EMPOWERMENT OF RURAL WOMEN THROUGH SELF HELP GROUPS- EXPERIENCE OF BAIF

Dr. N.G. HegdeBAIF Development Research Foundation

Pune 411 029Rural Problems

With a one billion population, India represents 16.7% of the world’s population. The country has witnessed a three fold increase in population over the last half a century but the economy has not been able to cope up with this rate of growth. Being heavily dependent on agriculture, livelihood in rural areas could not provide employment for everyone. In the absence of significant industrial growth, there has been severe unemployment and underemployment, resulting in poverty. For most of the poor, fight for survival has been a life long mission and natural resources have been the main source of livelihood.

During this long struggle, women have suffered the most. They have to cope up with day-to-day basic needs such as fetching water, collecting fodder and fuel, grinding foodgrains and nursing their children and sick, apart from attending to livestock and agriculture chores. Most of the rural women have been suffering from various ailments due to malnutrition, unsafe water, lack of sanitation, exertion and neglect. They are deprived of basic education and confined to their houses. In spite of their significant role in supporting the family, women in many regions have no status in the society. They are treated as idle, despite their work schedule stretching throughout the day. They are not expected to participate in decision making and even to express their opinion on matters concerning themselves.

The important role of women in the welfare of the family is being realised gradually. As the socio-economic progress of the community has a direct link with the empowerment of women, the development programmes for women are receiving greater attention. The task now is to ensure effective participation of women in sustainable development of the community.

Role of BAIF in Rural DevelopmentBAIF Development Research Foundation is a voluntary organisation established by

Late Dr. Manibhai Desai in 1967. He came to Urulikanchan with Mahatma Gandhi in 1946 and stayed back to manage the Nisargopchar Ashram, established by Gandhiji. Over the next 20 years, he established a close rapport with the rural people and introduced suitable interventions to solve their problems. With this successful experience, BAIF was established to promote sustainable management of natural resources such as land, livestock, water and vegetation, while providing gainful self-employment to over 75% of the underemployed rural people.

BAIF’s activities include dairy husbandry, water resource management, afforestation on wastelands, promotion of improved agriculture through agroforestry and eco-friendly farming practices. The deprived rural poor, particularly those belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, having small and marginal land holding and living in drought prone areas, are the major target groups. The programmes aim at sustainable livelihood, empowerment and clean environment.

The cattle development programme has been sponsored by the Ministry of Rural

Development, Government of India under the Integrated Rural Development Programme. A Cattle Development Centre covers about 2000 breedable cows and buffaloes owned by about 1200-1500 families spread over 10-15 village, in a radius of 10-12 km from the office. The annual operating cost of this centre is around Rs.1.0 to 1.35 lakhs which is met from the infrastructural fund of the Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana. Presently, BAIF is providing breeding services for cows and buffaloes owned by over 1.0 million rural families, through 725 cattle development centres, spread over 10,000 villages in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan states. The unique feature of this programme is door to door livestock breeding service by a trained technician, who also provides technical guidance and motivates the backward families to initiate various development activities. As most of the rural poor owned low productive local cattle, BAIF decided to breed these cattle to produce high yielding crossbred cows, which yield 2000-2500kg milk as compared to 200-300 kg/lactation produced by their mothers. A family owning three such cows can earn a net income of Rs.15,000-18,000 per year. This programme neither required capital investment nor skills. The women could easily manage the cattle as a part time activity, without disturbing their routine work. Cattle could be maintained on agricultural byproducts with a small quantity of feed concentrate to generate nutritious milk as well as farmyard manure for agriculture. As milk had good demand, dairy farming was an excellent opportunity for small farmers and women to ensure their livelihood.

To improve the profitability of dairy husbandry, BAIF promoted the cultivation of fodder shrubs and tree on wastelands. While developing degraded lands owned by the tribal families in some backward villages in Vansda taluk of Valsad district in Gujarat, cultivation of fruits was introduced, with fodder and fuelwood plants on the field bunds. Water being the critical input for agro-based activities, water resource development activities were promoted. The tribal families who established mango or cashew plantation on 0.4 land during 1982-87 are now generating year round employment and earn a net annual income of Rs.18,000-20,000. Looking to this success, the programme has now been replicated in the backward pockets of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, covering over 1,00,000 families belonging to weaker sections of the society.

