Sunday, August 24, 2003		Books

Investing in human development
Neelu Kang

The SEWA Movement and Rural Development: The Banaskantha and Kutch Experience (2003)
by Daniel W. Crowell. Sage, New Delhi. Pages 236 Rs 280

THE Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is not merely a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that has organised informal workers. It is a movement embracing activism, feminism, labour unionism and the innovations like SEWA Bank and the SEWA Academy. SEWA’s ideology and philosophy find expression not only in the implementation of SEWA’s programmes but also in its spirit that ensures sustainable development by investing in human capital and augmenting quality of life through judicious exploitation of local resources and capacity building.

Though three quarters of SEWA members live in rural areas, its work in rural development has not been as well documented as its yeoman service in organising urban labourers. Daniel W. Crowell’s present book is unique in itself. Crowell, who is currently pursuing his graduate studies at the London School of Economics, gives an account of SEWA’s journey from urban labour unionism to a totally different experience of rural organising process in the semi-arid areas of Banaskantha and Kutch in Gujarat.

The author describes eight goals of SEWA for rural development. The first is access to employment, upon which depends the success of other listed goals, namely increased income, better access to health services, increased self-reliance and improved housing, water and sanitation circumstances.

Embedding the text with brief biographies, the author deals with a wide range of demand-driven and need-based activities ranging from dairy farming, handicrafts, micro-finance, health and nutrition to forestry and water harvesting, around which women were organised. Water harvesting was identified as the core activity to integrate women and other activities, which resulted in better-assured water supply, improved access to work, capital, and marked social security.

The book focuses on the remarkable success of poor self-employed women in achieving self-reliance despite isolated, drought-prone and resource-poor environments. This organising process has created space for women, brought community spirit and shifted the balance of power between men and women, as they became earners.

SEWA’s integrated approach to fighting poverty has generated sustainable employment for women.

The association has proclivity towards sustainable rural development. It has reached a stage where it has penetrated government’s development policies and strategies.

People’s sector (commonly known as the informal sector), based on labour-intensive economy, is responsible for at least a third of the national production. Up to 93 per cent of the Indian population works in this sector, which is often under estimated and misunderstood. The author describes SEWA’s recognition of legitimacy of the informal sector and its appeal to the mainstream economy to integrate people’s sector in its fold.

Following an unconventional methodology, the book encapsulates brief life histories of poor rural women.

Though absorbing, the book does not critically assess SEWA’s work and strategy. The author explores only excellence and standing of SEWA. References from similar works have not been consulted to bring out a logical account, nor has any attempt been made to compare or correlate SEWA’s work with similar attempts made by groups in other parts of India.