The Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development endeavours to educate and empower women and help them become self-reliant

The most important programme to help the women of Okhamandal was the establishment of mahila mandals as self-help groups (SHGs).

The process was started under the watershed development project, but with more and more women joining in it took an independent form. Today there are 19 mahila mandals spread across 13 villages.

Self-help groups and mandals: Initially, 10 women were motivated by the Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development (TCSRD) to start a small SHG to spread the small-savings habit. With the success of this group, other mahila mandals were soon established.

These groups initiated various activities, including raising kitchen gardens, making handicrafts and popularising the culture of credit and savings.The groups have accumulated deposits of Rs 1,08,000 while about Rs 56,000 of it has been disbursed among members as loans.

Training programmes for SHGs: Training programmes for women are conducted from time to time to spread the awareness on banking, bookkeeping, running cooperatives, setting up nurseries, establishing kitchen gardens and other group-related activities.

Vocational training is also imparted in tailoring, food processing and preservation, and others, based on the needs of the women's groups.

Food processing: In an effort to provide village households with a supplementary source of income, a seven-day training programme in food preservation and processing was conducted in collaboration with the Department of Horticulture, Jamnagar.

More than 100 women were taught how to prepare jams, pickles, juices, ketchups, chutneys, biscuits, and also how to dehydrate vegetables.

Handicrafts promotion: Okhamandal women have a tradition of preparing handicrafts in the typical Saurashtra Kutch style. Comparable to products available in reputed emporiums, these handicrafts have become an important part of the project since they utilise local skills. Currently, women from 10 SHGs are involved in the production of handicrafts. The work is supervised by TCSRD for quality control.

Between 1997 and 1999 finished goods worth Rs 70,000 were sold. To improve the quality of the products and to initiate new entrants, training programmes and exposure visits are conducted from time to time. In this effort, 116 women from seven villages have been trained to upgrade their cutting, design and patchwork skills.

At present 200 women are benefiting from this programme. They earn an average monthly income of Rs 500 to Rs 1500. The handicrafts incluse home furnishings, apparel and accessories, and are sold under the brand name 'Okhai'. Currently, the marketing efforts are directed towards promoting the brand in cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi.

Agro-based produce: Due to its simple organisation, low capital requirement and the fact that modernisation has little effect on it, the rural cottage industry has become an important source to supplement the income of rural households.

Since villages in the Okhamandal region produce good-quality Reshampatta red chillies, the mahila mandals of Poshitra village, as a pilot project,undertook the production of red chilli pickle. 600 bottles of pickle were produced with 25 women from two SHGs being the bneficiaries of the project.