Comm: "This 'Hands On' travels to India, Sri Lanka and Thailand to see how credit initiatives can boost more than just incomes; and how innovative fishing methods combined with changed practices can also improve livelihoods and safeguard the environment.

"These women in the Indian state of Maharashtra are all entrepreneurs. Before starting their businesses they were living below the poverty line. But now they're benefitting from a new scheme which is bringing the banks closer to poorer people, particularly women, and making credit more widely available.

Girl Power

"Uruli Devachi is a rural village with around 2000 inhabitants. Many of their lives have been transformed by the credit scheme co-ordinated by India's national bank for agricultural and rural development, which started five years ago and was supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

"The main thrust of the scheme has been to gather women into self-help groups each with around 20 members. The groups act as mini credit unions, where women put small amounts of money aside each week. The group leader has been trained in book keeping and she monitors the small subsistence loans which women take out from the group pot.

"Loyalty to other group members ensures a 100% pay back rate."

Vandana Jadhau, bank field worker: "The role of the self help groups from the point of view of the bank on the one hand and village development on the other. These women used to be very shy and hardly ever came out of their homes but through participation in the groups they have become bolder and more active and they're able to discuss things."

Comm: "The women from the different groups deposit the group savings in their local branch, located in a nearby village. The first loans the women take out from the self help groups are for basic needs. The second, are usually granted to start up a business. Once the business kicks off they may then request bigger loans from the bank, through the village councils, who put them forward. This is additional security for the bank. Repayment rates are 100%.

"This umbrella making enterprise is run by a group of women - a good way to begin if you're new to business, as you can build up confidence by working with others.

"Development workers help them make the initial orders for the materials. And, to start off, the project gave them an interest free loan. This, they've already paid back having generated plenty of profit to divide amongst themselves. Having understood how the system works, the group will borrow from the bank in future."

Kaman Sultana Khan: "I was deserted by my husband and before the Self Help Group stated up all I did was domestic chores. I've had training in book keeping and by getting together with other women I've gained more friends, a business and more awareness."

Comm: "Jijabai Kumbhar is a member of the same self help group. She makes flower pots and stoves using clay from the fields which is strengthened with a mixture of ash and sorghum husks. Her husband has never worked so she is the family's only bread winner.

"She secured a bank loan to set up her businesses 3 years ago. The loan was over a five year period but she too has already paid it back."

Jijabai Kumbhar: "There have been lots of social changes in the village through the self help groups. When a little boy in the village needed a heart operation all the groups asked everyone to pay 10 rupees, so they collected 14,000 Rupees and he's okay now. We've got roads built, we've done some tree planting and got improvements in sanitation."

Comm: "In the village of Ranjangaon Ganapati, Kamal Shinde runs a catering business.

"She is one of the great success stories of the Maharashtra Rural Credit Programme. Her husband left her several years ago and destitute she turned to farm labouring, until the project offered her small business training.

"Kamal opted for catering because that was where her skills lay. She thought of the masses of pilgrims that flock to a nearby temple and approached the elders.

"They agreed to rent her premises to open a canteen. Five years ago she secured a loan and set up her business which has been a huge success. Kamal now employs five other women, who she houses in property bought with her profits. And now she's chairman of her village council."

Kamal Shinde: "I used to be a farm labourer when my husband left me and our young child. I didn't pay much attention to my son's education but since I started the business I've been aware of how important education is for my child. I'm also employing 5 other women and my husband has come back to me. Lots of organisations have helped me and I'm very grateful. I'm now a very confident and independent person."

Comm: "Kamal recently secured a contract to supply 60 lunchboxes a day to a local tyre factory after management tasted her food at the temple. Her next plan is to buy land and build a restaurant.

"In this second story from India 'Hands On' sees how self help groups are not only helping to improve livelihoods but also to increase literacy levels.

"Not far from India's capital, Delhi, Mewat lies in the Indian state of Haryana. But, despite its proximity to the capital city, and the relative wealth of the rest of Haryana, Mewat has been left behind. Its ethnic group, the Meos, converted to Islam and historically were fierce resistors of repeated invasions.

"Regarded as trouble makers, the Meos and their land were neglected - until recently, when (the International Fund for Agricultural Development) (IFAD) and the government of India decided to try to tackle poverty by investing in the area with a combined funding initiative.

Small cash, big change

Comm: "Samina has four children aged between one and twelve. Her husband is a barber.

"Samina looks after the home the children and their buffalo. Every morning she prepares feed for the buffalo; dried sorghum which she later mixes with liquid mustard oil cake and a bit of wheat.

"A year and a half ago Samina wouldn't have dreamt of owning a buffalo. But that all changed when she joined a self help group set up by the project (backed by the combined initiative.) The group acts as a credit union where the women save and then borrow.

