Consultivo Blog | Social & Sustainability
Socio economic study – An insight into the working of the factories and the current situation of the tea estates, lives of the local tea workers, their livelihood and lifestyle.
Experience of Consultivo survey enumerators: social survey across different tea estates of India.
Socio economic study – how did we do it?
To study the socio economic conditions of the tea industry, a field survey was carried out in around 151 tea estates of India. Here, 6 survey enumerators were also engaged who passionately worked along with the industry experts and senior surveyors across the tea gardens of India.
India, a major tea producing country produces some of the finest qualities of tea in the world. The Indian tea industry is one of the major contributors to the Indian economy owing to its rich variety of tea plantations in estates.
During the feedback session, we took a tour along with the survey enumerators on their entire experience and captured some of their quick bites.
Socio Economic Study & Field Survey
Trailing in the tea estates
It was a fruitful experience for the social survey enumerators Debajit Kachari, Deepty Nayak, Susmita Kalindi, Mintu Kumar, Montu Konwar & Ayushman Bharadwaj working with the field survey experts and get hands-on experience.
Prior to the social survey, a one-day pre-project training was provided to the enumerators to help them understand how to present themselves, communicate with the local workers and put forward the questions.
“It was a great experience for me to work with our supervisors / team-lead. I really admire the way we were guided. They helped us to understand how to interact with the local tea garden workers and bridge the communication gap with the workers”,
says Debajit Kachari, one of the social survey enumerators.
Pre-project training before the socio economic study
Prior to the social survey, a one-day pre-project training was provided to the enumerators to help them understand how to present themselves, communicate with the local workers and put forward the questions.
“The pre-project training gave us a brief idea about the tea estates and helped to build up questions for the survey”,
says Ms Deepty Nayek, another survey enumerator.
Ms Susmita Kalindi adds,
“It also helped us to understand how to communicate with the workers and make them feel comfortable during the field survey process.”
A guideline was also provided to the surveyors for their own understanding.
“It was important for us to first understand the project ourselves in order to make the local tea workers understand”,
feels Mr Debajit Kachari.
A challenging yet valuable experience revealing the hidden adversities
It was quite a challenging task for the field survey enumerators to communicate with the workers and make them understand the questionnaire as the workers were not literate and also felt uncomfortable speaking to them about their work and life. But, gradually they opened up and shared their stories. The enumerators also communicated with them in their local language so that the workers could easily understand and interact with them freely.
“Hearing their stories, it really motivated us to know more about them & spread awareness about their dire situation”,
recalls Mintu Kumar.
The enthusiastic enumerators visited many tea gardens for tea field survey during their socio economic study. This gave them an insight into the working of the factories and the current situation of the tea estates, lives of the local tea workers, their livelihood and lifestyle. It was a great exposure for them to learn about the welfare sector with a practical experience in the field.
Ayushman Bharadwaj thinks,
“The field survey project is a good initiative to know about the tea industry and reflects upon the situation of the workers. This survey will help to identify the problems and plan out ways for the workers to overcome their difficult conditions”.
According to the enumerators, it was a great learning experience for them as they got to learn so many things about the tea sector, met new people, interacted with the workers and listened to their thoughts and stories, saw the workings of a factory – how the products are processed and packed and much more. Understanding of the status & actions for the welfare of the workers to uplift them from their present conditions and give them better work environment and benefits for a better life become the theme of this socio economic study & survey project.
Final thoughts
The team feel privileged to be a part of this socio economic study project as it was an enlightening experience for them and they wish to be a part of more such projects in future.
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Category: Blog
Tags: Social & Sustainability, Social Survey, Social Impact Assessment
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