| |
|
Identify and build capacities of women leaders amongst cane cutters for feminist organising for their rights
|
|
SOPPECOM, as the secretariat of MAKAAM, has been actively working on the issues of women cane cutters since 2019 in various capacities. Initially, SOPPECOM started working in 30 villages of Beed district, supported by the Women's Fund for Asia. The major objective was to identify and build the capacities of 30 women leaders among sugarcane cutters from three talukas of Beed District, to mobilize women cane cutters, and to lead awareness-building at the district level for their rights, with the long-term goal of creating collectives of women sugarcane cutters in Maharashtra.
The program entered its second phase in January 2022, expanding to include Hingoli district. Currently, the work is being implemented in a total of 80 villages (10 villages from each taluka, four talukas from each district) across Beed and Hingoli. The various meetings and workshops organized since the beginning of the program are:
- Orientation workshop of District and Block Coordinators - In April 2022, the first planning workshop was organised to discuss and design the programme of amplifying voices of women sugarcane cutters with the district and block level teams. At this inception workshop, an in-depth sharing of personal experiences was done by the team that comprised mainly of those engaged in sugarcane harvesting. A few resource persons were invited to share their experiences of working with disadvantaged groups like waste pickers and women from denotified tribes.
- Orientation and refresher workshop - Following the selection of village-level leaders in 80 villages of Beed and Hingoli districts, orientation workshops were organised with them to help them understand the programme and their role in it.
- Workshop on sharing of experiences and developing the objectives of the women cane cutters organisation - A workshop was organised in BAIF on 15th and 16th of February 2023 for review of work, sharing of experiences and learnings and on organisation building.
- First District Women Cane-Cutter's Conference - The First District Women Cane-cutter's Conference was organised at Beed on 1st October 2022. About 600 women cane cutters from the district participated in the conference, where women shared their experiences at cane cutting sites and raised their demands for better working conditions and safe and clean living spaces. Activists from Hingoli, Latur, Pune, and Aurangabad also attended the conference and expressed solidarity. Resolutions were passed in the presence of Dr. Neelam Gorhe, who committed to take action on those demands.
- Meetings to build networks with organizations - Over the last year, we have realised that support for migrant cane cutters needs to be organised at the worksites i.e. the destination districts. A process of network building in the destination districts was thus initiated. Meetings were organised at Solapur (10th Jan 2023) and Kolhapur (2nd March 2023). In the meeting, the issues of women cane cutters were shared, and there were discussions about the way the local organisations can help in the process. A local-level committee was formed in Kolhapur to take the issues forward.
- Workshop on sharing of experiences and developing the objectives of the women cane cutters organisation - A workshop was organised in BAIF on 15th and 16th of February 2023 for review of work, sharing of experiences and learnings and on organisation building.
- Two-day workshop on Ensuring the Health and Social Security of Sugarcane Workers- On June 14-15, 2023, in Pune, a workshop titled "Ensuring the Health and Social Security of Sugarcane Workers: Enabling Immediate Intervention and Developing New Opportunities" was held. The primary objectives were to gain insights from organizations addressing social security and health issues of unorganized workers and to develop a model for addressing the specific concerns of women cane cutters. The workshop invited activists and academicians, including Geeta Ramkrishnan, Jagdish Patel, Com. D.L. Karad, Com. Dhanaji Gurav, Chandan Kumar, Jayashri Ben, and Abhay Shukla. Com. D.L. Karad, chairperson of the CITU-associated cane cutters' union, explained the politics surrounding cane cutters' issues in Maharashtra and expressed a desire to collaborate on preparing a joint charter of demands. English and Marathi report of the workshop could be read here.
- Review Workshop - In the third year of the program, a review workshop was held on April 3-4, 2024, at Giriwan Resort in Pune District. This workshop involved 18 Block and District Coordinators to assess past activities and plan for the next year. Coordinators discussed tentative plans, and the SOPPECOM support team prepared their strategy for studies, training, and government dialogues.
The plan will be refined through local meetings and finalized with SOPPECOM, considering coordinator capacities, policy landscape, and available time. It was noted that support materials like videos, a Facebook page, and the Moli publication are underutilized. Therefore, a session was held to review and discuss better use of these materials for raising awareness among women cane cutters.
- Arogya Sakhi Review workshop - An Arogya Sakhi model was implemented in the last cane cutting season, training 20 women cane cutters in basic illnesses and treatments. They were provided with a medicine kit for use in their phad. To review and plan for the upcoming season, an Arogya Sakhi review workshop was held on May 1-2, 2024, at the BAIF institute. Eight Arogya Sakhis and local coordinators participated. Some Arogya Sakhis were also selected as JAS members at local health committees. The workshop reviewed their work and discussed a tentative plan of action for JAS members.
|
|
District workshops for the study 'Understanding violence against rural women in the context of agrarian distress'
|
|
SOPPECOM is currently engaged in the study 'Understanding structural violence against rural women in the context of agrarian distress'. The study is done in the states of Maharashtra, Telangana and Punjab. The study was done in eight districts across three states using a mixed methods approach. Around 3500 women participated in the quantitative study. The study explored violence in a broader sense encompassing denial of rights and entitlements, inaccessibility to services, loss of livelihoods, lack of work opportunities for families including young people, harassment at home and work sites, economic exploitation in wages, distress experienced due to land acquisition, displacement and resettlement, and discriminatory practices towards widowed and single women.
Seven district level workshops were organised in the study districts to share the findings of the study with participant women, district level administration and civil society groups from the district.
