IIMC Women’s Peace Council Status Report
Prepared by Stephanie Barry, Canada
Submitted on Friday November 28th, 2008 

 Women Peace Council Banner for the Community of Prosadpur Area 

Section 1: Project Overview

As of November 2008 there are 5 existing peace council core groups:
Dhaki
Challapara
Chakberia
Hogolkuria
Brasadbur

Heidi Carrubba formed the above groups under the supervision of the IIMC in the inaugural year of the peace council at the IIMC. The groups were selected from the existing IIMC schools and microcredit branches. The women in the peace council are all mothers of children who are students at the IIMC Schools or they are members of the bank. Each group attended training for three days under the Mahila Shanti Sena (MSS) program where two trainers from the MSS in Bihar came to the IIMC to lead the training camp. The themes and workshop sessions covered topics such as:
·    problems of women in the Indian society
·    solutions to their respective problems
·    capacity building
·    leadership training
·    inner peace and non violence
·    Ghandian philosophy

At the end of the training camp the women formed officially as Mahil Shanti Parisad (Women Peace Council) in their respective groups the women went back to their communities to begin their work as community leaders. They meet Monday to Saturday from 3-5. In every meeting they are responsible for taking attendance, oath taking and daily discussion of community issues. The IIMC provides each council with numerous magazines and newspapers to read and discuss, when the women find an article that they are interested in they will cut out the article and place it in a scrapbook. The scrapbook serves as a resource for the women as well as a window into the life of women outside of their own rural community.

Upon my arrival in September 2008 the program had maintained its status; however the program had not experienced and growth. The women of the council were attending their daily meetings but the daily program had not been altered or improved upon since late 2007. My role was to energize the program and facilitate its growth. The expectations of the IIMC and Dr. Sujit were to double the number of peace councils operating in West Bengal as well as enrich the existing program.

Section 1.1:
As of November 2008 and the arrival of a new intern, Stephanie Barry, there are 5 new peace council groups that will attend the IIMC training camp in November:
Ushapara        Molihat
Hatgathca
Tegharia x2

Summary of Questions and Answers administered to women POST IIMC training camp in 2007
(The camp was held in 2007 coordinated by Heidi Carrubba)

Heidi Carrubba administered the following questions to the women after the women attended the training camp. The overall response to the camp was positive and the answers provided were very insightful.
What is empowerment?

Equality
Education
Making a change in their own lives, and acknowledging that we have rights as women
Family planning: the ability and awareness to decide when to have children and control birth
Economic independence from the men in their family
Acquiring the training to go to the market and sell goods
CONTROL over our resources and the ability to use the money for our needs
Understanding of oneself and knowing peace so they can teach peace to their family

What did you like about the camp?

Learning about our rights as women
Female bonding and networking
FREEDOM from cooking and preparing meals
Everyday life is hard and very stressful the camp allowed us the freedom to think about our place in our community.
We enjoy simply talking to other women, we are happy to meet new women because many times these women only interact with their families. It makes them happy to know that other women have the same problems.
Meeting the foreign trainer is inspiring to women and they want to know more and have more TRAINING
The teachings of Dr. Sujit and Ratna
Learning about the importance of females, that our health and education is important. Women need to understand that they do not always have to put their family before their own health; they are the core of the family and community thus they need to be healthy

Improvements for the Camp?

·    The IIMC does good work but we need to see work done in the village, we need help IN the village
·    When the camp is held the bank group should send all the secretaries.
(A MAJOR ISSUES IDENTIFIED in the follow up questions is that there was a disconnect in disseminating the information back to the women in the village who did not attend the camp.)
·    We like to see the involvement of the foreigner
·    Night class can be difficult for the women because they have to take care of the children and prepare their meals and homework.
·    Some women expressed a desire to see a camp held in the schools in their village. More training for them right in the village possibly one day camp. In all the interviews conducted by heidi there was an agreement that there needs to be more training made available in the villages.
·    Women also really enjoyed the interactive activities where they are doing the speaking, they do enjoy hearing the speeches but they want to contribute
·    They also want to encourage all women to stay overnight as they lose their sense of commitment when they leave at night.
·    The women also are curious about women from other states, example BIHAR

* The new Intern of 2009 is advised to interview all women from the November 2008 training camp. It is recommended that she ask each woman about her experience at the camp and how she will use her training in the community.

Presentation date - November 08 

Section 1.2: Status of the IIMC WPC program in 2008

As of September 2008 there are 5 existing peace councils that have been operating since the Fall of 2007. (Please refer to Section 1.0 for complete list)

Each council meets daily with the exception of Sunday. The program is basic and asks the women to discuss and record the day’s activities. Upon my arrival I was

  unclear as to the state of the program (funding, priority, agenda, etc…) at this point it is still unclear as to the direction of the peace council project. The senior staffs of the IIMC have a vision for the future of the project but at the time of writing there is no structured action plan. It became apparent during the interview process that the women are looking for skill training and travel opportunities. All of these needs require funding. This issue will be addressed in Section 2 of the report

The IIMC has appointed one full time staff member to oversee the project part time as the person appointed is also supervising another project. The result of this is an apparent strain on her ability to focus much needed energies to the WPC. It is my contention that this is a reality that is beyond her control, and this person works very hard to balance her time accordingly. However, despite the administrations best efforts, it appears, that finding a permanent staff member to coordinate the program is not a priority on the IIMC agenda. I do recognize the enthusiasm of the IIMC to make the peace council project successful. What is needed is more than lip service to the possibilities of this project words need to be transformed into action.