While implementing land based activities, the following lessons were learnt:

1. Initial priority should be given to the development of the individual families instead of addressing the general problems of the community;

2. Involvement of the entire family in the programme is essential for success.

3. As single sector development has several limitations, multidisciplinary programmes should be implemented;

4. Illiteracy and ill-health of the target families adversely affect their morale and capacity. Hence health care, education, training and organisational development activities should be introduced simultaneously with income generation;

5. As most of the rural poor are diffident about their ability to fight poverty, it is necessary to build their confidence before initiating any development programme.

Involvement of Women in Development

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While developing orchards in Vansda, the land owners participating in the project had to work hard for land shaping, water conservation and establishment of fruit plants. The interspace was used for growing cereals, pulses and vegetables. As the men often went out for earning wages, shopping, or on some other pretext, the women had to put in hard labour. This was an additional burden, besides their routine activities. The incidences of sickness among women and children were high due to the consumption of unsafe water, lack of immunisation, sanitation and malnutrition. This affected the attendance of children in schools. These problems had to be addressed simultaneously to ensure active participation of women in the programme. This could be an entry point activity to involve women in any development programme.

While interacting with the tribal families, the Field Officers learnt about the traditional custom of ‘wavli’, through which the women exercised control over their income. Traditionally when tribal women maintain poultry or grow vegetable crops in their backyards as wavli, the income earned from this activity is exclusively enjoyed by them. The BAIF Project Team studied this custom carefully and considering its advantages, women were encouraged to grow vegetables as intercrops in the orchards under wavli. While the traditional Wavli is an individual woman’s activity, the concept was extended to group activities as well. This was a good beginning to sustain their interest in the project. In many locations where individual women were not able to work, the neighbouring women came together to work in a group. Some families came forward to lease their surplus land to landless women groups to cultivate vegetable crops. These women were trained in different skills, which led to functional literacy. The training courses also covered elementary aspects of community health and child care.

At this stage, the idea of forming Self Help Groups for initiating saving and credit activities was introduced to promote savings and additional income generation activities. Many women from lower income group felt that they may not be able to contribute regularly. Most of them felt that the office bearers may misuse their money. Ability to maintain the account and follow up to recover the loan were also doubtful. They were further discouraged by the men, who felt that micro-credit may not be of any help to their families. The Extension Officers of BAIF and women field guides carefully addressed all these problems. Most of the women were convinced mainly because of the good reputation commanded by BAIF in rendering self-less services for the development of their communities.

As the women came together, they were willing to form groups of 8-10 members to discuss the project activities. Gradually, these Self Help Groups (SHGs) gained strength to organise various support services, such as group nurseries to raise and supply fruit and fuelwood saplings. Earlier the farmers had to purchase mango grafts at higher price from the nurseries located at a distance of 50-100 km. With the initiative taken by the women SHGs, better quality grafts were locally available at 30% of the market price. Realising the need for improving the soil productivity of their orchards, the women came forward to take up the production of vermicompost by using leafy material available in the forests, as it could benefit their orchards.

After undertaking several such development activities, the women saved some money and contributed to their fund every month. They loaned this amount to their members for consumption and productive purposes. Initially their demand for loan was for consumptive purposes and subsequently for productive uses. Looking to the success of these SHGs of women, the men also planned series of income generating activities through

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SHGs, which included organising band troupes, utensil hiring services, tree seed collection, carpentry work, etc.

The strength of the women groups and their influence on the success of horticulture development was very significant. Formation of SHGs was beneficial in empowering the women, while implementing various development activities successfully. Apart from savings and micro-enterprises, SHGs were also effective in discussing their family welfare and social issues and in finding suitable solutions. Hence BAIF decided to adopt a similar approach for implementing other development programmes.

