Malnutrition, some proposals for issue of economic
development in the Medak villages
Centre for Action Research
& People Development (CARPED), subject written by Molliet Damien, June 2004
Table of content
I Introduction 3
II Economic development and the role
of freedoms 4
2.1 The policy of the World Bank 5
2.2 Economic development as an
extension of freedoms 6
III The malnutrition issue, some
proposals 8
3.1 What can we do with the available
food ? 9
3.2 How can we enhance the available
food ? 16
IV Conclusion 19
Medak district is
one of the most backward districts of India as a result of the low income per
person. It also has the lowest female literacy rate and the highest school drop
out rate in Andhra Pradesh. Almost every child suffer from malnutrition. There
is no sanitation and hygiene practice because 96,82 % of the people in the
mandals practice open defecation, while only 3.18 % population have individuals
toilets.
The NGO CARPED (Centre for Action Research & People
Development) has been working in this district since 1995. Its action focuses
on tribal/rural issue and children community development. CARPED programs
include sanitation infrastructure, school building and irrigation infrastructure.
According to the work of CARPED, I?ve chosen the children?s health issue,
especially the problem of the malnutrition for my traineeship. I will deal with
this issue in two parts. Firstly, I think that all the development issues are
connected. For example, we can?t reduce the malnutrition to a lack of food. We
must include other issues like women right, education or economic growth. In
the first part of my report, I?ll set out this idea of interconnected freedoms.
Then, according to this background, I?ll propose some ideas for the
malnutrition issue.
As a result of my visit to several
villages in the Medak District (Thallagada Thanda, Kannaram, , Kandhra Thanda,
Mondi Thanda, Jaji Thanda ), I would say that poverty is an absence of freedom.
In my opinion, we can define a poor person as a person who doesn?t have the
possibilities to come out of difficult situations or extend his opportunity of
lifestyle. The people in the village can?t increase their low incomes caused by
the fluctuations of the seasons in rural activities. They can?t treat their
ills. They haven?t enough money to buy medicine, to go to hospital, to pay
school fees, to leave to change their life/find another opportunities,? They
don?t have enough education to do research in efficient productive capacity in
the agricultural sector or for a good job in the labor market ? They haven?t
any possibilities to change their conditions in dignity.
Consequently,
the main problem for the economic development issue in Medak is the expansion
of their active capacities. In other words, we should teach people to help
themselves, give them the possibilities to turn the situation around to their
advantage. However, how can we improve the people?s possibilities ? According
to the studies of famous economists like Amartya Sen or Joseph E. Stiglitz and
the recent work of the World Bank, I think that there are two main lines.
Firstly, the
development of infrastructure is essential for the undeveloped countries. By
infrastructure, I mean road, electricity, irrigation that are necessary for the
economic activities. I also include social infrastructure like schools, care
centers or sanitary installations. Since the 1990s, social investment has been
increasing thanks to the World Bank Policy. In my first part, I?ll briefly
speak about this new policy.
Then, in a
second point, I?ll stress the importance of access by the people to the
infrastructure. Indeed, we should consider how the people can profit from the
offers of goods/services (school, hospital, care service, irrigation,?). Do
they have the same opportunity of access? In my opinion, the response is
negative. That is why the development issue should also focus on the real
capacity of the persons. In the following sections, I?ll discuss thoroughly
this idea.
The World Bank has changed its
strategy concerning development policy since the beginning of the nineties.
This organization has been considering the criticisms concerning the impact of
income growth up on economic development. Several reports have demonstrated
that we can?t only reduce the process of economic development to income growth.
There exist other elements which impact positively on the economic activities.
In other words, income growth is a necessary condition but not a sufficient
condition for economic development. For example, several reports have prooved
that an improvement of the health, or a better education also impacts
positively upon productivity and income. Consequently, the World Bank has built
a new indicator for comparing the level of development and suggesting some
policies to poor countries. This indicator is called the Human Development
Indicator (HDI). It is created from three others indicators : the
longevity, the knowledge and the standard of living. The first is measured by
life expectancy, the second by literacy rate and the third by the real income
per person.
