Today, the entire world is concerned about climate change and its adverse impact on human life. Though the affects of climate change threaten all, the poor people are most at risk. In recent times, most of the natural disasters have occurred in the developing countries and worldwide the women face the worst impacts of the climate change.

Women are particularly vulnerable to climate change due to their limited capacities to adapt, mainly due to social inequalities, gender discrimination and unequal access to resources. With changes in climate and pattern of rainfall, traditional food resources have become more unpredictable and scarce. As women are more responsible for providing food and collecting water, when climate-related changes strike, the workload of women and girls increases drastically; girls’ school enrollments drop and eventually they tend to miss out on opportunities. Thus, the need of the hour is to develop and focus on the gender perspective of climate change for developing strategies to reduce the vulnerabilities of the women and protect their livelihoods.

Creating Sustainable Livelihoods

In pursuit of its mission for the creation of sustainable livelihoods, DA has initiated its interventions in Datia, a small district of Madhya Pradesh located in the heart of Bundelkhand region. Datia was once famous for its water management systems, but unsustainable utilisation of natural resources, deforestation, and droughts have made it one of the poorest and most backward districts of Bundelkhand. Naturally, in such circumstances, women bear the brunt of the adverse impacts of these climate changes. Due to erratic rainfalls, consecutive droughts, depletion of groundwater, etc., the women of this region have very limited livelihood options. DA has initiated micro level interventions in Datia that have led to a direct and positive impact in terms of creating livelihood and rebuilding the economic assets.

To demonstrate the economic viability of sustainable production systems and strengthen women’s involvement in technology based livelihoods, the idea of a technology centre, Udyamita Suvidha Kendra (USK) was born. The stakeholders in this new initiative are women, women with the zeal to inspire changes. Right from the beginning, the rural women and SHGs have been encouraged to become partners at the USK.

The Micro Concrete Roofing Tiles Women

The first enterprise at the USK was the MCR enterprise. The members of Gopal Baba SHG of Richhari village showed their interest in making micro concrete roofing tiles from cement and waste materials like stone dust.
 
The USK team helped the women to prepare a business plan. In the very first month, they were able to prepare 2000 tiles. The initiative boosted the confidence of the group. Today, they have become role models for the women of their community. With their earnings they have been able to free their families from the clutches of the moneylenders. Not only this, they have been able to plan for the future of their children also. Sarupi’s son goes to a computer institute and is hopeful of a better career than most of his friends of his village.
 
With the enhanced confidence, the group is now thinking of owning the enterprise after accumulating enough funds.

Focus on Clean Energy

Women have always derived from their own strength to save the environment. At the USK, the initiatives have been taken to engage the women in a number of activities based on energy efficient technologies that help in CO2 mitigation.The Gasifier Unit of the USK Centre is run on waste biomass like Ipomea. The SHGs of the nearby villages are shown how clean energy is produced from biomass. The main suppliers of the biomass for this Gasifier are the women SHGs of this area.

The need for clean energy in rural India is paramount. Unfortunately, this need is met mostly through non-renewable resources like coal, diesel, kerosene, etc. This pressure has resulted in an increasing stress on renewable resources. The agricultural residues produced in our country in abundance can be utilised as alternatives in lieu of coal for energy purposes. These biomass materials include Ipomea, Lantana and other agricultural wastes.

The DA Briquetting Fuel Technology is designed as a complete package. The input is woody biomass material and the output is clean fuel briquettes and pellets. These briquettes and pellets are easy to ignite, have uniform burning and standardised calorific value. When the Charring and Briquetting Unit at the USK was started, initially no group came forward, as none wanted to soil their hands with coal, which was considered to be a lowly work. However, with continued efforts, members of Bhakti SHG were motivated to learn the technical aspects of the production. The group was provided an exposure visit to the USK Centre and TARAgram, Orchha. Today, the group has become experts in the technique and is providing training to other groups also.

Reducing Drudgery: Smokeless Cookstoves

Poor women without access to modern energy fuels are faced with problems related to indoor air pollution and other health hazards. Smokeless cookstoves have not only helped reduce the drudgery of women, but also have somewhat reduced health hazards. Besides, production of these cookstoves has created another livelihood option for the potters’ community. The cookstoves are formed at the pottery unit of the USK centre, where even the women have learnt to work on the electric potters’ wheel.

In the two and a half years of its interventions, the USK has created a plethora of livelihood options for the women of this region and has helped them fulfill their dreams and aspirations. As Kalabai, the President of Bhakti SHG says, ‘We always wanted to do something for ourselves, something for our families but lacked the information and skills. After coming to the USK centre, we came to know about various technologies and also gained information to exploit various government schemes like Midday Meal, etc., for our benefit and income generation.’

Creating alternative and sustainable livelihoods for women is as essential as women’s skills and leadership are crucial for saving lives, saving resources and ultimately saving the Earth. q   

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