Formation of SHGs

While the formation of SHGs in Vansda was to support the horticulture based development, a new project was initiated in 1988-89 in 12 villages around Urulikanchan in Pune district to establish SHGs for empowerment of women. These villages, located about 10-12 km away from BAIF’s Central Research Station were aware of BAIF’s work. However, BAIF had not initiated any development activities in the past, due to lack of financial resources to meet the cost. As formation of SHG required only Rs.5,000- Rs.8,000 during the initial two years, the expenses were met from the internal resources.

These villages being closer to the city, many men were employed in the industries. Agricultural development had limitations, due to severe water shortage and basic infrastructure such as schools and primary health centres were established although they were not fully functional. The idea of saving a small sum every month was well accepted by the women, but such savings did not impress the men. Therefore the women had to be motivated regularly to sustain their interest. Management of the funds collected by them called for greater responsibility and integrity. Realising this need, BAIF selected some active women and trained them as kindergarten teachers, as an entry point activity. Subsequently, the task of SHG formation was entrusted to them. Kindergarten helped to establish a good rapport between BAIF’s Extension Officers, teachers and the local women. This was helpful to promote the SHGs successfully.

In new areas where people are not acquainted with the voluntary organisations, interaction with the community through suitable entry point activities will be helpful. Some of the effective entry point activities are :

Development of drinking water facilities Improving school buildings and community halls Construction of community toilets and washing platforms Organising health awareness and health camps Organising cattle health camps.

The entry point activity should address their pressing needs and benefit most of the people in the village and the impact should be evident within a short period. Under the Energy Conservation Project implemented in fuelwood scarcity areas of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, supply of improved wood stoves and pressure cookers at a subsidised price was helpful in sustaining the interest of women SHGs. Promotion of kitchen garden, vermiculture and composting were very effective in Karnataka and Rajasthan. In Eastern UP, where many women were suffering from leucorrhoea, their treatment was given priority even before initiating agricultural development programme.

Based on the experiences of Vansda and as reported by others, it was decided to

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restrict the membership of each SHG between 10 and 20. A small number could help in forming groups of homogenous socio-economic status and facilitate effective and coordial communication among the members. The SHGs in these villages initially attracted single women and women heading the family, who had undergone social and economic problems. Moreover, they did not have to seek permission from anybody. The members demanded loan for procurement of agricultural inputs, leasing of land for shared cropping, small business and medical treatment. Gradually, the villagers were convinced about the opportunities for employment generation through micro-credit without depending on local moneylenders. In Uttar Pradesh, families of many SHG members were in the clutches of the moneylenders. It was almost impossible for these women to develop their micro enterprises without settling the old loans. Hence, BAIF encouraged them to settle the old debts by negotiating the terms of settlement with the money lenders and providing additional revolving funds. This helped in developing harmony in the village as well.

In the watershed development programme undertaken by BAIF in Akole taluk of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra, deliberate attempts were made to ensure the participation of women. Although they were prepared to participate in many activities, it was necessary to understand their workload and find ways of reducing their drudgery, before assigning new responsibilities. Water scarcity being the major problem, roof-top water harvesting, deepening of wells and conservation of natural springs were undertaken to provide safe drinking water at closer locations. This saved their time and drudgery, while reducing the incidence of water borne diseases. In many villages where women used traditional stone grinders to prepare wheat and sorghum flour, ball bearing was installed to conserve energy. In other villages, where electricity was fairly dependable, SHGs were motivated to install floor mills. Thus with good health and surplus time at their disposal, the women were able to attend the meetings of Gram Sabha and SHGs, and initiate activities such as managing grain banks, consumer stores, nurseries of fruit and forestry plants, vegetable gardens, flour mills, community biogas plants, etc. depending on the local needs and opportunities. While promoting these activities, the Social Scientists played a significant role in identifying active and literate local women, orient them for 3-4 weeks to promote SHG activities, assess their service and credit needs and facilitate them wherever necessary.