Thanks to the
introduction of the HDI, the improvements of economic development can not only
evaluated by the level of the income. The development is also dependent on
others indicators : the health and the education. Under the supervision of
Chief Minister N. Chandrabadu Naidu, the government of Andhra Pradesh has been
following the new strategy of the World Bank. In fact, Andhra Pradesh (AP) has
been increasing its investment in human development (education, health,
gender,), in irrigation (irrigation rehabilitation and maintenance) and rural
road.
I agree with
the decision of the government that the highest priorities of these people are
basic needs like : sanitary installations, school, water or electricity.
Consequently, an improvement of the health conditions or a better education
will surely have a positive impact in the village. For example, a better
education can give them some ideas or knowledge to improve the productivity in
agriculture. It may also increase their possibilities to find jobs. Moreover,
the people can create different strategies to come out of their difficulties,
to extend their possibilities of lifestyle. The health conditions are also
important. If the workers are in good health, they will work more efficiently
or they can concentrate on the education of their children. Moreover, if the
children are in good health, they can learn more efficiently at school.
However, the investments in
school or in health do not seem to me not sufficient because they don?t provoke
automatically an increase of the education or in the health conditions. The
World Bank programs focus too much on the way/the supply but not enough on the
real capacity of the people to profit from the infrastructure. Indeed, several
studies of the SACMEQ (Southern African Consortium Educational Quality) or the
ANTRIEP (The Asian Network of Training and Research Institutions in Educational
Planning) demonstrate the inefficiency of some education programs in Africa and in Asian. For a same rate of school attendance, the purchase of knowledge is
completely different. Moreover, the state of Sri Lanka or Kerala doesn?t invest
much more money than the other states in India for the education. Nevertheless,
their results in education are excellent. Consequently, there is no link
between the building of school, school attendance and effective learning.
This is the same problem for
health. The health policy encouraged by the World Bank concentrates on the
infrastructure (building of care center), vaccination and nutrition. However,
the building of a care center or the supply of vaccination treatments say
nothing about the capacity of the people to profit from these supplies. In
fact, some people can?t afford the hospital because the cost of transport is
too high for them or the medicines are too expensive. Even if they go to the
hospital, it?s likely to be understaffed. We experienced this when we visited
the general hospital in Kowdipally. Moreover, several people don?t use the
treatment service because they have low knowledge or on account of cultural
problems. For example, when a child is ill, the parent sometimes do nothing
because they interpret this ill as a decision of god.
I think that
the human development indicator doesn?t concentrate enough on the real capacity
of the individuals to use the supply of goods/services. That means we don?t
consider that the individuals present some characteristics (age,
disabilities, bad health, social factors) that prevent an efficient use of the
potentials available (school, treat service, hospital, sanitary installations,
social insurance?).
The approach of
the World Bank isn?t sufficient. Another approach that focuses on the real
capacity of the people should be complementary to the World Bank policy. This
approach implies that we must consider all the freedoms like civil and
political rights, social and economical politics or the culture. Indeed,
according to the work of the famous economist Amartya Sen, we can say that all
those freedoms are linked. If we act on a freedom we also impact on the others,
and we impact finally on the capacities of the people. For instance, the trade
freedom may provoke an income growth and an increase of funds for social
rights. In other respects, education may also impact on the politics because
the voter will become more responsible. Then, the politicians must focus on the
malnutrition or the poverty if they want to be re-elected. With this approach,
we can ask more relevant questions for the research of poverty solutions like :
● Why don?t the children
go to school ? Do their family forbid it ? Is this is a conviction problem or
fear ?
● How can we manage the problem of the children?s
work and the education issue ?
● Can
the parents pay the expenses of schooling ?
● Are the installations in the
school unsuitable because the school is too fare or not well supervised ?
● Do
the parents support the education of their children ?
● The number
of students in the class is too much or there is not enough equipment (screen,
books, paper, desks, chairs, qualified teacher).
● Do the
children have access to information (radio, TV, newspaper, books). If it?s the
case, can they use/exercise what they have learnt.
● Are
the children well fed ? What can best we done in the village with the available
food to fight malnutrition?
With this
background, I deal with the malnutrition issue in the next part of this report.
In my opinion, we should act on several freedoms for the resolution of this
issue. This is not only a problem of lack of food. If we act also on the
problem of women?s issue, the education ,the development of rural activities,
we can be more efficient. I?ll try to call some proposals concerning this issue
in the following part.
