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Annual Reports

Annual report 2006-2007

Welcome to VST

VST is a UK charity working to overcome poverty, injustice and
poor health in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Founded 30 years ago by returned volunteers, we raise funds
from individuals, groups, trusts and public bodies.
We work in partnership with an Indian organisation,
Development Action Consortium Trust, based in Theni District.
Our efforts are focused on community organisations,
including more than 1,600 women's self-help groups.
Our activities cover the fields of micro-credit, micro-enterprise,
women's rights, political rights for the poor, human rights for
Dalits, community health, tuberculosis control, and HIV/Aids.

Our Thanks

We would like to thank the following donors, trusts and foundations:

• Big Lottery Fund
• Department for International Development
• Elton John Aids Foundation
• Stanley Thomas Johnston Foundation
• Target Tuberculosis

And, lastly, all those many individuals, groups and trusts who gave donations both big and small.

Glossary

Self help group 15-20 village women who save collectively and receive training and support from our partners

Federation umbrella organisations that represent the members of self help groups. They are being trained to take over the work of our partners

Panchayat smallest unit of local democracy covering 5-6 villages and responsible for development

Grama Sabha quarterly meeting of panchayat electorate to discuss local issues

Dalit The name preferred by people formerly called Harijans or untouchables

Arundithiyars in Tamil Nadu the lowest subgroup of Dalits

Letter from the Chair

Working with women

At the heart of our work is the establishment and support of women's self help groups (SHGs) and their umbrella organisations, known as federations.
VST now aims to develop the capacities of federations such that eventually they can function independently.

Two of the five federations took an important step towards independence by beginning the process of registering as societies and thus gaining a legal identity. The other three felt they need more training and time to develop before they are ready to take this step.

All the federations increased their take-up of government schemes for rural development and women's development, particularly loans for microenterprise and training for SHGs. They also accessed bank loans for SHG members.

The federations worked to strengthen 157 SHGs identified as weak, achieving improvements in 62 of them. They also worked to improve loan repayment rates. These reached 70% for loans from the Network Theni revolving fund, 72% for the federations' own revolving funds, and 90% for SHG and bank loans. The federations helped form 57 new SHGs, bringing the total to 1,092, with 16,462 members.

An important step in building the capacity of federations was the development of second-line leaders. Some 207 were identified and given training in leadership, the federation concept, management, accounting and group capacity-building. Further work was done on strengthening cluster level organisations. Clusters are an intermediate level between the group and the federation.

Two federations ran community enterprises with mixed results. The Vaigai federation's profitable silk cotton trading enterprise expanded, built its own premises and plans to acquire machinery to process the cotton. But only one of two cashew nut trading enterprises was successful.
Thensudar, the federation associated with Arogya Agam, built a grain store and federation headquarters but its first foray into grain trading showed a small loss.

Federations were active in identifying people with, or at risk of, HIV and TB and in pursuing health issues generally. They took up 168 cases involving women's rights, including 13 instances of potential or actual female infanticide, four of sexual harassment, 20 of domestic violence, seven other cases of violence against women, 36 cases involving women's assets and four cases of untouchability. They also took up 67 cases of children dropping out of school.

As part of its programme to promote gender equality the programme works with men. About 400 men attended training sessions on gender
issues.

Action on Aids

The programme supported four people's organisations of Aids activists. These organisations increased their membership, grew in confidence and
were better able to bring pressure to bear on government officials and bodies. Lobbying of government for better HIV and Aids services brought increased access to HIV testing facilities and better involvement of government primary health centres in Aids work. The trend continued of fewer instances of treatment being denied and better treatment in
PHCs. Lobbying by local and national positive associations has led to the
authorities introducing antiretrovirals for children as well as adults and the centre in Theni has started this programme with the support of the project. Pressure has also been put on government to select good NGOs for HIV and Aids work. From Theni District the State Aids Control Organisation selected one of the partners (Arogya Agam) to undertake this programme.

The programme identified 90 new positive children who were screened for
anti-retroviral treatment (ART) and those eligible started treatment. In total 509 (nearly double that for the previous year) were screened for ART eligibility and 173 were eligible for ART. The project referred 1,815 suspected cases for counselling and testing.

Mass education through plays and other media continued to members of women's self-help groups and to men, stressing the message of safer sex and women's sexual rights.

A major focus of the programme was work with men and women in prostitution, men who have sex with men, and transgendered people.

Instances of harassment of these minorities have been reduced. This year there has been a big increase in sex workers attending clinics for sexually transmitted infections (STI) promptly and in attendance for regular medical check-up. Out of 12 districts Theni now has the best record in reduction of STI among sex workers who attend regular medical check-up.

Promotion of condom use gained further ground. The programme sold 99,000 condoms and supplied 87,000 free.

Chief among the positive people's associations is TNDP+. Its president, Mr Pitchaimani, received an award from government as best Aids worker and activist. TDNP+ is guiding and helping all PLHIV enrolled with them to get various educational, economic and health programmes and services available with both the government and nongovernmental organizations. TDNP+ has increased its paid-up membership from 409 to 496 and there are 906 PLHIV in contact. Around 205 attend meetings regularly

Taming TB

This programme aims to make government primary health centres effective vehicles for the control of TB. The objective is to demonstrate excellence in TB control work and to form an effective partnership between the NGOs, PHCs and the district TB authorities.

TB detection is by means of awareness-raising activity by project staff and volunteers. This is done through house visits, individual contact, pamphlets and handbills, training to women's groups and school students and public performances. Some 153 local government elected members were covered.

NGOs identified and referred 4,059 (42% women) suspect cases of whom 2,075 (40% women) were tested. Of those tested 267 were sputum positive (women 22%), a further 136 sputum negative ases were diagnosed and treated.