The success of SHGs, depended on several factors but mutual trust and cordial relation among the members were the key to success and sustainability. Therefore it is necessary to understand the background and tradition of the local communities, before mobilising the rural women to form SHGs. In semi-urban areas, women of equal economic status can communicate and interact positively, ignoring their caste and religious backgrounds. However, castes do matter in remote rural areas, particularly during the initial stage. In the absence of a community centre, when the groups meet in temple or some houses, castes and religions affect the participation. Therefore, when the number of women in a hamlet is more, they prefer to form a group of their own caste. They also prefer to select the members from the same locality who meet formally and informally on a daily basis and communicate cordially. Generally, there is no difficulty in identifying such cordial groups in villages. It is better to allow the women to select their own members, considering the pros and cons, without any influence from the coordinating agencies.

The SHGs collected fortnightly or monthly installments, which varied from Rs.5 to Rs.20, depending on the socio-economic conditions of the members. This amount was kept in a joint account of 2-3 office bearers, who had a good reputation for being honest and efficient. This fund was disbursed to needy members at an interest of 12% to 24% as

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mutually agreed by the members. Most of the SHGs did not feel the need for lowering the interest rate as the moneylenders charged over 60-120%. BAIF had trained the office bearers of the SHGs to carry out the basic functions such as accounting, keeping record, linkages with the local bankers and monitoring of the loans granted.

BAIF has been organising training for the rural women for formulating SHGs and micro enterprises with the support of the SHGs. BAIF has also produced a working manual and documentary films to strengthen the training programme to promote SHGs by the rural community as well as the bankers. NABARD has sponsored several such training courses conducted by BAIF in the past. Many SHG members and office bearers have also been effective as resource persons in training the officers of rural banks and voluntary organisations in promoting micro-credit activities and their effective linkage with banks.

Development of Micro-Enterprises

Initially in 1992-93, when the SHGs started disbursing micro-credit, under our Tribal Development Programme in Vansda Taluk of Valsad district in Gujarat and around Urulikanchan, over 60% loan was utilised for consumption purposes, such as food, clothing, house repairs, education and medical services. However, with greater awareness and success of other members who utilised the loan for production purposes, the trend changed (Hegde and Ghorpade, 1998). Presently BAIF is promoting SHGs under all the development projects. These groups are saving money and providing loan to their members for different purposes. Efforts have also been made to establish formal link of SHGs with local banks to avail additional loans. While the SHGs are keen to open their bank account to deposit their money, they are reluctant to take additional loan from the bank during the initial 1-2 years, due to lack of confidence to repay the loan. With the initiation of income generation activities, they come forward to take bank loans.

Around Urulikanchan, individual members of SHGs have taken loan for a wide range of income generation activities such as selling of cloth and bangle, embroidery unit, stationery production and sale, purchase of agricultural land, improved seeds, bullocks and other inputs for crop production. In U.P., SHGs have initiated tailoring, rope making, vermicomposting, nursery raising and food processing as group activities. In Gujarat, SHGs are involved in pickle and papad production and sale, leaf cup production, vermicomposting, mushroom production, nursery management and sale of sarees. The tribal women groups at Vansda and Dharampur have taken up Warli painting and Bandhani garment production.

In Karnataka, two women groups are operating community biogas plants for electricity generation. This energy is being used for providing tap water and lights to all the houses in the village. In Rajasthan, a women group has undertaken community pasture development with good success. Production of washing powder, operation of flour mills, consumer stores and fair price shops, preparing food products such as chilli and turmeric powder, pickle, papad, curry powder, ragi malt and production of mushroom are other activities efficiently handled by the women SHGs in BAIF’s operational areas. While most of the SHGs who have initiated food processing are selling their produce locally, a few groups having larger scale of production have started establishing linkages with city consumer groups for marketing. A tribal food processing cooperative at Vansda has established a marketing linkage with the Apna Bazar in Mumbai. This was helpful in improving the quality of the products and in expanding the business through local retailer’s network. However, further strengthening is needed to regularise the linkage

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between the SHGs and the urban based consumers.