As a result of my visit in the
Medak, I?ve noticed that a lot of children and women suffer from malnutrition.
Nutritional anemia mainly includes deficiencies in iron, folate and vitamin
B12. It can also be due to deficits in vitamin A and zinc. Anaemia is one of
the main causes of infant mortality. It also leads to the development of
several illnesses and may provoke backward in cognitive capacity.
In this part, I?ll try to
propose some ideas for resolving malnutrition. I?m sure we can improve the
situation if we have a multi-faced view of the problem. Firstly, we should work
with the available resources. At the same time, we should think about other
issues that are connected to malnutrition and are able to enhance the available
resources. I?m sure that if we act on the rights of women, the development of
agriculture or the education of the children and parent, we?ll impact on
malnutrition. I?ll set out my point of view in the following sections.
The first things we can do
against malnutrition is working with the possibilities available. In other
words, the main question is what can we do with the available food? We can find
several simple and practical ideas that could have an impact on this issue.
Personally, I?ll focus on four points : the education of the parent, the establishment
of small kitchen garden, education of children in schools, and access to the
care treatment.
1. Educate
the parents
The role of the
parents, especially of women, is important concerning cooking. Consequently, it
is important to educate them in healthy cooking practice. The education can
include the presentation of a film show a nutritious diet, regular medical
camps or regular meeting on nutrition. According to nutritional information,
the following recommendation should be followed :
?
Use cooking salt that is iodized at the
recommended level of 15 parts per million.
Andhra Pradesh is a salt-producing state, but a great percentage of the
population consums salt with nil iodine (because of transportation and
complementary monitoring method),
?
Green leafy vegetables and such staples as potatoes and yams are
important sources of folic acid. Green leafy vegetables are also rich in
riboflavin. Most cereals, meat and again green leafy vegetables contain iron.
Meat and fish enhance iron absorption, so they are doubly valuable.
?
Peanuts have a high protein content. Moreover, peanuts are a good
source of several essential minerals like calcium, potassium, magnesium,
phosphorous, iron, copper, zinc and manganese. One pound of peanuts has more
nutritional value and calories than one pound of beef. Peanuts are cheap and
also easily available in the village. That?s why we should encourage the
consumption of this product.
?
Reduce foods or drinks that inhibit iron absorption such as tea
(phenols),
● Vitamin
C has an enormous effect on the absorption of iron: a fruit drink taken with
meals helps the body to use the iron from food,
?
Use iron tables (in combination with an acidic or sour food drink
(for example orange or lime juice)),
?
Eggs, milk, butter, meat, liver and all sort of fish contain iron
and vitamin A, but they are very expensive. In the villages, dark green leafy
vegetables, sweet pumpkin and (seasonal) fruits are more available and much
cheaper. Red, orange and yellow fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, mangoes
and papaya contain carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. Red palm oil
is also very rich in carotene,
?
Expectant and lactating women should mix green leafy vegetables -
dry or fresh, raw or cooked - with their own food every day or they should eat
red fruits or red palm oil. They should also try to add some fat to the food,
?
Deficiency of vitamin B (complex) can be prohibited or reduced by
eating whole cereals and millets, such as wheat, ragi (kind of mustard seeds),
jowar, etc. and pulses, nuts and oilseeds. Also milk is rich in vitamin B,
?
Vitamin D (calciferol) does not come only from the diet;
substances in the skin are also converted to vitamin D by the action of
sunlight. This vitamin is needed for the incorporation of calcium into the bones,
and children who lack it may get rickets (a disease in which the bones soften).
Treatment: Use calcium lactate and 1000 units vitamin D daily orally for three
months unless urgent then single larger dose of 600,000 units by mouth or
injection. Exposing the skin on any part of the body to some sunlight every day
best prevents vitamin D deficiency (ricklets).
● Breast
feeding is also important for the malnutrition issue. Indeed, Milk from an
adequately nourished mother provides all the nutrients that an infant needs
for, on average, the first 6 months. Somewhere between the 3rd and 8th
month infants needs supplementary foods. Start supplements by 6 months is a
reasonable rule that covers the needs of most infants. Start too early and you
risk diarrhea, start too late and you risk malnutrition. Remark: The baby needs
other food in addiction to breast milk, not instead of it! All that the child
needs is some extra energy and protein.
