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Meet the Women of Azadpura Village | Azadpura Rural Housing Programme

Azadpura Rural Housing Programme

The Azadpura Rural Housing programme has created shelter for villagers using innovative processes and materials. Forty-nine homes were built through the programme which has catalyzed the overall development of the community. Among other features of the programme, the houses were all registered in the women's names.

A women's cooperative (the Sahariya Sangram) has since been formed in the village. The Sahariya Sangram has 23 members who are receiving literacy and educational training. The women are now producing fibre and paper products being sold by TARAGram. The Co-op is also gearing up to be the village node for local housing finance, and other types of loans.The group is poised for an independent tomorrow, from being managed to self-management.

Azadpura has become a hallmark of the larger dimensions of the concept of shelter, encompassing:

• habitat improvement
• improvement in the total quality of life
• local capacity strengthening

Aims and Objectives

The objectives of the programme are:

• to work with the poorest section of the population to strengthen 'housing' as a self build activity, through: ensuring participation in design and technology choice; facilitating decision making in the use of funds allotted for housing; enabling self-reliance in future maintenance, repair and extensions.
• to enhance input into the local economy by creating livelihood opportunities based on sustainable technology options and value addition of resources.
• to increase access to good quality affordable building materials, based on local climate and resource factors.
• to catalyse a replicable system for the delivery of improved shelter among the different sections of society in the region

Programme Description

The Azadpura Rural Housing programme is an Indira Awas Yojana programme promoted by the Government of India through the State Government. This scheme works directly through local level institutions: Panchayati Raj. The scheme applies to the population below the poverty line (less than Rs 11000 per annum).

The distinct features of the programme were:

• It used non-conventional materials including compressed earth blocks, microconcrete roofing tiles, etc.
• All of the materials were produced in a decentralised manner, creating local employment.
• The houses were all in the name of the women of the house (it was, however, necessary that the house owner had a land deed for the piece of land her house was built on.)
• The houses were built in a dispersed manner through the village without relocating the villagers.

The Azadpura Rural Housing programme works with the villagers in trying to answer their basic needs of shelter. It generates sustainable livelihoods for villagers while providing building material options to rural and urban areas.

The underlying rationale behind the project is that improving shelter without degrading the environment requires building systems that:

• use local resources and are environmentally sensitive
• integrate user concerns, environmental sustainability, and economic viability.
• give people economically viable and aesthetically appealing choices
• increase local capacity and self-sufficiency by building skills, technology awareness, and a team approach.
• create local capacity and self-sufficiency by developing skills, increasing technological consciousness and team building.

The process of Building is as important as the building itself.

Physical Elements of the Scheme

The Azadpura project attempts to combine locally available skills with the technologies promoted by Tara Grameen Nirman Kendra (TGNK), the building technology group at TARAGram. Skilled people from among the house owners and the rest of the village were identified and involved in the masonry work. At the same time others were trained in creating the building materials using TARA technologies.

When the project started, five houses were constructed using random rubble masonry up to the sill level, concrete earth blocks (CEB) as the main walling, and micro-concrete roofing (MCR) tiles on a wooden understructure as the roofing material. These five houses were used to assess the feasibility of various walling and roofing systems in field conditions.

Random rubble masonry in walling demanded skilled stone masonry and intense supervision which increased the time and cost of construction. Inefficient use of stone and its rampant quarrying was also resulting in the exploitation of land resources and causing environmental degradation.

Concrete block masonry was eventually adopted in place of random rubble masonry, as it is much faster to work with, requires comparatively less masonry skill, and is more space efficient. As well, concrete blocks use stone dust, a waste from stone crushers that is dumped regularly along roads and causes health hazards in the region.

All the houses (except the first five prototypes) were almost identical in size (14 feet by 10 feet) but the windows and inner niches were different for almost all of them.

Each house owner initially produced his own blocks but the process of self-production of the blocks could not be systematised. Work was temporarily suspended after five houses were built and a common team was formed including people from the village and trainers from TARAGram. Changes were made in the stabilisation percentage from 3% to 4% as per villagers' recommendations.

The use of compressed earth blocks in government construction was a major breakthrough of this programme. Over a period of six months about 55,000 blocks were produced, creating local employment for over two months. Not only was there a renewed confidence among the villagers but people were willing to contribute more towards house construction as they were getting local employment opportunities.

Although the main focus was on houses, other elements in the scheme included toilet and infrastructure development. Infrastructure developments were determined in consultation with the villagers and included otlas (threshold platforms), chulas (cookstoves), and the construction of platforms around taps and hand-pumps to prevent water-logging.

Toilets

The toilet construction was based on the two pit Sulabh latrine pattern, with seating type selected by the home owner. The masons group was functioning almost independently by the time the toilets were being constructed so they took over this task.

