Odisha Economic Forum

Welcome to the seminar named Pride of Odisha Women entrepreneurs are being held in Bhubaneswar. It is a half day seminar on 9th March 2017 at Bhubaneswar. In that connection We would like to invite you to present a paper on the eve of the seminar titled Pride of Odisha-Women Entrepreneur to be organised by Odisha Economic Forum. In the seminar Pride of Odisha-Women Entrepreneur we will distribute award to deserving women entrepreneur so that others will be encouraged to go into entrepreneurship.

Wednesday 1 February 2017

rural devlopment program

government at both the regional and the
national levels has increasingly identified
a potential role for SHGs in rural finance:
in particular, the new Swarna Jayanti
Swarozagar Yojana (SJSY) initiative of the
Government of India to replace existing
poverty alleviation programmes such as
Integrated Rural Development Program
(IRDP) is primarily based on SHGs

agricultural credit

NABARD has provided more than 69 per
cent refinance to commercial Banks, RRBs,
cooperative banks and primary
agricultural credit societies for loans
disbursed to SHGs at a subsidized rate
which has created necessary confidence
among financial institutions regarding
financing of SHGs.

variety of activities

Wenger points out that communities of practice develop their practice through a variety of activities like problem solving, requests for information, seeking and sharing experience, reusing assets, coordination and synergy, discussing developments, documentation projects, mapping knowledge and identifying gaps. The methodology used in the capacity building workshops attempts to foster a community of practice of women in higher education. However, the very characteristics that make communities of practice a good fit for stewarding knowledge—autonomy, practitioner-orientation, informality, crossing boundaries—are also characteristics that make them a challenge for traditional hierarchical organizations.

human endeavor

Etienne Wenger says that Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor. Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems in short a shared practice. This takes time and sustained interaction. The development of a shared practice may be more or less self-conscious. In the course of conversations, members may develop a set of stories and case studies that have become a shared repertoire for their practice. This is especially true of the community of women in higher education who value their collective competence and learn from each other.

SHGs formation

NGOs has reached almost a saturation
point and their participation in new SHGs
formation has been constricted due to
inadequate inflow of funds (mainly
donations and grants) from outside
sources and stringent government

regulations.

women's community in higher education

A women's community in higher education, by virtue of its intellectual and public domain, could, look forward to establishing alternative modes of knowing and doing, stake its claim in bringing about change not only in terms of entering an exclusive domain, but by turning on its head the very concept of an exclusive pyramidal governance structure to replace it with inclusive, participatory, empathetic, supportive, egalitarian and feminine practices of governance.

women's studies

The unlearning is often painful and disillusioning and occasionally some women are unwilling to take the plunge. Yet, the therapeutic efforts of this process are startling pain is exorcised followed by healing, and then transformation all because of a liberating bonding that promises to be the emotional ballast that could keep one afloat. In spite of the fact that the movement had initially originated with the support of Women‟s Studies Departments of India, there was a fall out in the later stages as this UGC sponsored community building was regarded as activism and not in the true

grain of women‟s studies, which is an academic discipline.

managerial training programme

As a facilitator in SAM workshops, I have almost always encountered difficulty in justifying a women-only managerial training programme as many participants are of the view that efforts should be directed towards sensitization of male administrators. Another problematic area is the breaking down of reservations to speak about personal experience. A natural reluctance to bare one?s soul to the public eye, even in an all-women group, to speak about insecurities and fears, to admit weaknesses or rememory traumatic experiences have held some participants back. It was realized that this experience may not be liberating for all women even though they could be points of entry into enclosures. Even more difficult for women academicians who have reached certain statures and positions of respect is the relinquishing of inherited knowledge and traditional learning.

academic leadership

The most challenging part of the workshop strategy is the sensitization aspect. Motivation in terms of equipping women in the system with conviction and confidence to take up academic leadership has gradually been accomplished as women have begun to overcome inhibitions, prioritise their jobs and professional requirements, accepted the positive aspects of ambition and achievement and learnt to network and lobby in order to build support groups. Awareness raising in terms of knowledge about contemporary issues, the situation of women in society, family and workplace, problems of women in society and within the system possible research areas in women?s studies.

finacial capabiliti

The financial capabilities and self-confidence
among the deprived, through sustainable
development of SHG-Bank linkage was
first initiated in 1992. Since then, the
growth is significant, and benefits are
widely acclaimed.

problems of women in society

state participated in the workshops

The coordinator workshops held in the state, I had the privilege of carrying forward the movement in Upper Assam. Participants from far flung corners of the state participated in the workshops. I have since witnessed the growth of a community of women who are committed to the agenda of making Higher Education in Assam gender friendly and equitable. At least 60% of participants in each workshop have been motivated to take up research and further studies — to equip themselves with the eligibility criteria required for promotion to higher positions. The emerging paradigm is that in each successive workshop, the number of academically accomplished women have increased, making the task of the motivators easier as already a potential resource group of eligible women were ready to be sensitized and step into roles of decision making and policy implementation.

