Mobilisation of the Poor – a means to Poverty Reduction? - Sida

freedom of movement/mobility which women enjoy in Sri Lanka is another reason for women’s
long involvement in group savings. Women can put by money for their own use outside of their
household expenses. 3 Studies on women’s pattern of savings have noted that they tend to keep these
savings separate from discussions of household incomes and expenses, particularly discussions with
spouses. In the case of seettu savings are used to purchase items such as consumer durables,
furniture, jewellery, and expensive clothing, all of which may eventually become important dowry
items that move with women during marriage transactions (Albee and Reid 1990, Kottegoda 1994,
2000a and 2000b). These savings are also important resources that the family can fall back on at
times of illness, crop failures, or other crisis.
It appears that CAP gradually recognised the importance of involving women in group-based
poverty alleviation endeavours. Hence although the literature on CAP refers to a constituency
called ‘the poor’, in reality it was poor women who were most able to help their households get out
of poverty.
Women as a primary constituency in social mobilisation programmes
The discussions with groups and CAP organisations during our field visits showed that in most
cases the CAP programme primarily attracted, and appeared to be targeted at, women. Discussions
with group members as well as office-bearers in newly formed NGOs revealed that the mobilisation
at village level targeted women as being the people most concerned about the welfare of household
members. Hence, the initial steps of CAP group building use the communal savings and investment
methodology. For example, each (woman) household member brings an agreed number of coconut
shells every week, which are then sold in bulk and the profits shared among group members.
The field data indicates that while the participation of men in CAP group activities was low, where
women-led groups began to show economic profit, there was a pattern of men joining in. Where
male members were involved in small groups they were more likely to drop out of the programme
because of employment-related constraints. In other cases female spouses often represented male
members in small group activities. On the other hand, instances of men participating in small group
activities on behalf of female CAP members were rare. There was a perception among CAP
mobilisers that male participants were less serious about the group process and were less inclined to
save. It thus appears that at the village level there has been a pattern of drawing in women as the
basic foundation of almost all group activities, in particular in relation to savings programmes and
the building of support groups. This was by no means restricted to the CAP programme. As noted
in Chapter 3, even though for Samurdhi purposes the male head of the household is officially
counted as the recipient of the grants, the small groups largely involved women.
Of the various community-based organisations in the study locations, (see Table 13), CAP small
groups and/or Gami Sanvidanaya had the highest participation of women, followed by Women’s
Organisations, SANASA, Sarvodaya, and Seettu. This confirms that women are the primary
constituency of CAP small groups, and that out of all community-based organisations the pattern
of female participation is most pronounced in CAP entities at the grassroots level. As discussed
elsewhere in this report, this is also an aspect of the greater resilience and sustainability of the CAP
group process.
3 It is pertinent to note that the CAP programme in particular has spread most widely in the south and has been largely
inactive in the north and east, where there has been a state of war for almost two decades and hence where women’s
mobility is likely to be most curtailed.
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MOBILISATION OF THE POOR – A MEANS TO POVERTY REDUCTION – Sida EVALUATION 02/08