We used to have two meetings a month; one was about saving money, loan repayment and group loans; the other meeting were used for discussions on different social topics. Every month we used to discuss a different topic. In order to know what changes we have achieved, we used to do an exercise called Participatory Self Review Program (PSRP). I like this exercise as it helps us to know what my situation is right now. We do that every time for three months and I think it has helped me a lot.
Every topic has different questions which again had three different answer; Always, Sometimes and Never. I like that and we get to know our present situation of sanitation, nutrition, child rights, business etc. And also helps us to know how to improve our situation if needed. I have never had a chance really to know my situation before and I never knew that we have to know our situation like this in order to improve our lives.
After our discussion on Sanitation, I felt that I have changed a lot but after doing PSRP of first 3 months I was told, I have not changed enough. I answer questions, about Children’s Hygiene, covering our food and then I tried to improve my situation and now I have seen positive changes in my situation by the help of this exercise.
Similarly, we used to do PSRP of our Business in which we used to discuss issues like: Do we keep record or not? Is our business clean? Do we compare prices at least at 2-3 different places before buying any new products? Do we have different products then our competitor? etc. By doing so we learn the situation about of our business so much better and we learn how can we bring about the positive change in our business. Also with the help of this exercise we knew how to grow our business and income and it help us to become good and successful business woman.
It is not only discussing the different topics that is important but also to know our situation on that particular topic. This exercise plays a vital role in improving our weaknesses.