wfn.org | Backgrounder: The Barli Development Institute for Rural Women

["Brad Pokorny" <brad@oc.mv.com>]

BACKGROUNDER: THE BARLI DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE FOR RURAL WOMEN

Baha'i World News Service

[Editor's note: On 13 November 2002, the Institute was presented to Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as a "sacred gift" from the Baha'i International
Community, as part of an Alliance on Religion and Conservation celebration
of her Golden Jubilee.] For more information, see the Baha'i World News
Service story at http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story.cfm?storyid=177]

INDORE, India, 18 November 2002 (BWNS) -- The Barli Development Institute
for Rural Women focuses on giving poor young women literacy training,
practical knowledge of health, nutrition and sanitation, skills for
income-generation, and an awareness of village-level environmental
conservation. Empowered by their training as agents for social change,
graduates have had a measurable impact on the well-being of their families
and home villages.

Originally established as the Baha'i Vocational Institute for Rural Women,
the Institute became an independent entity with its own board of directors
in September 2001, taking the name Barli Development Institute for Rural
Women. The Institute has trained more than 1,300 young women and girls since
1985.

Located in the city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh, the Institute offers all of
its training programs free of charge to women, drawing its trainees mainly
from tribal areas throughout a region that is marked by chronic poverty and
malnutrition, due in part to low crop yields, frequent droughts, a shortage
of drinking water, and poor soil.

Its programs seek to overcome obstacles that have traditionally hindered the
development of women, which in turn have hindered the development of all. To
this end, it offers a spiritually oriented curriculum that empowers women
with an opportunity to reflect on the nature of their relationships with
others and with their social institutions. The students examine age-old
caste, tribal, and class prejudices, in the light of Baha'i principles such
as the oneness of humanity, equality of women and men, respect for
diversity, and service to the community. At the same time, they are
encouraged to identify positive elements in their culture that need to be
preserved and strengthened.

The Institute works on these goals through a holistic approach to education,
giving each trainee leadership training courses in literacy, tailoring,
agriculture, artisan crafts-work, human rights, environmental awareness,
self-esteem and personality development, social commitment, nutrition and
health, and income-generating skills. Art, music, and dance are also
incorporated into the curriculum.

The objective is that, once empowered with such training, the women can
return to their home villages and become "pillars" of their families and
communities -- agents for changing the social and physical environments.
Indeed, "barli" is the local word for the central pillar of the house, and
like the "barli," which supports the physical structure, the woman supports
the structure of the family and the community.

Woven throughout the Institute's curriculum is a strong environmental
component. Trainees learn that caring for the environment is a spiritual
responsibility, as well as an important service to the community. Students
are taught about planting and maintaining trees, finding local sources for
seeds, and the use of environmental and energy conservation techniques such
as composting, vermiculture, the use of biodegradable products, and proper
waste management. One of the institute's earliest health education campaigns
freed that area of guinea worm by teaching the importance of clean water.

More specifically, the trainees learn conservation strategies by doing. At
the Institute itself, rainwater is harvested and, in an innovative
arrangement, used to re-charge the underground aquifer. Wash-water is reused
for irrigation. Gardens, tended by the trainees, provide most of the
Institute's food. Trainees prepare meals using state-of-the-art solar
cookers; some become "experts" able to support the use of solar cookers in
their villages.

Indeed, for the last 17 years, the Institute has been a leader in
researching, experimenting with, and using solar cooking technologies. In
the mid-1980s, it began using solar box cookers for some of its cooking and
promoting their use in the villages.

In May 1998, a 7.5 square-meter parabolic solar cooker was installed the
Institute; another was installed in 2000. Now, for approximately 250 days in
a year, 100 percent of all cooking uses solar energy. Further, trainees are
shown the savings to the environment -- and their time -- that are possible
through the use of solar devices, and they are encouraged to propagate the
use of solar box cookers, highly efficient parabolic concentrating cookers,
and other energy saving devices in their villages.

The Institute is currently involved in manufacturing SK14 cookers. So far,
nine of these concentrating parabolic solar cookers, which are capable of
cooking for 10-12 people at once, have been set up in outlying villages by
the Institute in a pilot program. The Institute plans to distribute 40 more
such cookers, funded mainly by primary school children in Austria, in the
coming months.

Graduates have had a measurable impact on their communities. Although more
than half of the trainees are illiterate when they arrive, 99% leave fully
able to read and write Hindi. Studies show that 96% of them use their income
generation and related skills upon their return home and that 46% have
established small businesses of sewing clothes and started generating income
while 7- 9% are employed in various jobs. Some 97% of graduates are using
safe drinking water practices; some 70% now include leafy vegetables in
their diet; and 41% are growing and selling vegetables. In addition, women
in five villages have planted some 2,500 trees

Other studies have shown that the women have indeed helped to create a new
atmosphere of mutual respect and unity in their communities, helping to
displace caste prejudices in tribal communities once notorious for their
high crime rate and alcohol abuse. The Institute collaborates actively with
government officials and non-government organizations -- exchanging
information, methodologies, and research information.

The Institute's training programs typically run either six months or one
year, although short-term workshops and training sessions are occasionally
offered on select topics. Graduates receive a certificate through the
National Open Schools program. The Institute obtains funding from a range of
sources, including the Baha'i community of India, the Swedish International
Development Agency, and the Two Wings Foundation.

The Institute has received numerous awards and citations for its work on the
environment and development. In 1992, it was made a member of the United
Nations Environmental Programme's Global 500 Roll of Honor for outstanding
Environmental Achievement. In 1994, the Institute was listed in UNESCO's
INNOV database as one of 81 successful basic education projects in
developing countries.

6-BP-021118-1-BARLI-176-S

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