"Samina borrowed 4000 rupees which supplemented the 4000 rupees she and her husband had saved."

Samina: "I milk twice a day. One lot I give to the children so their health is improved and I sell the rest. Half of the money goes to pay off my loan and the rest goes on school things for the children like books and slates and household supplies."

Comm: "Samina like other women in the village used to sell her milk to a middle man who would then sell the milk on to a big dairy company. She now sells to a dairy co-operative supported by the project which will pay more than the middle man. Here at the cooperative, Samina's milk is tested for fat levels. It's mixed with sulphuric acid and then put into a spinner where the centrifugal force will separate out the fat.

"Samina's milk is well above the minimum and she will get more per litre as a result.

"Another member of Samina's self help group, Sunni, also borrowed money to buy a buffalo. She bought a more expensive buffalo which yields more milk so that she's able to use some to make butter in the traditional Mewarti way to earn more money for the household and to pay back the loan.

"The self help group meets on a regular basis and here they listen to the different loan requirements needed by their members and apply to the banks for a lump sum loan.

"But the self help groups do more than collect savings and provide loans. They act as a forum for increased awareness. Topics such as village health and sanitation come up and one subject, long neglected, their children's education."

Samina: "Before we women didn't have any identity in the village. We weren't motivated there was no unity and there was no real friendship between us - we just chit chatted.

"Since the self help group was formed we can speak out, share ideas and we've become freer to talk in the home. We've got status in the home now and the groups have a very positive image in the village."

Comm: "It wasn't easy at first to get the women's groups up and running. This male dominated society was resistant at first. Men didn't like the idea of their wives and daughters joining groups and getting training. It had to be dealt with sensitively.

"A few years ago this type of discussion would have been unknown in this traditional muslim community where women would not have been involved in decision making.

"As a graduate in 1983, Mohammdi was the only one in the whole of Mewat which has a population of 700,000. Now she works as a field co-ordinator and today she is talking to the women about the difference education and training can make to their lives.

"Five years ago only 2% of women were literate. Now it's increased to 14% thanks to the growing awareness of parents, particularly mothers, through the project.

"Samina sends her children to school even though her daughter is only three years old.

"Age old attitudes towards education - particularly education of girl children - are changing."

Samina: "If our children get an education they will get jobs when they grow up and they'll learn to stand on their own two feet. Educated children and their families get more respect in the village and their future will be brighter if they go to school."

Comm: "Gampaha is a rural area not far from Colombo. It's famous for its cashew nuts.

"Most of the families living here are engaged in cashew processing, and for women it's the main source of income."

Vishaka Hidellage: "Women in this whole process play a very important role, starting from cashew collection or clearing the area under the cashew tree. And then once its brought to processing area it's women who actually do the processing."

Comm: "Being a seasonal crop, one of the problems that the women cashew processors faced was that they weren't able to buy huge stocks of cashew to process throughout the year. This made the women dependent on middle men who would sell them cashew which they would buy back after processing. By controlling the market it was the middle men who made the biggest profit, rather than the skilled cashew processors."

Vishaka Hidellage: "The problem is to have enough money or to find a way to borrow enough money to buy enough stock of cashew to prcess cashew in the way we want."

Cashing in on cashew

Comm: "Processing cashew is an extremely skilled task which includes shelling, drying and removing the inner red shell.

"Several years ago a group of women from Gampaha heard about an oven which would help them to dry the cashew nuts. The women hoped to improve the quality of their product so that they could sell the nuts direct to the wholesalers.

"And they approached the international development agency, Intermediate Technology Development Group, ITDG, to see if it would work with them, to develop an oven which would meet their needs."

Vishaka Hidellage: "The women wanted an oven so we managed to modify an existing dryer, quite drastically, finally to suit the conditions of Sri Lanka as well as the cashew processing industry. So it became very low cost, quite appropriate equipment for the use of cashew."

Caption: What makes a good drier?

First it can burn cheap fuel, for example waste materials; second it can be made from parts available locally; third it can be easy to operate; fourth it can generate even heat; fifth the trays must rotate.

Comm: "With their new drier the Gampaha women are producing high quality cashew nuts and have cracked the export market. Their lives have changed."

Vishaka Hidellage: "The most important thing this drier has given to people is the confidence that they can operate the machine and that has given them confidence to do other things that they have not done before, like buying cashew, bringing it, negotiating with the, going into Colombo market to exporters, talking and negotiating with them, negotiating with any other officials."

Comm: "The women's main achievement however is that they have proved their credit worthiness with commercial banks and no longer need the middlemen to supply the nuts."

Vishaka Hidellage: "Last year the commercial bank gave 32,000 to one of the societies to share between 40 odd-members. I think one of the main achievements is that we have managed to convince the private sector that they should consider micro-credit as a profitable venture."

