Report of the Final Evaluation Mission: Wasteland Development Through Women's Organisation, Gujarat, India

Book excerpt: IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVES: Poor rural women make productive use of and derive sustained benefits from converted wasteland and related sideline activities. FINDINGS: The project's objectives were only partially achieved because the outputs had to be reduced due to factors beyond the project's control. Ninety-seven acres were developed and about 785,000 saplings planted between 1991 and 1993. A total of 231 women in 15 villages benefitted from employment and income resulting from the project which reduced migration from the area. The organization of the women into cooperatives and groups as well as the leadership training provided by the project, improved their standing in the home and in the community. However, fairly complex problems concerning the government-owned wasteland, the community's grazing rights and the women's access to and control over the land hampered the project's activities and would undoubtedly hinder sustainability if not resolved. Also, the women did not possess the necessary management and technical skills to properly utilise the large plots of land alloted to them. RECOMMENDS: A new approach to accessing land should be pursued. A state-level forum should be used to seek favourable government decisions in securing long leases on land from panchayat and resolving problems faced by cooperatives in acquiring land. ILO should conduct a thorough impact study of the project's activities including the legal and policy issues involved in order to draw lessons learned. Recommends specific criteria to be taken into account when designing future similar wasteland development projects. LESSONS LEARNED: Alloting women individual plots is likely to cause problems concerning the equitable distribution of productive resources and income emanating from them. Also the local community using the grazing land may oppose the allotments because they feel that their traditional grazing rights are threatened. It is essential to consult the local community and to be aware of the social and political milieu of de jure and de facto land rights before undertaking such a project. Much technical and managerial training is needed for poor rural women to be able to develop wasteland. Therefore, small tracks of land are more suitable than large areas.