There is a good level of TB knowledgein the community. This was confirmed by an internal study which showed that nearly 70% reported directly to treatment centres without referral. This should ensure sustainable detection provided PHCs deliver good diagnostic, treatment and follow-up services. However, there needs to be more effort on the part of PHCs if they are to achieve targets for positive detection without the help of NGOs.

Cure rate for NGOs (excluding deaths) is 88% and so exceeded the target (85%). The cure rate reported by PHCs was 78%. The cure rate depends on the accurate categorisation of TB type and proper supervision of patients which the project aims to promote in the PHCs.

The project aimed to increase the proportion of patients treated by PHCs. Misunderstandings on the part of referring hospitals, PHCs and NGOs hindered this. Plans have been made to set this right this year. Another objective was to increase 'real DOTS*' ie effective supervision of patients taking treatment. The internal study showed that PHC 'real' DOTS reached 40% against a target of 25% - this represents an ightfold increase from the baseline of 5%. It was encouraging to note that 16% of PHC patients were given DOTS by community volunteers.

The project aimed to follow up patients co-infected with HIV and Aids.

Although there may be some double reporting the current data shows that of the 90 co-infected patients followed up, 38 were by TDNP+ and 52 by NGOs.

The project has established a good rapport with many of the PHC Medical Officers. Increasing these contacts and establishing and maintaining best practices is a priority in the programme to ensure sustainability.
*Directly Observed Treatment Shortcourse. WHO-recommended method whereby volunteers watch patients take their medicine to ensure they comply with their treatment regime. Failure to comply leads to reinfection and drugresistant strains of TB. 'Real DOTS' means the supervision is done properly.

Defeating discrimination

This year has been one of research and foundation building. A survey of 281 Arundithiyar villages showed instances of untouchability in 196 with 123 having three or more untouchability practices. Some 56 villages had recorded atrocities and in 238 villages there were illegal high interest loans. The most common untouchability practice was being barred from the temple - 154, barred from public sitting area - 147, separate treatment at tea shops - 136, dress and cycle codes - 61,
barred from certain streets - 46, others - 54. The survey also pointed up the psychological effects of 3,000 years of subjugation and indicated that working with communities that experience very low self-esteem will not be easy. The foundation-building consisted of forming mandrams - campaign groups - in 40 villages. Each mandram in Theni district elects representatives to AMMI, the Arundithiyar People's Unity Movement. The programme also worked with a tribal people's organisation, the Paliar Adivasi Welfare Federation. The mandram leaders were trained on legal matters, leadership and human rights, HIV and gender issues, microenterprise and microcredit.

The mandrams have been able to file court cases and lobby police and district officials where previously individuals would have been unable to act alone. AMMI agitated for justice in two cases of caste-motivated murder as well as pursuing cases of high interest loans that led to homesbeing repossessed and instances of encroachment on land allotted to Arundithyars. Other legal action to secure rights included access to forest areas for tribal people, and contesting illegal bonded labour.

Micro-enterprise

Almost 9,000 families are engaged in small businesses financed with loans arranged through self help groups that we work with. Most are the kind of activities village people are familiar with, like keeping a cow or running small shop. Here is a snapshot of four such enterprises. The woman top right was fortunate in that the cow she bought with a loan produced five female calves - valuable enough to repay the loan and clear her family debts. Below right, a woman is cooking snacks on a open fire for sale to tea stalls. Left, silkworms, fed from mulberry leaves grown on a family holding and linked to a government silk enterprise. And right, a somewhat unusual venture - making and selling hairpieces.

 

 

Panchayat power

Working through women's self help groups and other community organisations, the programme identified 479 candidates, predominantly women and Dalits. Nearly 58% won election. Panchayat institutions have
considerable power and control substantial budgets. Individuals and groups with local vested interests are predictably reluctant to relinquish power. They often use social pressure, bribery and the threat of violence to maintain their position and it is no easy task for new candidates to win office and carry out their roles fairly and appropriately.

There is a reservation system so that a proportion of panchayat posts are only for women or Dalits. In these reserved posts for women binami or proxy candidates are often elected and later controlled by husbands, brothers and others. In Dalit reserved panchayats other castes often try to elect Dalits that they can control.

Issues of proxy were still in evidence in the elections of October 2006. But a huge amount of progress was made. Women contested more seats than men. Dalit candidates campaigning under the programme banner won 50% of the seats they contested.

The training for candidates covered explaining the concept of panchayat raj and the election process and rules. A model manifesto was developed and adopted by many, including candidates who were not directly involved in the programme.

Support committees were formed to help candidates' campaigns. So far there are 49 committees with 662 members. Nearly three-quarters of members are women, and more than half are Dalits. Cultural programmes were delivered in many villages to educate the electorate in the qualities they should look for in their local officials. Much energy went into motivating people to attend the grama sabha, or village meeting, a regular opportunity for voters to call elected representatives to account and press their demands. The programme subsequently worked with elected candidates, their husbands and panchayat clerks offering further training.

It has acted to strengthen the panchayat committees which monitor delivery of services such as health, education, welfare and village facilities. A baseline survey using resource mapping was begun in 87 panchayats. This will help panchayats to analyse their needs and the resources they have available and will help the project to assess achievements and progress over five years.

We can already see some successes, for example in panchayats using government funds to benefit Dalit areas and in the spontaneous formation of a district panchayat presidents' association. This association will be a valuable force for lobbying the authorities. The programme has also campaigned to win more power for the panchayat system, organising a state level conference for panchayat activists.

Financial Report

Trustees

Gerti Wilford, Chair
Tony Huckle, Secretary-treasurer
Bryan Osbon
Richard Garforth
Angela Russ
Carol Chalmers
Kirat Randhawa