India, Manipur - Shangnaidar Tontang - 1999 Graduate

Shangnaidar Tontang

Weaker Section Development Council

Graduate Impact Study site visit, February 2015

by Steven Cutting

“Widows already have the capacity. They just need help to discover it. Widows are stronger than the average population because they had the strength to survive.”

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Shangnaidar

Shangnaidar serves as the Chief Functionary of the Weaker Section Development Council, an NGO established in 1992 to promote livelihood skills and basic human rights to women, children and youth of the ethnic communities of Manipur. In order to show their commitment to preserving indigenous culture they have constructed their offices and a large meeting house in the traditional architectual style. Consisting of bamboo walls, a high thatched roof, and multipurpose wood benches known as bamsam, which are decorated with beautiful wood insets of different local trees, Shangnaidar explains, “I would like to make people proud by using our own resources and protecting our traditional skills. It is something like reviving the rural spirit."

Traditional architecture of the WSDC Meeting House / Chart of community engagement approach

One of the most critical issues of Manipur State is that of ethnic conflict. Hostilities reached a peak between 1992 and 1996 with fighting between the Naga and the Kuki groups being particularly vicious. ARI’s “That We May Live Together” motto had a strong impact on Shangnaidar and after her training she began to work with other ethnic groups including Kuki, Naga, Meitei, and Muslim. Coordinating with women’s groups in all districts and of different tribal affiliations, they apply a “do no harm” approach in which they do regular self-evaluation to see if their efforts are truly building peace and not escalating conflict. “Gun widows” is the term used to refer to the many women widowed by the fighting and much energy goes into training them with livelihood skills. Additionally, since psycho-social counselling facilities are scarce, these women are brought together in groups to offer each other comfort and support to overcome the nightmares they share. According to Shangnaidar, “Widows already have the capacity. They just need help to discover it. Widows are stronger than the average population because they had the strength to survive.”

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Widows group members at meeting

WSDC also seeks to groom women leaders and involve women in government and decision making bodies. “In my village,” says Shangnaidar, “in my customs and culture, women are never allowed to be in the decision making bodies. Even in the village assembly, women are not allowed to join, despite many good ideas the women have.” Recognizing that women are particularly instrumental in peace building, the Women in Governance Group trains women leaders about the the causes of violence and methodologies for resolution. They have reached 5,000 women in 450 villages. The group also organized a 16-day campaign on violence against women and has initiated a barometer system of measurement which Shangnaidar learned at a training session in Istanbul.

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Poster from 16-day campaign on violence against women

In the areas of food security the organization has developed 12 farmers clubs with a food bank and a seed bank for indigenous seeds. Working with 24 other NGOs in all nine districts of the state, they are advocating the development of a Manipur Food Policy that aims to (1) protect the poor from food crises, (2) enhance sufficient market linkages between consumers and producers (3) promote food production through shared appropriate technology, (4) improve the food monitoring mechanism, and (5) regulate health and safety requirements for food based business and food waste.

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