Viju is the president of a women's savings and credit group in Sangasar village in Gujarat. Viju has also been trained by Mahiti to become a health worker. Photo: Lisa Vittori/OxfamAUS.

Oxfam Community Aid Abroad's Community Leadership Program gives Australians an opportunity to see the power of community development in India, reports Lisa Vettori.

We drive slowly across the dry and arid landscape toward Sangasar, a rural village in the state of Gujarat in India. It is December – the cool season – yet the days are warm and the sun intensely bright. Life in this part of Gujarat is often harsh. There is little rain, agricultural productivity is low and many people are forced to migrate to the cities in search of work.

We pull into Sangasar and are greeted by about 20 women. They have come to meet us and share their stories of change: how they are conserving water, saving money, promoting health and standing up for their rights. The community of Sangasar is just one of many villages that Oxfam Community Aid Abroad's local partner Mahiti is working with to improve water collection, train local women to become health workers, and establish savings groups so that women do not have to borrow from money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates.

I have come to see the work of Mahiti as well as other community projects in India as part of the Community Leadership Program (CLP). This four week program run by Oxfam Community Aid Abroad in partnership with the University of Queensland aims to enable ordinary Australians to learn more about community development and the work of Oxfam Community Aid Abroad's partners in India. The CLP attracts a diverse range of people who share a passion for social justice and a vision of a fairer world.

In Sansgarsa, I am with a few CLP participants, as well as Bindu Bhatt, Mahiti's co-ordinator for water and health programs. Bindu is a passionate young woman who seems to know everyone in the village. She explains to us that each month, the women contribute about 20 rupees (less than a dollar, which is about half a day's wage) to a savings and credit group. They are then able to take loans from the group for general needs like medicines, seedlings or starting a small business. Before Mahiti introduced the idea of women's savings groups, the women were forced to borrow money from expensive money-lenders who would charge high rates of interest and keep local families in a cycle of debt. However, the savings group is more than just a means for saving and borrowing money; it has also brought the women together in a space where they are able to discuss personal issues and work collectively to improve services in their community.

Viju is the president of one of the village savings and credit groups who tells us that the women have learnt more about their rights by linking up with other women's groups at forums organised by Mahiti.

"The group has enabled us to collectively stand up for our rights and demand services like electricity from the government," says Viju.

Through Mahiti, Viju has been trained as one of two health workers for her village. "A private doctor used to visit the village and charge us a lot of money but not give much medicine or benefit," says Viju. Now Viju is able to administer medicines, check the health of children, and look after women at the time of pregnancy.

Water is a crucial issue to many people in Gujarat, with drought occurring in the region four out of the last five years. What's more, the high salinity of the soil and ground water restricts people's access to drinking water and contributes to low agricultural productivity. To address the issue of water, Mahiti is working with villages to build rainwater-harvesting tanks. These simple structures collect water from the roof, and then store it under ground for drinking during the year.

Community Leadership Program Facilitator Helen Thal meets with Janke Gurjar, the president of a women's savings and credit group in Kishore Pura village in Rajasthan. Photo: Lisa Vittori/OxfamAUS.

After a week in Gujarat, I travel to Rajasthan to see the work of our partner The Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants Society (Cecoedecon).

This organisation works with disadvantaged groups in rural Rajasthan to promote community participation and strengthen the leadership skills and technical know-how of local people so that they are able to effectively manage their own resources and take control of their lives.

Ravinder Singh, a director at Cecoedecon, takes us to visit a group of women who are working to build an anicut – a small dam which regulates the flow of water for irrigation. Such irrigation projects have transformed once arid lands into productive agricultural crops. "The anicuts have reduced soil erosion, increased the cultivatable area of the land and improved drinking water. The construction of the anicut has also created employment for local people," says Ravinder.

In Harbhauta village, Cecoedecon has set up an evening school for children who work in the fields during the day and are unable to attend conventional schools. Almost all of the students are girls. From 6-9pm, they take classes in science, maths, Hindi, social science and English. Before the school was set up the girls did not receive any schooling and were not able to read and write. "Before we used to see books and not understand what they were about. Now we can read," says Dwarrka, an enthusiastic 11-year-old student.

While I am visiting the work of Mahiti and Cecoedecon, other small groups of CLP participants are visiting various projects by other local nongovernment organisations (NGOs). Between us, CLP participants visit ten local NGOs in India to see how local communities are getting involved at the grassroots level and working together to transform their lives.

The CLP isn't just about visiting communities and local NGOs – there is also a strong component of learning in a classroom setting, with discussion and debate. Throughout our month-long stay in India, the CLP involves intensive classes in models of community development, culture and society in India, and how the principles of community development in India relate to our own work and lives in Australia. The goal of the CLP is to inspire Australians to take the principles of community development – including ideas about relationships, collective action, and the grassroots approach – and apply these ideas in their own context in Australia. The program also seeks to allow people to learn more about the work of local community organisations in India – organisations which are partners of Oxfam Community Aid Abroad.

Paul Hodgson decided to join the CLP to learn more about Oxfam Community Aid Abroad and community development in the field. Paul, who is a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Brisbane and is also studying for a Masters in Sustainable Development, says: "I hope to be part of educating the corporate sector about the benefits of community development and better direct corporate social responsibility issues to maximum impact."

Participants from previous CLP journeys have been inspired to get more involved in their own communities when back in Australia. People have joined skills share schemes, got involved in local community projects and further supported the work of Oxfam Community Aid Abroad. So, if you share a passion for changing the world and would like to see the power of collective action in the field, consider participating in the next CLP. It is an experience that you will never forget.

Join our Community Leadership Program to India in June/July 2004. Held in conjunction with the University of Queensland, these programs can provide accreditation. For details contact Helen Thal on (07) 3637 4635 or email helent@oxfam.org.au or visit www.oxfam.org.au/clp.