My objective was to familiarize myself with the current council members and enrich their program as well as identify and train 5 new councils before my departure on November 30th.

Section 1.3 Goals and Accomplishments

GOAL &   RESULT
1.    Interview all women from 2007 program 2.    Analyse interview data into report3.    Host motivation seminar/workshop for current WPC groups4.    Create new program to enrich current agenda of daily activities: Art and Role-play Program5.    Identify and form 5 new groups6.    Host Training camp for new groups    7.    Prepare Status report on state of WPC at IIMC            1.    Interviews conducted and successful data collection2. Summarized into Interim Report3.    Executed on October, 21 20084.    Program initiated in October and artwork and role-play presented on 11/07 in a two hour social gathering.5.    Weeks of 10/20-11/116.     Executed 11/20-11/227.    In progress as of 11/05

Section 2.0 Summary of Events

Upon arrival it was necessary to map out expected outcomes for the duration of my three-month internship.  After reviewing the progress of last years volunteer and meeting with the necessary executive members I made the following event

schedule:
September:
This month will be used to familiarize myself with the organization. The IIMC has many projects and functions and in order to work efficiently it was necessary to perform this task.
After several meetings with Dr. Sujit and Ratna-di I made a very flexible agenda for September where I would visit all the existing Peace Council groups and introduce myself as well as conduct informal interviews. The participants would be asked about their experiences with the Peace Council and what types of expectations they had of the program. After completion of the interviews I would then compile all the data in an excel spreadsheet, this data is available upon request.

October:
This month presented a slight challenge as it held most of West Bengal’s holidays. Durga Puja is a one-week holiday; additionally there were various smaller festivals such as Diwali and Kali Puja. As this month had fewer workdays, I had to adjust my schedule accordingly.
The project for October was to enrich the current program for the existing peace council members. I developed an art project that focused on the theme of inner peace. This theme is central to the work of the Mahila Shanti Sena and the Gandhi Peace Foundation, both of which form the ideological underpinnings of the peace council project at the IIMC.

The Project is as follows:
Each group was given 5 large sheets of drawing paper and one art kit with various drawing supplies. They were instructed to create a work of art the depicted how they found inner peace. They were given complete freedom to create at will.

They were also given a social problem, ranging from spousal abuse to pregnancy, and they were asked to WRITE a solution and then create a ROLE PLAY of the solution. I encouraged the women to incorporate song and dance into the role-play. The written solutions were to be handed to me and they were compiled into a small collection of the work of the women.
Presentation Date: November 07 11am-1:30pm

We also held a peach luncheon where we invited guest speakers to discuss with the women issues facing Indian women. The lunch acted as a motivation meeting for the women to continue their work with enthusiasm.
Luncheon: October 21, 2pm-4pm

November
This month will focus completely on the training camp. The dates for the training camp are fixed for November 20-22. In our preparations for the camp we will visit all the new groups that we have recruited throughout October and November, and inform them of the details of the camp and what they can expect upon arrival on the 20th of November.

As this month was dedicated to preparing the camp I used this time to accompany the women on a home visit and village walk. Each Peace council must conduct 1 HOME VISIT each week. This visit allows the women to become familiar faces in the community, and educates its members about their presence. While on the walk we visited a woman who is suffering abuse from her Mother in law. The council informed me that they have visited this home several times and each time the report of torture has declined; however, the situation of this woman is still rather poor. Unfortunately, she does not have regular food or the means to buy food, as her husband does not have regular employment.

This exercise demonstrated the impact the Women Peace Council program is having on their communities. The progress is slow, but steady, as the women began their work in 2007 and were not well received in the community. Over the past 12 months they have earned the respect of the community and have started to have an impact on the health and stability of the village.
.

It is my contention that these women will begin to alter the negative cycle of violence and neglect that deeply fragments the lives of rural women. Change must begin somewhere and the Peace Council movement is heeding the call for change

Section 2.1: Recommendations
At the time of writing this report the council is indeed a budding and promising project at the IIMC. The program coordinator and the director of the IIMC should determine a clear outline of the direction of the project and short and long term goals. During meetings and discussions with Dr Sujit and Ratna it is clear that the IIMC has high hopes for the Peace Council and they are enthusiastic about its success.

At this preliminary stage my recommendations are as follows:

1.    A full time IIMC staff member must be appointed to the peace council program in order for the program to continue to grow. If the position is created then more work will follow. It is not beneficial to wait for the respective councils to create the work; it needs to be initiated at the IIMC. Dedicating a full time staff member will bring some much needed direction and continuity to the project.
2.    Workshops and seminars should be held every six months for the women of the peace council in order for them to stay motivated in their work
3.    The IIMC should adopt a more interactive approach to the workshops held at the indoor clinic. The formal lecturing style is not effective when motivating the women to be leaders in their community. (note: this recommendation serves to facilitate a more integrated environment of the women BUT also recognizes the cultural norms that underlie the IIMC’s foundation. Thus it is a recommendation that should be adopted on an incremental basis.)
4.    Monthly Convener meetings should be held for the leaders of the councils.
5.    Every six months a new Foreign Volunteer should be recruited to work for the project, specifically the Women’s Peace Council. In order for this to occur it is necessary to strengthen current networks and partnerships as well as seek out new partners internationally and nationally for potential resources and volunteers.
6.    There should be a database that holds all the records of the women interviewed and recruited to join the peace council, currently this does not exist as there is a lack of continuity in the interns and local staff working at the IIMC for the peace council. All records of the participants are kept in written form in the office of the supervisor, Ratna Chakraborty. This data should, however, be made available in electronic form.