2/ Kitchen
Garden
During my visit in the village,
I have noticed that the people could not always go to the market to buy fresh
vegetables. They could not afford transportation and the food was likely to be
too expensive for them. Consequently, their restricted diet sometimes lead to
illness and their families are malnourished. Although some grounds aren?t
exploited, the tribal village don?t have small kitchen garden. I think that
this is pity because this is a way to have cheep and healthy food. We also
should educate the people in the tribal village to have a small kitchen garden.
Indeed, by having access to vegetables throughout the year, the women could
improve the health and nutrition of their families and reduce food costs. In my
opinion, the kitchen garden project should respond to two questions : what kind
of vegetables and how can we grow them ?
A/ What kind
of vegetables can we grow in the garden ?
According to the previous
nutritional recommendations, these gardens may include:
●
Green leafy vegetables
●
Staples as potatoes and yams
●
Dark green leafy vegetables,
●
Sweet pumpkin
●
Red, orange and yellow fruits
●
Vegetables, such as carrots, tomatoes,
●
Mangoes and papaya
● Whole
cereals and millets, such as wheat, ragi (kind of mustard seeds)
●
Medicinal herbs (ginger, garlic, chili)
B/
Recommendations
In my opinion, we
can meet some obstacles in the village for a kitchen garden project related to
the space, water, time and animals. According to my inquiries on the Internet,
I would like to purpose some simple solutions to face these problems.
●
Concerning the space available, I would say that a large plot of land is not
needed for a garden. Vegetables can be grown in 2 or 3 square meters. If you do
not have much land, you can grow vegetables in large, broken, or thrown away
pots or buckets, basins, or motor tires, as many people do with home grown
flowers. All you need is to fill them up with humus, soil or compost.
●
The water may not be available for the garden in Medak. Nevertherless, the
water from the kitchen can be stored and used to water the garden in the
evening. Avoid using soapy water and water with
chemicals in it. Let hot water cool before watering.
●
We can also use a rainwater catchment system to enhance the available water for
the garden. We can find new innovative ways to catch rainwater from rooftops,
tree trunks, tanks or other catchment structures. For instance, an
african woman developed a system to catch rainwater from her roof. She built a
bamboo gutter which attaches to the edge of the roof. Then, she attached at the
end of the gutter some palm leaves, in the shape of a funnel. In this way, the
water flows into a container on the ground which she uses for the house or the
garden.
●
Hot, dry conditions encourage evaporation of water from the garden soil
surface. The longer the water remains on or near the surface the more is lost
through evaporation. As they haven?t enough water, we should find solutions to
limit the evaporation process. For instance, heavy soils keep water on or near
the surface due to slow infiltration rates, and soil amendments such as organic
matter and sand improve soil porosity, hastening water infiltration. Vertical
mulches can be made using garden by-products such as maize, sorghum or
sunflower stalks, or just sand, arranged in a vertical row or column in the
garden bed. These create pathways in the soil through which irrigation water
can travel quickly down to the root.
●
Another simple and effective method for reducing evaporation is the use of
surface mulch to shade the soil and capture some of the water evaporating from
it. Compost, leaf litter, pulled weeds, and other kinds of organic matter make
good surface mulch which also improve the soil as they decompose.
●
Transpiration is the loss of water vapor from the plant and is an essential
part of photosynthesis. However, the high temperatures, sunshine, and drying
winds common in many dry lands increase transpiration rates beyond those
required by the plant for maintenance and harvest production. This
stress-induced transpiration can be reduced by using shades, windbreaks, and
mulch made from locally available materials such as palm fronds or maize
stalks. In Egypt, for example, young tender seedlings are protected from drying
winds and wind-borne sand by careful placement of maize or wheat stalks just
upwind of the seedlings.
●
Mixed plantings combining garden crops of different forms and life cycles
reduce both evaporation and transpiration. Larger plants in these mixtures,
such as perennial fruit trees, provide shade and protection from winds while
squash vines and other rambling plants spread out over the soil and act as
living mulch.
●
Usually, the parents don?t have time for the kitchen garden. They work many
hours every day. That?s why they can ask children to carry buckets of water
every evening to water the vegetables. Approach them tactfully and explain to
them the importance of growing vegetables and then do a follow up to see that
the work is done. You should sometimes do the work yourself to let the children
appreciate the real importance of the work.
