Patrón 11: VALORES Y CREENCIAS
1.2.1. CONSTITUCIÓN DE LA REPÚBLICA DEL ECUADOR ( 2008) 25 Sección segunda
Table-1: Achievements of the livelihood groups of leprosy affected persons Livelihood achieve-
ments Score range No. of Livelihood groups Average score
Low 21-40 2 (7.69 %) 36
Medium 41-60 12 (46.16 %) 47.2
Good 61-80 5 (19.23 %) 69.71
Excellent 81-100 7 (26.92 %) 86.75
The table (No.1) depicts that two livelihood groups have very low progress, while other 22 groups have made medium to excellent success. This explains that the livelihood interventions largely facilitated a stable income and helped in gaining social recognition. Seven projects (26.92%) were excellent that ensured development of sustainable livelihood portfolio for the beneficiaries. These projects were farming, selling of grocery, centering in construction site, decorator’s business. The project with medium achievements (46.16%) helped to gain income, but not enough for meeting all the needs. In these projects the livelihood ventures were given subsidiary income to the households. Good projects (19.23%) provided a substantial income to the beneficiaries who made adequate progress but may require help in plans for future growth or coverage for the risk factors. Further discussion with the members showed the groups with successful livelihood ventures have some specific features that could be replicated in other interventions too.
● A strong trusting bond among the members of the group (social capital) is very crucial for success. The network and relations helped them to extend support to each other and be active together to make progress. ● Low self-esteem is a major barrier, thus motivating the people to
overcome the psychological barrier was a big challenge. Thus, continuous support by the mentor organization and strength of local leaders were important.
● The community leaders always played an important role in ensuring success, keeping the livelihood group intact, making the members adhere to the group norms, and pushing the values of living and working with dignity.
● Intensive capacity building of the leprosy affected persons and continuous hand-holding helped to gain success.
● Business planning is important; especially businesses which match with the capacity of the leprosy affected people and have potential of further development, made progress. Like, dairy unit, agriculture development, shop/ business, construction related business have better developmental opportunity than, rickshaw/ pulling cart, scrap business, petty shops in the community.
Some identifiable points about the strength of the projects that contributed to the change of the life course of the leprosy affected persons are given here:
a. Reach out of the livelihood programme to the remotest corner of the India is an important strength supported by the organization, as many of these areas are quite remote and do not have even adequate roads and communication systems.
b. Contacts with the community is found to be strong as often the leprosy affected people recognised the worth of the agency that works for development than those giving short-term charity. This also demarcated that a dignified support is most important for removal of social stigma and facilitate mainstreaming.
c. Long-term contact with the community people by virtue of the livelihood project is found to have developed a trustworthy relationship with the community and organizations. While, the leprosy affected people have a trusting bond with an external agency, they valued the same and tried to work for betterment for removal of the barriers in livelihood, in education, social development and other spheres of life. The contact with an external agency also became a motivational factor for development, to break the traditional cycle of deprivation and take the opportunity to alter the life course to attend higher aims of well-being.
d. Social capital became an important factor for the success of livelihood project. While the group members and community people have a strong bond, they have supported each other in personal life and also in livelihood activities to gain success. The trust, supporting attitude, close net-work, formal and informal sharing have helped the groups to bring about a certain level of financial success. The lack or trusting bond between the community people and group members caused a definite negative impact on the livelihood interventions. Commitment for betterment to change the life course and assess the right and benefits is achieved by the combination of both individual and group processes. A strong committed, motivated, trustworthy leader in the community always works as a change-agent for any intervention to be a success. Lack of effective leadership in the group and community caused hurdles in success and brining desired change.
e. Majority of the people started working on livelihood venture with the support of the organization, and also initially looked upon it as an optional income rather than building up a definite portfolio of livelihood. The groups who have achieved good and excellent success have mostly been able to develop a livelihood venture that they could depend on and be able to earn enough to maintain well-being. At times the groups have taken up different
or enhanced options of livelihood.
The features about the livelihood promotion that emerged from this study highlighted some important dimensions:
Livelihood capitals and life chances an effective combination: Combination of capital from the resource base is essential requirement for successful livelihood venture. The poor people affected by leprosy, became an important human resource as they participated in number of capacity building training and learned new skills, become financially literate, and used different technologies for improving the quality of the product. Similarly, the loan as financial capital become crucial for starting the livelihood venture using various physical and natural resources. An efficient combination of all capitals is essential for successful livelihood venture. Further the livelihood groups developed adequate market linkages and a sustainable outcome was possible in the successful livelihood ventures. The combination of capital, institutional process and organizational engagements was essential for expediting the life chances among the leprosy affected persons that encouraged them to meet different people, get engaged in economic transaction and work for their own well-being.