Comm: "For people living in North East Thailand wild fish and rice have been an important part of their diet for centuries.

"But population growth and overfishing to meet demand, has cut the supply of wild fish and drive local farmers to try their own hand at aquaculture - or fish farming.

"Most farmers are expert at fishing from paddy fields and canals but breeding small fry into a large enough catch to feed your family, or even sell demands special expertise."

Harvey Demaine, Asian Institute of Technology: "The farmers have been so used to catching wild fish and releasing fish into a pond on the same assumption that there is plenty of food available. They weren't used to giving fish food to eat."

Comm: "Since the UK DFID funded aquaculture project began over 10 years ago the results have been dramatic with thousands of small farmers successfully rearing fish."

Small fry, big catch

Harvey Demaine: "We started from scratch. We said let's find out what the problems of the small farmer are. When we find that out let's see if we can't find something that is appropriate to their problems."

Comm: "The first technology which the Asian Institute of Technology tested with the farmers was greening up the water…"

Harvey Demaine: "To green up the water basically means to create phyto plankton so that certain types of fish can feed on that fertility in the pond."

Comm: "Local farmer, Kong Me now greens up his water everyday…using cows…extra manure from their pen…and urea a nitrogen fixing agent which when combined with dung creates the perfect environment for fish to thrive

"Kong Mee's catch isn't bad although the fish are undersized. That's due to his main enemy the snakehead a predator which slithers from the fields to the ponds and eats the fry.

"Two staff from the Asian Institute of Technology outreach programme visit Kong Mee to chat about his techniques. They use materials which farmers are able to follow for themselves."

Danai Turongruang, Aquaculture Outreach Programme: "We don't have enough extension workers to distribute the knowledge to the people. They did their work very well but because their numbers were limited so they were thinking is it possible for us to use some other thing to help the extension worker or to use directly with the farmer."

Comm: "The materials were developed with farmers like Sawat Srikongphan who has farmed fish since the beginning of the project. He has three fishponds now and sells his fish around the village. What's the secret?"

Caption: The key to a big catch is in the nurturing of the young fish. To help them grow from small fry into a profitable size they need a safe home. The farmers have developed a net box which is anchored in the pond using bamboo poles and stones. Once the net is ready the small fry can be released…but this must be done slowly so that they can acclimatise to the change in temperature.

One more tip before the fry are released they need to be checked to see that they are in perfect condition with flat stomachs and normal size heads. If they seem fine the fish can be released.

Comm: "Can any farmer adopt these techniques?"

Danai Turongruang, Aquaculture Outreach Programme: "As I worked with a lot of people here I thought this is not really difficult for the farmers to adopt because we used on farm trial which is farmer-managed techniques to adapt the technology."

Comm: "How has the technology improved peoples lives?"

Danai Turongruang: "We found that many people increased their production, improved their life a bit. Some can send their student to the university, some build a new house, get better equipment. I can't claim that it all from the aquaculture. But it has a little impact around them and a better life in their own family."

Comm: "Supap Muenin is the projects great success story. After watching the new techniques he gave up selling other peoples fish to breed his own and is now laughing all the way to the bank.

"The beaches of Krabbe, Phuket and Phang Na in the South of Thailand are known for their natural splendour and idyllic atmosphere. But although the environment is very different to that of Udon Thani the threat to people's livelihoods is the same.

"Burgeoning tourism, overfishing and destructive push net fishing practices have exhausted the once abundant marine harvest, degraded the environment and left the villagers with less food and income.

"Diminished food supplies and less income have led the villagers to look at new community-based solutions which may revitalise the local economy. The initiative is supported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO

A net offensive

Caption: Has the loss of mangrove harmed the fish catch?

Jate Pimolinda: "We think that this is the main problem that can make the resources depleted. I put the idea that we start with the school head teacher, or the parents of the children in the village to ask the children to join together after school hours to go into the forest to collect the seedlings so by this means we can have a lot of seedlings in a short time."

Comm: "The mangroves play an important role in the coastal ecosystem. They provide a breeding area for many fish species as well as a protective habitat for crabs and birds.

"Traditionally areas were logged and the wood used to build villages but more recently large patches were cleared for intensive shrimp farming. This practice was stopped in Phang Na Bay, by the Andaman Sea Development Centre.

"By replanting these areas themselves, children have developed a sense of responsibility for their environment. Planting is simple and just needs the enthusiasm of the children with only a little guidance from their teacher.

"They have a high survival rate so, after a few years, the children can return to see the results of their work. The sea grass beds are an equally important ecosystem."

Jate Pimolinda: "The seagrass beds are something like a mangrove so if we protect the mangrove, it