Women's Alliance of Ladakh
Location: Ladakh, India
Mission Statement
To raise the status of rural women and promote development benefiting the entire community.
We want to encourage a respect for Ladakhi culture and to counter the embarrassment that many young people feel about their language, song and dance. We highlight the importance of agriculture for the Ladakhi economy and try counter the notion that farming is an inferior occupation.
We also try to protect indigenous agricultural knowledge and native seeds while warning against the dangers of cash cropping, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and hybridized seeds. Finally we work to maintain a respect local knowledge, crafts, and practical skills and affirm and support the extended families communities.
Background Information
The economic changes of the last decades have had a profoundly marginalizing effect on the position of woman in Ladakh, India´s Northernmost province. Men and youth flock to the cities for employment and education and the women are left tending their farms and families. The Women’s Alliance of Ladakh was set up in 1991 with the twin goals of raising the status of rural women and to strengthen local culture and agriculture. Since its inception the WAL membership was swelled to over 5000 women belonging to over 100 villages from all areas of Ladakh. WAL is a daughter organisation of ISEC, the International Society for Ecology and Culture.
Activities of Organisation
Zanskar Villages MeetingsFunded by the Siemenpuu Foundation from Finland and Walter Burkhart from Germany; The WAL organized a series of Village Meetings in the Zanskar Valley. Zanskar Valley is part of the Kargil district and located in the South-West of Ladakh. Challenging topography and heavy snowfalls in wintertime make Zanskar one of the most inaccessible areas of Ladakh, and hence a place where traditionally less support has been made available to the local inhabitants. During September & October, The Women’s Alliance organized a total of 23 on-site meetings in various villages in the Zanskar Valley. The objective of these meetings is to gather women to share information and ideas, and offer mutual support.
The meetings are attended by WAL working committee members who raise awareness the threats posed by globalization on both their lives and culture. WAL members encourage the restoration of co-operative and self-sustaining agriculture and the preservation of traditional culture.Handicrafts Skills WorkshopsThe Siemenpuu Foundation of Finland also provided funding for the organization of six handicraft workshops which took place by end of March 08 in the villages of Shashukul, Chushul and Choglamsar as well as the WAL centre.
The handicrafts workshops were on tailoring, weaving, natural dying and knitting. WAL promotes the development of traditional handicrafts to both maintain these valuable skills and cultural assets, and to bolster local economies. Providing village-based self-employment opportunities for women enables them to generate an income in the winter months when agriculture-related work comes virtually to a stand-still.
Ban Polythene Bag Day: WAL began its campaign to ban plastic (polythene) bags in the early nineties. From its inception this campaign has had the support of the District Administration who have made the ban official through an order signed by the District Magistrate R.K. Goyal in 1998 and ratified by M.K. Dwivedi, Distric Magistrate in 2006. Issues related to the effectiveness of the ban were discussed as well as other environmental issues such as plastic bottles, the degradation of the water quality in the canals, sewage and drainage systems, garbage collection, dog population control and air pollution.
Medical Camp in Zanskar: The Association Rigzen-Zanskar (Switzerland/Zanskar) invited WAL to participate in a workshop for local inhabitants as part of their 10 day medical camp in July 2008WAL proposed the participation of Padmashiri Dr. T Lhadol (gynaecologist) who provided advice on women’s issues and did check-ups, as well as the attendance of Ama-les from WAL, Mrs. yanzon, WAL President and Mrs. Sonam, member, who explained the health hazards caused by inhaling the fumes of burning plastic, danger of storing grain in old pesticide bags, the unhealthy effects of consuming products with monosodium glutamate or using PVC plastic “gur-gur” for making butter tea. They also encourage those present to use greenhouses for cultivation of fresh vegetables in winter as a means of having a more nutritious diet and compensation the lack of vitamins in this season.
Annual Summer Festival Traditional Culture: By bringing rural women together to demonstrate and share their skills the WAL Annual Festival aims to raise cultural self-respect and through this ensure the survival of these skills.Held in August every year, the festival brings women from villages from all over Ladakh who exhibit various traditional Ladakhi staple foods including roasted wheat & barley and different flours, Tsertsalulu or Seabuck berry Juice, apricot nuts and labo (Ladakhi fresh Cheese). Stands also demonstrate the preparation of a variety of local dishes such as churning butter, tapu & tenten, Paba and tangtur, and mok mok. Visitors to the festival are able to enjoy the various dishes prepared. In addition, the festival had stands with handicrafts for sale including pottery, weaving and traditional clothes and accessories such as tibi (hats).Throughout the two-day festival a highlight is the Ama-les showing various dances to the accompaniment of traditional music.The festival attracts between 700 and 1000 visitors, both local an international.
Consensus Community Perspective
The Womans Alliance of Ladakh mirrors the Himalayan Consensus in its dedication to developing and benefiting the entire community. The WAL's action are a perfect example of a community self-empowering itself and spreading a pragmatic working model of socio-cultural preservation and development.
Contact Information
Address:
Sankar Road, Chubi, Leh-Ladakh,
J&K, India
womanallianceladakh@yahoo.com
Website: Visit this community's website