‘Gadhika’ empowers women in tribal settlements

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The pandemic introduced face masks to our lives in the passing year. A few months ago, when masks were running out of stock in medical shops, several NGOs and government-led organisations took the lead to make masks in bulk. The government had also announced to provide free masks to those living in tribal colonies across the state. 

Forest and tribal welfare officials wanted to ensure the availability of three masks per person in tribal settlements. Though the Scheduled Tribes Development Department (STDD) considered handing over the production tasks to agencies, they later decided to engage women from these settlements with materials provided. In association with the Thiruvananthapuram-based Weavers Village, STDD came up with the Gadhika tribal project which not only aimed to distribute free masks to tribal communities but also provide a source of livelihood to women. 

“Around 15 lakh masks had to be distributed among five lakh people in various tribal colonies. So, we considered building a team of women from each colony and training them in mask making, thereby providing them employment,” said K Krishna Prakash, deputy director, STDD.

The organisation has provided training to tribal units from Vithura in Thiruvananthapuram to Chela in Wayanad. Shobha Viswanath, founder of Weavers Village, says, “For the past four months, we have been working with tribal women and have formed units in each district, training them to stitch these masks. Inspired from Gadhika, an art form of the tribal community in Wayanad, the initiative focuses on empowering women in tribal settlements.”

More than 1,500 women were trained as part of the initiative. The cloth is provided by the Tribal Development Department and the women are paid `5 per mask. Some units have already completed making 40,000 masks.The Tribal Development Department is also planning to train the women in making uniforms. “Under the department, there are 20 modern residential schools and 108 pre-matric and post-matric hostels. Once the classes resume, we plan to give orders to these tribal units,” said Krishna Prakash.