The masons had to first convince the house owner to build a toilet and explain how they should be used. The masons proved much better at communicating with the house owners than any of the social scientists. In 54 days they managed to build 44 toilets. The construction of the first three toilets, under the supervision of the project team had taken almost two weeks. Three of the house owners decided not to build toilets.

Otlas (Thresholds)

The otlas were a very important part of the house construction as a defined threshold is an integral feature of homes in this region. This process was driven completely by each house owner who personalised their house with the otla.

The otla not only extended the house outside, which is where the family spends most of its time together, but it also provided a connection to the rest of the village. The otlas provide a transition from the enclosed private space to the street in the village hub. They also brought in a diversity which broke up the uniformity of house design and materials.

Tap Surrounds and Platforms

The tap surrounds and platforms were designed to reuse and recycle water. The water was collected in a trough and used for animals while excess water flowed into a soak pit. This set up was deemed quite useful in the summer months. However, the standing water also became a breeding place for mosquitos and a hazard for adventurous children, so the troughs are regularly emptied out.

Smokeless Chulhas

The village uses fuelwood for their cooking needs. A simple stove, with a pipe for a chimney, reduced fuel consumption and ensured a smokeless atmosphere in the home. The pipes were firmly grouted in place so they would not be dismantled and sold. Most of the stoves are in use and are extremely useful in the monsoon season, when the cooking is primarily done inside.

The Construction Process

Constructing the platform for the village deity was a major community activity for which there was mass consensus. Almost everyone from the village participated in this process. Developing access to roads, a tree plantation, and cleaning a well were also proposed but these could not be taken up due to lack of funds.

The construction process provided an excellent opportunity for the intense training of masons and semi-masons. Most of the people in the construction team were from the village itself which helped to increase people's confidence in the technologies. The masons have formed a group (TARA Vikas SAMITI) which is independently executing work at TARAGram.

Social Elements of the Scheme

TGNK was a major catalyst in disseminating the concept of participatory house building with sustainable building technologies. However, the local catalytic agencies cannot be ignored. In retrospect, it is evident that the strong feeling for change among the Sahariya community materialised in these 49 houses.

There were leaders among them, like the 55 year old local 'Dai" (midwife) - Bua, who was among the first willing to participate in the programme. Over 15 years of government promises with no action had frustrated people but the existence of TARAGram which was creating local employment and good will helped to develop trust.

The employment created through the project resulted in a reinvesting of assets to create more assets. The materials used were all local and so their use strengthened the village economy. The Madhya Pradesh Hasta Shilpa Vikas Nigam (a state owned handicraft promotion council) along with the project team, began training the women in making fibre based handicrafts. The training included confidence building, team building, literacy, health, sanitation, savings etc. This began as a small training activity but now the group has formed into a cooperative, called the Sahariya Sangram.

Today nonformal education takes place every evening in the village. It began on the request of men who expressed their fear that their wives would become more educated than them through the original training schemes targeting the women. The men indicated that they also wanted to be literate. Today there are many children attending the classes.

The fiftieth house in the village was built by one of the women in the cooperative. She has built her house with similar materials by taking a loan and contributing the unskilled component for the house. A trained semi-mason from the village executed the job.

A savings group has also been started through the women's cooperative. It functions as a savings and credit group, enabling local lending. It currently only operates within the group but has the potential for external lending in the future.

Innovative Features

The 49 houses and 44 toilets were completed within 6 months. For TGNK the process was an intense learning exercise on the power of the people and their capacities.

The project results include:

• an organic, cohesive, and better living environment
• the evolution of building systems with an efficient team trained in implementation
• a mason guild
• a self replicating delivery mechanism
• a local women's cooperative
• high input into the local economy

All of the house owners have a name plate on their houses and a folder including the details of materials used in their house, a certificate with a photograph, and the blueprints of their house.

The ripple effect of the programme include Micro-concrete roofing being accepting into government rural engineering services specifications. This has already led to the roofing of 65 houses for tobacco workers in Tikamgarh.

The Sahariya Sangram, the cooperative society, is today manufacturing paper as well as fibre products. The products are made in the village and supplied to a shop at TARAGram. TARAGram has created a product development centre which attracts designers who work with this group in developing products.

The Vikas Samiti, the masons group, was also born out of this project and is being gradually strengthened through skill building. On the brink of being registered they are already independently executing works, under the umbrella of TGNK.

It would be unfair to judge this project by only the direct benefits. It is a true example of an initiative which is creating and improving local capacities.

For More Information

A number of Development Alternative's newsletter articles regarding shelter and shelter technologies are online. In addition, sales information about handicrafts produced at Azadpura or building materials or technologies available from:

Also:
Meet the Women of Azadpura Village | Azadpura Rural Housing Programme