Among many micro-enterprises undertaken by the women groups, soap powder production was most profitable in providing an income of Rs.195/day per member, after deducting the expenses. The other remunerative activities were mushroom production (Rs.113/day), warli painting, production of greeting cards and bandhani dress material (Rs.45). The profitability was based on the demand and price realised for the products in the local market. Producing superior products and developing better market are the biggest challenges to sustain the development of SHGs. This calls for continuous support of research and development and linkage of SHGs with consumer organisations for efficient marketing of their produce.

SHGs in Community Development

In addition to collection and disbursement of money, the SHG members are being encouraged to discuss various issues during their monthly meetings. The SHGs have also imposed various conditions on their members, in the best interest of the community. For instance, some SHGs around Urulikanchan have taken the following decisions. (Ghorpade, 1998).

The members should have a small number of children. They should avoid repeated pregnancies and abortions, by adopting suitable family planning practices;

The members can take loan on priority for education of girls and training of women;

Support and encouragement should be given to the members, who will be contesting for the membership of Gram Panchayat, Village Development Committee, etc.;

Members should bargain for equal wages for women workers;

No loan can be availed for the marriage of girls under 18 years of age.

SHG members in Urulikanchan took keen interest in verifying the revenue record of their properties. They fought for the rights of their members. It was also observed that SHGs initially attracted the poor and weaker sections of the society, because even with a small sum, the members were able to solve their problems. Protection of the natural forests and environment were also undertaken as important activities by many SHGs.

The members gained confidence to face their problems boldly, which has been a remarkable achievement for their development. This has enabled them to initiate several development activities such as improvement in hygiene, sanitation, public utilities, kindergarten, primary school, adult education, child health care and immunisation, family planning, safe drinking water supply and management of local bodies and public institutions. Indeed, this has empowered the local people to monitor public services and utilities provided by the government apart from providing direct and indirect benefits to the community.

With a view to encourage the formation of SHGs and to recognise the outstanding work undertaken by the SHGs, BAIF has introduced “Dr. Manibhai Desai Gaurav Puraskar”. This annual award includes a cash prize of Rs.10,000 along with a citation and a medal. The first award was given to Snehal Bachat Gat, Bharatgaon. The achievements of

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this SHG are presented in Annexure I. While evaluating the SHGs, weightage has been given to their initiative and output in dealing with the routine micro finance, empowerment of women and community, initiative in solving various socio-economic problems such as water resources for drinking and irrigation, public transportation, prohibition of alcohol sale, control of livestock grazing, etc.

Benefits of SHGs

The significant achievements of SHGs in BAIF’s programmes have been in efficient implementation of development activities such as water resources development, improved agricultural production, horti-forestry development and tribal rehabilitation. Considering the advantages, BAIF has now initiated the formation of SHGs in all the cattle development centres as well in organising programme promotion, input mobilisation and marketing of the produce.

The SHGs have excellent opportunities to initiate small business and to extend various essential services. These groups have the following advantages:

Ability to identify the needs of the community and facilitate efficiently;

Exposure to external business environment, government programmes and policies;

Enhanced capacity to demand better services from the local government;

Better networking to improve the productivity and profitability of farming and off-farm activities;

Awareness on community health and environmental pollution and social issues leading to improved life style;

Empowerment resulting in occupying important positions in local governments, Cooperatives and social organisations.

Institutional Linkages

SHG can be an important local organisation, which can mobilise the members of the Gram Sabha and closely interact with the Gram Panchayat for implementing various development programmes in the future. After the 73rd amendment to the constitution of India, the Gram Panchayat is the key organisation responsible for carrying out all the development and welfare activities on behalf of the Government. However, in the absence of proper awareness and adequate motivation, the Gram Sabhas may not play the expected role effectively. It has been reported that in many states the attendance of the villagers in Gram Sabha meetings is extremely poor and more often it is only those with vested interests and those who wish to take undue advantage of the power and funds of the Gram Panchayat, who attend the Gram Sabha meetings and endorse their own proposals and actions.

