‘Jagori’ – Awaken Woman

The mutual exploitation of women and the land – treated as infinite resources and over-extracted to near breaking point – galvanised the formation of Jagori Rural Charitable Trust. Established in 2003, and supporting 12 girls, the non-governmental organisation now reaches 160 villages from the Kangra and Chamba districts. Jagori is committed to achieving a just and equitable society and endeavours to combat the combined exploitation of women and the land through sustainable agriculture and female empowerment programmes. Since women often farm the land, introducing organic farming and medicinal herb cultivation will not only improve health and income but also female independence. Jagori’s work is inherently intersectional, working with people from all castes, classes, religions, and sexual identities, and fundamentally creative, recognising the importance of art in changing mindsets. The refuge for women in Rakkar, blooming with flowers, where workshops are held and guests stay, is constantly filled with the sound of music; songs are sung before and after every meeting whilst the yak wool sellers from the mountains chant and drum late into the night on their stopover before going to market.

Jagori fights for female empowerment for all ages where the Aware Adolescent Girls Action for Justice (AAGAJ) team organises plumbing, electricity, and car washing workshops, breaking gender stereotypes, while the Aware Women’s Action for Justice (AWAJ) team hosts livelihood training workshops. The girls explain how if a neighbour has a leak, it is them that they come to for help while women negotiate small spaces of autonomy within the home. Of course, fighting the patriarchy depends on more than just women and events are held for both women and men, girls and boys.

Jagori invites a range of specialists to host workshops. Anita Mathur’s talks at the Kishore-Kishori Utsav, on the theme of ‘Ek nayi dharti, Ek naye Aasman ki khoj’ (‘searching for a new earth, a new sky’), guided adolescent boys and girls through envisioning a new future and how to achieve it, while Anupuma Rawat’s workshops on gender and patriarchy deployed playful activities to explore the injustices women face in society and how to overcome them.

Jagori’s fundamental approach relies on instilling community leadership with every training held in the hope and expectation that the attendees disperse the knowledge across the local area. Adult monitoring committees and youth peer leaders have been established to aid this process. The girls explain the transformation occurring in their homes as they share what they have learnt and are increasingly involved in family decisions, an exchange enhanced through Jagori’s Ma-Beti Melas (mother-daughter fairs). I witnessed this community network in action at an Angandwadi (rural childcare centre and stronghold of support and information for girls and women in the village) where I met an enthused Angandwadi worker who, excited by all that she has learnt from Jagori, was most proud of her role in sharing such knowledge.

Such community engagement is epitomised in the Kishori panchayats, village governments of adolescent girls who conduct baseline surveys and discuss local issues. The girls have regular meetings with the sarpanch, the panchayat leader, and have made successful applications for change, for example, a petition for new solar-powered street lamps in Rakkar.

Jagori helps create a space where taboos can be discussed. The initial silence that Abha Bhaiya met on the topic of domestic violence when she arrived in Rakkar, where locals presented their communities as idyllic sanctuaries, is slowly being broken. The AWAJ and AAGAJ teams raise awareness about the different types of domestic violence with workshops on how to recognise and respond to child sexual abuse. Jagori’s in-house lawyer provides people with legal literacy to protect their rights, mediating sessions to resolve domestic conflicts internally before helping obtain legal aid when necessary.

Jagori’s teams collaborate to ensure overall community well-being. The Rights and Entitlement team visits the MNREGA workers cleaning local waterways, to ensure that payments are coming on time and enough work is accessible while, also, mobilising them to attend the Sustainable Agriculture, Forest and Land (SAFAL) team’s meeting on ayurvedic medicine cultivation the following day. The Rights and Entitlement team raises awareness about and helps obtain access to government schemes while the agricultural team teaches the benefits of homemade organic fertilisers and reintroducing traditional crops, such as millet, which increase revenue, improve health, and restore cultural practices.

Finally, Jagori’s work does not exist in isolation, one of the most crucial means to enacting global change lies in a collaborative approach between different grassroots organisations. Jagori is a member of the Western Himalayan Vikalp Sangam (WHVS) where members cooperate to find alternative pathways of social and environmental justice. Conversations with Akanksha Pandey, WHVS’ coordinator, made me understand the necessity for such a solutions-oriented approach and how this requires democratic collaboration, pooling ideas and resources. The capacity for expansion in this area is immense.

My time at Jagori has inspired me to establish a community-oriented organisation in the UK – where, despite the disparate context, similar injustices persist and parallel strategies can be deployed – premised on local democracy and self-sufficiency, in terms of resources, but deeply integrated with the wider network for change, the Global Tapestry of Alternatives. Following the example of three inspiring women I met during my internship (Anita, Anupuma and Akanksha), who were fiercely intelligent and authoritative in their teaching but wholly compassionate in their approaches, the initiative will be fundamentally collaborative. My greatest lesson from Jagori is that truly democratic practices are essential for enacting genuine change.

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About the Author

Hannah Morris is currently completing her Master’s, the Global Studies Programme, in Berlin. She is writing her thesis on how we can achieve a post-growth future and the necessity for a collaborative approach between the state, civil society, and businesses. She is a member of the collective degrowth.info and an active degrowth advocate. Hannah believes in ecological justice for all and recognises that overthrowing the current system requires a collaborative effort between grassroots movements worldwide. Hannah is committed to exploring and realising alternative futures. Contact the author.