Saksham Mi (I am Empowered)

The Library of storybooks is a core part of our literacy work. When we reached five tribal villages with the idea of starting village libraries through the young girls and women, we found that all the girls and women we had identified through a process, do not have even basic literacy skills despite of their education till 8th or 10th class. When went into details, we got to know that the girls do not know the meaning of the signature. They cannot even tell their age accurately. They never saw a Bank or Post office, the places of financial transactions. They do go for labour, earn some money but do not know about modern concepts of financial literacy, say, savings, investing etc. 

We found that they lack the basic information about their body, such as why and what is menstruation, hygiene-related to it.

There are many reasons for this situation. We witness that there is no reading culture in tribal villages where we work. The overall level of education is not so good. In our survey conducted in 2014, of 728 households from 38 tribal villages, we found that 60% of fathers and 46% of mothers had gone to schools. 

In order to understand the girls more, from June to December 2020, we conducted 12 sessions in total with young girls and women. These sessions gave us the confidence to structure the programme further with the girls from these 5 villages regularly.

• There is a total of 634 young girls and women from the 16 to 35 years age group. For our work, we have selected the age group of 15 to 25, mainly unmarried girls.
• Two girls will work with us closely as fellows whom we are going to prepare in a year’s time so that they can take over the charge of the programme from next year onwards. They will be involved in the planning, execution and evaluation of the programme.
• Building a safe space for young girls for interaction, expression and unlearning-learning is a part of the action plan, library being our strength we will establish it in the community for young girls. Regular sessions around the books are either mirror or window to the girls; it will open up many conversations regarding their own life, ideas and choices.
• Working on the literacy skills of the group will be practised through the library programme. 
• Sessions on financial literacy and knowing our own body will be integrated into the programme.

• A physical space in the village dedicated to the girls for coming together will be created, which is completely absent today in any village.
• The group throughout involved in the interactions around issues and practices regarding the status and situation of women in the community will lead to creating awareness and thereby self-empowerment.
• The accessibility to the library is developed in the community allowing the girl, woman to connect with all other girls/women in and around her periphery. Thus creating a collection of books on vivid issues/subjects will make it inclusive.
• Literacy skills in the Kokru (their mother tongue) and Marathi are enhanced. They are able to read the text of the storybooks and the newspaper.
• Girls develop their knowledge of financial literacy skills and start using their bank accounts.
• Girls are well aware of their body and their care.

While we are working towards a better space for ourselves, we need to acknowledge that everyone exists together. The change in either of our practices will impact everyone; our liberation is bounded at large. The acknowledgement will bring us a little closer to each other which are crucial for creating an impact in society.