Reports for all these workshops could be found below:
|
|
Innovative experiments by women farmers: sharing experiences from agro-ecology, fishery and kitchen garden programmes
14 - 16 December 2022, Pune
|
|
Since 2020 SOPPECOM SOPPECOM along with MAKAAM network had been involved in implementing three livelihood programmes for rural women farmers: agroecology based farming, kitchen gardens and fishery. This workshop was organised to bring together women farmers across state who have been part of these experiments. Around 100 participants attended the workshop and discussions around learnings from these experiments and a way to take these forward were held.
Click here to read the proceedings of the workshop in English and Marathi
|
|
State level consultation of women farmers
12 - 13 October 2022, Pune
|
|
A state level consultation of women farmers was organised by on the occasion of National Women Farmers' Day and International Rural Women's Day which is celebrated on 15th October. The consultation was organised by MAKAAM and was supported by SOPPECOM as the Secretariat for MAKAAM Maharashtra. Around 90 women farmers participated in the consultation, and discussions were held on issues of women farmers from farm suicide affected households, women sugarcane cutters, forest rights, and women engaged in alternate experiments for livelihoods.
Click here to read the report of the consultation
|
|
Workshop on Conjunctive use of water in the canal command areas
20 September 2022, Pune
|
|
The workshop was organised as part of the research study 'Transformations to Groundwater Sustainability'. This research project was focused on studying how people organise around groundwater. Combining qualitative research methods with hydrological and engineering insights, it explored the knowledge, technologies and institutions that characterise groundwater use practices. As part of this research, the study was conducted in Ravangaon village (Daund block, Pune district) to understand conjunctive water use in the canal command area. This one-day workshop was organised to discuss these findings with community representatives of Ravangaon. The other objective of the workshop was to begin a discussion about the complexity of water governance in the canal command area, as this study is representative of command areas in Maharashtra, especially in western parts of Maharashtra. Apart from the findings of the study panel discussions were organised on gender, agriculture and water and groundwater governance in the canal command areas.
|
|
Dialogue with grassroots leader women
14 - 16 November 2021, Kurkheda, Gadchiroli
|
|
SOPPECOM conducted a capacity building programme in collaboration with MAKAAM network to develop leadership of grassroots women farmers. Around 50 women grassroots leader participated in the programme. During the pandemic the training sessions were conducted online, so at the end of the programme this dialogue was conducted with an objective to bring all the women leaders together where they can share their experiences working in their villages, and to decide a way forward.
Click here to read the report of the meeting
|
|
MAKAAM (Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch) Maharashtra along with Maharashtra State Women's Commission organised two consultations to discuss concerns of women farmers from suicide affected households in Marathwada and Vidarbha region.
|
|
Detailed reports of Vidarbha and Marathwada consultation on ensuring of women farmers from suicide affected households
|
|
Marathwada consultations could be read here:
Vidarbha consultations could be read here:
|
|
Summary brochures in English and Marathi based on these reports have also been prepared. They could be read here: |
|
English summary: consultations on ensuring of women farmers from suicide affected households:
|
|
Marathi summary: consultations on ensuring of women farmers from suicide affected households:
|
|
Stakeholder meeting, Raipur, 11th August 2016-10-10: |
|
Forum conducted a one-day stakeholder meeting in Raipur on 11th August 2016. The aim of this meeting was to present and discuss insights on the ongoing thematic research in the Mahanadi basin. The other aim of the meeting was to discuss the ongoing inter-state water conflicts between Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Participants were of the opinion that the conflict is created by political parties of both the states for a pro-industrial development. The actual conflict is not Odisha Vs Chhattisgarh, but it is Agriculture Vs Industries for allocation of the Mahanadi water. The participants have mutually agreed to take necessary steps to save Mahanadi river, at the interests of political parties.
Detailed press note can be viewed in English / Hindi.
|
|
|
|
Stakeholder meeting, February 2015:
|
|
For Details:Mahanadi stakeholder meeting, February 2015
|
|
Stakeholder Meeting on the Mahanadi basin in Bhubaneshwar, 27th February, 2015
|
|
|
|
|
|
State level and regional workshops on right to water and sanitation: |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
Water Sector in India: A Critical Engagement
Felicitation programme and conference, in honour of Prof. Ramaswamy Iyer
25th -27th November, 2013 - New Delhi |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
Odisha State Centre for Review Meeting, 21st August 2012, Bhubaneswar |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
Two State Level Workshops on Right to Water and Sanitation (Bhopal – December 2012 and Raipur – March 2013) |
|
Click here for Details of Bhopal Workshop. |
|
Click here for Details of Raipur Workshop. |
|
|
|
National Workshop, Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India, Overview and Visioning of Forum’s Work in the Context of Changing Water Sector Discourse 26-27 March 2012, Pune |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
Training Workshop: Understanding and resolving water conflicts in India, July 2011, Odisha |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
National Workshop on Reservoir Operations Model (ROM) and Improved Water Management, 21st June 2011, Chalakudy |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
Release of the report and panel discussion, March 2011, New Delhi |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
A Panel discussion at IASC 13th biennial "COMMONS" conference, January 2011, Hyderabad |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
Training Workshop on Understanding and Resolving Water Conflicts in the North East, India 3-26 January 2011, Guwahati |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
EU LiveDiverse Project Consortium Meeting, January 2011, Kolhapur |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
EU LiveDiverse Project, Case Study Committee Meeting, January 2011, Kolhapur |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
National Workshop on "Water Conflicts in the North East: Issues, Cases and Way Forward", December 2010, Guwahati |
|
Click here for Details. |
|
|
|
|