●
This is important to explain that not a lot of time
is needed to maintain a kitchen garden. They need to spend some time starting
the garden because you have to clear, till, make beds, and look for manure.
After the garden has been established, maintenance is easy especially if you
cover the beds with dry grass as mentioned above. The beds will remain cool,
and little or no weeds will grow, thereby reducing labour. They can then, from
time to time, check and control pests and diseases. If they plan well, they
will always have time to do most of their important work.
● Stray animals are a hindrance to crop cultivation
both in towns and villages. However, where there is a will there is a way. Any
family that wants to grow vegetables must work hard to protect the garden. The
best thing to do is to fence your garden. You could also politely ask the owner
of the animals to confine them.
●
If it is wild animals that are destroying your vegetables, you can keep the
garden and its surroundings clean, set traps, and mount scarecrows.
●
They can use the rubbish as compost for the kitchen garden. Some of the
rubbish could be used to fill the trench of the garden. For instance, the
leftovers from people?s kitchens, the vegetable scraps, fruit skins, peelings,
egg shells, maize cobs, wood ash. All these elements would add many different
nutrients to the soil as they rotted. Moreover, the bones would add calcium to
the soil as they broke down over time. The tin cans from soups and prepared
foods would also rust in the soil and add iron, another valuable nutrient. Even
papers would break down, adding organic material.
3/ Educate the children at
school
It is easier to educate the children on nutritional
issues. They haven?t developed their habits as the adults. School is also
important for the education of appropriate nutritional behaviour. Moreover,
education also impact income and health which indirectly affect the
malnutrition.
A/ Establishment
of canteen at school
The development of canteen at
school is a good way to correctly feed the children. They have safe water and
healthy food. We can also educate them in good nutritional practice as eating
fruits, doing fruit juice,? Thanks to the canteen, we can also furnish them
with high energy biscuits to help them to compensate their lack of nutritional.
B/ Lessons
on nutritional issue
We can also change their
nutritional behaviour at school. We can profit from science lesson to
experiment how we grow the vegetables. I?m sure that the best way to learn is
through projects. We should encourage the students and the teachers to plant a
school garden. The children will gain skills they can use in their community.
The teachers also will find also new ways to teach by including lessons in the
garden. For instance, the students could learn about a different crop each
year, through many different activities. The teachers match one school
subject with the study of corn. For example, they sing and compose songs about
corn and food for their families. The grade two students make art and crafts
with corn. They make corn husk dolls and musical instruments. The grade five
students study the vocabulary of imports and exports. They learn the uses and
tenses of words related to the farming industry such as growth, plant, market
and salary. And they write poems and letters about growing corn. Moreover, they
can stress the importance of eating fruit, to have diverse food. We can also
imagine cooking lessons at school.
C/ Importance of
education for income and health
It
is important for boys and girls to stay in school. If children have a basic
education they can help their parents on the farm by reading information about
new farming practices, and instructions on seed packages and fertilizer bags.
They can keep basic accounts for the farm business. This will allow farm
families to increase profits and improve their lives. Moreover, when
girls are educated they learn to prevent illness and take care of sick
children.
Nevertherless, as I said in the previous part, we
can go to school and attain low knowledge. The use of knowledge is an important
part of the learning process. I would like to briefly stress this. Indeed,
after my visit in the Medak village, I think that there is an important problem
concerning the use of knowledge. It isn?t efficient to learn something at
school if we can?t exercise it. For instance, reading books or newspapers,
listening radio, confer a better comprehension of language. Moreover, reading
books as well as listening radio or watching TV enhance the ability to deal
with life?s challenge, with maturity and sensitivity and allow the use of other
skills. In this way, game society or sport are also important because they
create situation to use what they have learnt at school, to challenge the
limits of the child, to learn fairplay or social skills.
Moreover, while the children play cricket for
instance, the older people watch the match and at the same time gossip about
neighbourhood concerns, conditions of schools, roads, garbage, water supply,?
We shouldn?t underestimate the importance of social capital. It is often across
singing groups, sport activities, cooperatives that the people get involved in
the community problems. Several sociological studies indicate that that Indian
are intensely connected. If someone fell sick, the entire village will show up
at the hospital. At the same time, the interactions outside one caste are
limited and formal. That?s why it is important to enhance social capital in the
villages.