bank linkage in india

The micro-finance scene in the country is
dominated by SHG-bank linkage.
NABARD is the nodal apex government
financial institution to provide microfinance
services to the very poor through
the existing banking network and NGOs

conceptual frame work

The first sensitization workshop was an eye opener in many ways.The sessions were structured according to the conceptual frame work of the programme. The mode of training was facilitative and learner-centered, which allowed maximum involvement of the participants of the several issues that were fore grounded major concerns converged on the “woman question” the positive and negative aspects of a gender neutral approach, the possibility of looking at gender consciousness as an initial practice that needed to be outgrown, whether this could amount to a lack of feminine awareness or contact with reality.

self-worth and an empowering

There was a freedom in being with each other a rediscovery of self-worth and an empowering, non competitive participation. For academicians working usually within the structured boundaries of classroom and intellectual platforms—the workshop came as a cathartic release followed by rejuvenation of confidence on our own abilities and mutual respect and trust in the group. In practice it resembled the ritualistic group communions of women?s communities and to me, carried with it the cadenza of as many untold her stories as there were participants. I had never before felt such identification with a group or so empowered in being with other women.

women business income

microfinance interventions in Ghana and South Africa
by Afrane(2003) strongly confirms that
microfinance interventions have achieved
significant improvement in terms of

increased business income, improved
access to life-enhancing facilities, and
empowerment of people, particularly women.

financial decision making power

microfinance programme of
SEWA Bank in India on women’s financial
decision making within the household
confirms that clients have gained from
programme membership which has
improved their knowledge, skill, attitude
and financial decision making power.

personal revelations

There was scope for intellectual sharing beyond workshop hours. Debates and discussions initiated in the business sessions were extended and carried over to pre and post dinner talks, breakfast sessions, experience sharing, walks and the encounters we had together. We shared, listened and connected, bonded and initiated friendships that were to last. We glimpsed and gained insights into each other?s worlds—were inspired or shaken up by personal revelations. We felt pampered and genuinely valued. It felt good to be able to talk about ourselves with the surety of knowing that our experiences would not be devalued or belittled, that we were being listened to empathetically, that nothing was „too personal? or „too trivial? to be voiced.

THE ACADEMIC IMPROVMENT

The academic researches (Falaiye, 2002;
Hema, 2003; Afrane, 2003; Doocy, 2004)
in some developing countries confirm and

acknowledge the positive impact of
microfinance. Falaiye(2002) in his study
on the impact of micro credit on rural
Nigerian women finds that the micro
credit has positively changed the clients’
self-esteem and confidence, leadership
abilities and decision-making process;
contributing to their household’s wellbeing
and increasingly seeking out solutions
to their own problems and the community.

Regional Co-Ordinator and Core Group Resource

The programme was initiated in the northeast in 2003 by the Regional Co-Ordinator and Core Group Resource the Director of WSRC, Guwahati and with her team from the centre and a support group of teachers from the university. Since then in the course of five years 12 workshops were conducted in Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur.Become a part of a nationwide movement of women for women in higher education - a women?s collective that was unique and the first of its kind because it sought to combine the experiential with the intellectual.

women's collective action

A participatory training methodology is used, which is essentially experiential.The emphasis is on group building, encouraging involvement and initiating dialogue.Methodological tools for unconventional, learner-centred training are used.Ice breakers, case studies, role plays, panel discussions, group exercises, games, brainstorming, group discussions, experience sharing group reporting are some of the techniques used to draw out the group and facilitate identification and sharing, as also non-threatening, co-operative engagements in the context of higher education. In this context, women?s collective action and collaborative efforts in terms of mobilizing resources to achieve the common goal of fostering gender friendly workplaces could be viewed as an alternative possibility of empowerment.

cross-section of colleges and universities

Train Motivational workshops are conducted at different levels and with various combinations linking a cross-section of colleges and universities. A select group of talented and committed participants who are willing to give their time are identified as potential trainers and trained at the Regional level Training of Trainers workshops. The ambit of the movement is widened with every consecutive round of SAM and ToT workshops and the community of sensitized women in the system grows by ripple effect.

DEVELOPMENT OF BANK

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

through its ‘Foundation for Micro Credit’

since January, 1999 has sanctioned

aggregate assistance of more than

Rs.1100million to about 180 micro-finance

institutions (MFIs), benefiting over

7,00,000 poor, mostly women IN SIDBI