Enhancing capability and strength: The capability approach given by Sen (1997) and subsequently elaborated by Nussbaum (2011)underpinned a human oriented approach in development. In this ‘being’ and ‘doing’ by a person is most important to constitute his/her functioning. “Capability” refers to the feasible alternative combinations of the functioning. “Functioning can vary from such elementary matters as being well nourished, disease-free, safely sheltered and free from illiteracy to more complex doings or beings such as having self-respect, preserving human dignity, being free from stress, taking part in community life and political and social movements and so on” (Shanmugaratnam, 2004, p. 6).The people affected by leprosy had low level of ‘doing’ and ‘being’ and thereby least level of functioning. The intervention helped in raising the capability and well-being. Through livelihood ventures the people were able to undertake and perform various complicated nature of functioning like, production of goods or services,
establishing relationship with stakeholders and making an income in a dignified manner. Their community life became more active and engaged through various community based activities for livelihood generation. Thus, a livelihood promotion for leprosy affected persons is an essential strategy for capability enhancement in the course of life.
Self-initiative and building resilience: Social stigma as the major disabling factor restricts the social and economic movement that has been overpowered by the leprosy affected persons and their family members through successful livelihood engagements. This success is an outcome of self-initiatives while support is extended by the NGOs and mentors. The self-initiative is an important factor for successful outcome. Participation in livelihood project and self-initiative essentially became crucial to build resiliency among the persons affected by leprosy. The disease largely demoralized the person and pushed towards a belief that inculcated learned helplessness, and in contrary the livelihood engagement facilitated building resilience.
The two important dimensions of resilience as explained by Masten (2001) are (i) exposure to the adversity and ability to overcome and, (ii) quality of adoption positively. The successful livelihood intervention in practical sense helped to overcome the adversities of marginalized living condition and further encouraged adaptation to various changed situation with positivity by strengthening resilience and promoting self-initiative in the life course to break the barrier of learned helplessness and dependency.
Altering the life course and breaking the cycle of poverty:
A life course perspective looks at the linkages between the different stages of life in the developmental process. Thus it focuses on group experiences (of a specific group, i.e. leprosy affected persons in this case); transactions (i.e. change in role status that represent distinct departure from prior role and status); trajectory (i.e. long-term pattern of stability and change); life events (i.e. Significant occurrence involving a relatively abrupt change that may cause long lasting change) and turning points (i.e. Life event that produces a lasting shift in the life course trajectory). Taking these five aspects in consideration the life and livelihood is understood for the persons affected by leprosy (Hutchison, 2015).
Group experience: The life of the leprosy affected persons is group living within the colony which is subjugated living with stigma and corresponding social deprivation with denial of human rights. Such group living and identity has been altered and reverted through effective livelihood intervention in the long-term. Though they continue to live in groups, yet social connection developed with wider society facilitated the process of main streaming for successful livelihood projects. Unsuccessful livelihood intervention, failed to make such provisions of gradual main streaming.
Transactions: For the leprosy affected persons the diseased status itself is a transaction that altered their role and status within the society and pushed them towards marginalized living. Within the life course such transactions sets in motion a long-lasting, strongly negative change that become extremely difficult to revitalize. The successful livelihood promotion interventions within the colony of leprosy affected persons helped in positive transaction to break the barrier of poverty and facilitate social re-integration.
Trajectory: This involves multiple transactions in long-term. These transactions make a complex whole in the life of the leprosy affected persons. A successful livelihood intervention is combination of many subsequent activities that helped to develop a livelihood portfolio as farmer, tailor, driver, shop keeper, milk man etc., among the leprosy affected persons. Thus, a successful livelihood intervention became very important to break the cycle of diseased identity among the leprosy affected persons.
Life events: Life events are of different nature as discussed by Holmes and Rahe (1967). The different dimensions of life events showed some events can be entry or exit oriented, positive or negative, expected or unexpected. Usually, the entry oriented, positive, expected events gives less stress that promote motivation to work and develop abilities to work further in positive direction. A livelihood support and livelihood development with the leprosy affected persons, help them to gain income, purchase new assets, and develop new contacts, abilities of negotiation and being engaged in gainful employment.