Consequently, the access to information and the
building of game areas and other social activities should be a priority in the
Medak villages. They must learn to be active and have more social capital.
Actually, I think that the people are too passive. They undergo rather than
confront their conditions. They don?t show enough solidarity between each
other.
4/ Access to
care
Malnutrition causes several
illnesses. It is important to care of these illnesses and prevent them. The
lack of care treatment is really important in the village. Moreover, the people
don?t profit from the poor care infrastructure. Indeed, the care centers are
often too far for the tribal people. The transport cost is too high for them.
Moreover, the quality of the service is low. The people aren?t confident in
public care centers although the medicines are free. The focus on access to
care should be a priority for development. However, how can we improve access
to care ? According to a visit in a private clinic and an interesting
discussion with Doctor Rayees Alimed, I think that CARPED should focus on the
following projects :
●
The establishment of a private clinic with infrastructure for investigation
(blooding test and diagnostic) which can provide a few basic medicines for
free.
●
Hire a surgeon who visits the village with basic equipment
● Development of herbal medicine because
this kind of medicine is more appreciated by the tribal people and it is cheap.
● Mobile clinic which visits the village
with a doctor and necessary equipment.
In
the previous section, we have spoken about the possibilities we have with the
available food. We should also think about how can we enhance the available
food in Medak. In my opinion, there are several possibilities like food
programs for instance. Moreover, the malnutrition problem includes other
issues. Decreasing malnutrition is also linked to the improvement of
agricultural growth or women right. I can?t claim to deal correctly with these
issues. However, according to my visits in the villages and to my background, I
would like propose some ideas concerning income growth and women right.
1/ Micro-credit
policy in the agricultural sector
Income growth
should be a priority. Money is a spearhead for development. If the people earn
more, it will be easier to deal with other issues. In Medak, the majority of
people work in the agricultural sector. Consequently, the main issue for income
growth is rural development. I?m not a specialist about this subject. I can?t
discuss this thoroughly. However, in relation to my background, I would like to
stress the lack of financial resources in the village.
In my opinion,
everybody, including the poorest, is endowed with endless potential. It is a
pity that they can?t afford to exploit their talent. The poor have skills which
remain unutilized or under-utilised. I?m sure that if we are given access to credit, the poor people will be able to
identify and engage in viable income-generating activities - simple processing
such as paddy husking, lime-making, manufacturing such as pottery, weaving, and
garment sewing, storage and marketing and transport services. Consequently, the availability of financial
resource on terms and in appropriate conditions should be a priority in the
poor areas.
The policy of
the Grameen Bank (www.grameen-info.org)
seems to me interesting. The Grameen Bank furnishes microcredit to poor rural
region in Bangladesh, without any collateral. The general features of
Grameencredit are :
|
a)
|
Its mission is to help the poor
families to help themselves to overcome poverty. It is targeted to the poor,
particularly poor women. This is important because in
many communities women grow most of the food. But often their work is not
recognized. The important contribution of women farmers to food production deserves
to be acknowledged and valued. It is necessary to listen to women?s concerns
about farming and support them by providing access to land and credit so they
can maximize food production.
|
|
b)
|
The most distinctive feature of
Grameencredit is that it is not based on any collateral, or legally
enforceable contracts. It is based on "trust", not on legal
procedures and systems.
|
|
c)
|
It was initiated as a challenge
to conventional banks which rejected the poor by classifying them to be
"not creditworthy". As a result it rejected the basic methodology
of conventional banking and created its own methodology.
|
|
d)
|
It provides service at the door-step of the
poor based on the principle that the people should not go to the bank, the
bank should go to the people.
|
|
e)
|
Loans can be received in a
continuous sequence. A new loan becomes available to a borrower if her
previous loan is repaid.
|
|
f)
|
All loans are to be paid back in instalments
(weekly, or bi-weekly).
|
|
g)
|
Generally, these loans are
given through non-profit organizations or through institutions owned
primarily by the borrowers. If it is done through for-profit institutions not
owned by the borrowers, efforts are made to keep the interest rate at a level
which is close to a level commensurate with sustainability of the programme,
rather than bringing attractive return for the investors. Grameencredit's
thumb-rule is to keep the interest rate as close to the market rate
prevailing in the commercial banking sector as possible, without sacrificing
sustainability. In fixing the interest rate, market interest rate is taken as
the reference rate, rather than the moneylenders' rate. Reaching the poor is
its non-negotiable mission. Reaching sustainability is a directional goal. It
must reach sustainability as soon as possible, so that it can expand its
outreach without fund constraints.
