of malaria which indicates that on average, the incidence has lowered slightly but the knowledge gained by women is the most important benefit accrued. The kitchen gardening training has little impact mainly because of drought. The safe handling of agro chemicals practice trained for has been adopted by women to a greater extent while the grain storage type of practice has not been given much attention as the women on schemes do not realize it a major issue. Though rigorous efforts have been undertaken in terms of women activities in the scheme areas by the project yet the impact on women could be seen more on the knowledge side, gained through training but on adoption side, to cross the psychological barrier requiring trust and confidence built over time, the results are modest. The women could have improved to a satisfactory level provided ample time could have been spent by the project staff to guide, motivate, involve them and sense of ownership created within them. The women within the male dominated society could not develop strength in their voice to influence male counterparts in development process. However, a realization to both male and female has been given about the importance of women involvement in development process but the process thus initiated has been left half way due to the phasing out of the project from the area leaving the women to be on the mercy of the tribal set up in future too