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INDIA ($5,000)

ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY OF MUSLIM WOMEN THROUGH RURAL WOMEN'S MILK SOCIETY
Project Director: Mr. R. Kulanthai Doss

 

20 self-help group women from Pudukottai District, Tamil Nadu are participation gin this project. The women receive loans of $240, repaid at 12% interest. Training is provided in animal husbandry. The milk society has appointed a part-time veterinary for preventive maintenance of the animals. The women who possess land are trained to grow fodder trees and to produce by-products from milk. Milk will sell at $.20 per liter with an expected yield of 10 liters per day. The women expect to earn $75 per month, incur $15 per month in expenses, and see a $60 net income per month.

Blake Lipsett (Baltimore YM) and Vivian Hawkins (Philadelphia YM) visited in February, “We met with 40 women who had gathered at the WORD office where 3 female staff were present (One cares for the village library, tutoring, and micro-insurance for animals. Oe assists mentally ill patients in 15 villages to attend medical camps, receive medications, obtain identification cards, and receive other advocacy. One focuses on the self-help groups’ monthly meetings and accounting needs including deposits and withdrawals). Of the 40 women gathered, 3 were unmarried and 5 widows. Numisa, one group’s leader, said her 2 year-old self-help group’s monthly dues are $1.20 per month, the group has a savings balance of $550, and the total held by the group, including outstanding loans, is $1,070. Each year, the group invests $235 in a cow, which yields 8-10 liters per day, selling for $.15-25 per liter, depending on fat content.

Bhagoda, one of 16 members of the 4 year-old Rising Moon self-help group, said each member saves $1.20 per month from such income-generating activities as making coconut leaf thatch, candle-making, tailoring, farming, and milk animals. The group has saved $2,150 to date. She is a widow, making a living with the sewing machine she bought with a loan from the self-help group, with two 2 year-old girls. The women were concerned that the Q’uran teaches not to charge interest yet for their self-help groups, this does not pose a moral dilemma,

Project completed: June 30, 2009