|
|
h)
|
Grameencredit gives high priority to building
social capital. It is promoted through the formation of groups and centres,
developing leadership quality through annual election of group and centre
leaders and electing board members when the institution is owned by the
borrowers. To develop a social agenda owned by the borrowers, something
similar to the "sixteen decisions", it undertakes a process of
intensive discussion among the borrowers, and encourages them to take these
decisions seriously and implement them. It gives special emphasis on the
formation of human capital and concern for protecting environment. It
monitors children's education, and provides scholarships and student loans
for higher education. For formation of human capital it makes efforts to
bring technology, like mobile phones, solar power, and promote mechanical
power to replace manual power.
|
2/ The right
of the women
According to the work of the
Indian economist Gurchahran Das (The Elephant Paradigm : The India
wrestles with change, Penguin books, 2002, p.131), fifty per cent of children
suffer from malnutrition in South Asia versus thirty per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, one-third of the babies in India are born with low birth weight compared
to one-sixth in sub-Saharan Africa. This trend is strange on account of higher
literacy, income growth, access to water on the sub-saharan Africa. In an
article ?The Asian Enigma?, the Professor V. Ramalingaswami explains this
anomaly by the low status of women in South Asia. The International Food Policy
Research Institute and Emory University confirmed the Ramalingaswami hypothesis
in one of its empirical studies in 2002.
We can explain the link between malnutrition and
the rights of women. Indeed, the women haven?t the control of their body be
according to custom and tradition they have no right to do so. In many Indian
homes men eat first and women have to do with the leftovers. That?s why more
Indian women suffer from malnutrition than sub-saharan African women. Moreover,
they can?t decide what they drink, where they go, how they dress or how many
children they want. What happens if you have too many
children too quickly? You may have health problems because your body is
weakened by having your children close together. Your children may also
suffer from malnutrition because a malnourished woman will give birth to
a baby with low birth weight.
Consequently, the improvement of women rights in India is also a priority. How can we achieve this ? In my opinion, one of the main goals is
the working of women. If they earn a salary or run a business, they will become
independent, they won?t become a prey to pressure or be enslaved. In this way,
they would be responsible for themselves ant they would devote better pre- and
post-natal care to their children. In my opinion, we can enhance the working of
women if we stress the confidence and the education of women. The women must
believe that they can act. They have enough talent to do something and to
achieve it. However, other trainees have set up this issue in more detail than
me.
In conclusion, I would like to
stress two points. Firstly, according to my report, I?ll emphasize the main
points of the malnutrition issue. Secondly, I would like to make some remarks
concerning my traineeship which could be useful for the next trainees.
According to my research, I
think that a policy for development issue, and especially for the malnutrition,
must focus on four components : education, health, investment and women rights.
Moreover, we must act on these components via the infrastructures and the real
access of the people to these goods and services. Concerning CARPED, it should
reinforce cooperation with other NGO to empower the people?s capacities. At the
same time, it should focus on few projects and improve the efficiency. In my
opinion, it could be dangerous to begin a lot of projects and not be efficient.
Moreover, it could be interesting for CARPED to engage educational trainees in
the Medak district. Indeed, the AIESEC has an educational traineeship program.
It could be an opportunity for CARPED to use this traineeship for the teachers,
the translators and the students in Medak.
Finally, I would say that my traineeship
with CARPED has taught me a lot about the poverty and the cultural sensitivity.
That corresponds to my expectations and this experience leaves a mark in my
life thanks to CARPED. Nevertheless, I would like to stress up on the lack of
structure and the absent of concrete activities for the trainees in CARPED. I
think that it is important to give some explanations, structure and
restrictions to the trainees. This is better for our work and our motivation.
Moreover, I think that CARPED should use the trainees more often for the work
on the ground. I?m deeply convinced that we don?t understand the world by
contemplation but by action. If we have more concretes tasks to do, I?m sure
that we could be more useful and more efficient for CARPED.