To avoid such problems, people’s organisations at the village level need to organise themselves and participate in the development programmes initiated by the Gram Panchayat, through the Gram Sabha. Figure 1 lists various non-government organisations in the cooperative and voluntary sections, operating in most of the villages. These include consumer and credit societies, schools, youth groups, Mahila Mandal, Farmer’s Associations and SHGs. Most of these organisations are functioning independently often

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in isolation, although some of the members are associated with more than one institution. These institutions should identify a few of their members as nominees on the Gram Sabha and ensure that the Gram Sabha meetings are attended by all representatives of all the local organisations. This ensures proper governance and an effective linkage with the development programme (Hegde, 1999).

Linkage of SHGs with various other organisations outside the village is also essential to support the micro-enterprises. Figure 2 indicates the role of various organisations in strengthening SHGs through technology transfer, input procurement, processing, marketing and information back up. Banking, training, extension and motivation are the necessary support services.

There is also a need for networking among the SHGs to share their experiences and develop a common strategy to face the threats.

The following support services will be useful in strengthening SHG development in the future.

New Opportunities : So far, it was easy to promote various activities, using micro-credit, as many basic needs of the community were unattended. However, such opportunities to sell the goods and services in local markets will soon saturate. Hence there is an immediate need to identify new opportunities which should be based on the demand both within and outside the village. To provide such services, a Tehsil or district level. Information Cell or a Development Service Cell can be promoted by the government or by a reputed NGO.

Capacity Building : The members of SHGs need regular training on managerial and technical aspects of the business. Linkage with technical institutions to improve the quality of the products and banking institutions for easy flow funds are essential for further development of micro-enterprises managed by SHGs.

Monitoring : As the market is unstable and prone to competition and satuaration, regular monitoring and evaluation of micro-enterprises is essential. The entrepreneurs should adopt simple systems to control finance, inventory and costs. As most of the micro-enterprises are operating with a thin profit margin, inadequate cost control may upset the business.

They should also look for alternate opportunities to modify the process or the business to sustain the development. Constant vigilance on large scale manufacturers, who pose a threat to SHGs should also be kept. The SHG network should plan to face competition and unfair trade practices. This role can be played effectively by reputed voluntary agencies, having experience in this field.Sustainability

Observations over the last 8-10 years have indicated that the SHGs can provide a solid foundation to an idealistic and prosperous society. Such grassroot level people’s organisations can ensure, progress, better quality of life and a clean environment for the future. The SHGs can assume the responsibility of implementing various development projects for their community and sustain the growth even after the withdrawal of BAIF. The task is to build the team spirit and explore other opportunities.

To sustain interest in ongoing development activities and to initiate new development activities through SHG, the members should meet regularly and maintain

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cordial relations while keeping in mind, the long term goal of promoting community development and better quality of life. Saving and micro-credit activities are helpful in enforcing regular participation of the members in the group meetings. Similarly, micro-credit activity in isolation may not be able to generate substantial employment and income for poor families. Therefore the SHGs formed either for initiating various income generation activities or for promoting micro-credit should converge into an organisation to address the needs of the community.

References

1. Hegde, N.G. 1999. Development of Infrastructure for Rural Prosperity. Paper presented at the seminar on “Rural Prosperity on Agriculture” at NIRD, Hyderabad : 10 pp.

2. Hegde, N.G. and Ghorpade, A.S. 1998. Role of Micro-credit: beyond Poverty Alleviation. In “Integrated Rural Development for Sustainable Livelihood”. BAIF : 87-95.

3. Ghorpade, A.S. 1998. Helping Women to help themselves: BAIF’s experiences in rural Micro-credit Systems. Paper presented at the Third Global Conference on International Network of Alternative Financial Institutions’ at Madurai, November 16-18: 17 pp.

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Annexure 1.CASE STUDY

SNEHAL MAHILA BACHAT GROUP

Dr. Ashwini Ghorpade, Sr. Social Scientist.BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune.

Bharatgaon is located in Daund Taluka of Pune district, 5 km away from Pune Solapur Highway. Income generating activities have received a lukewarm response from the women. The main difficulty encountered by these women is how can they save their meagre money. The men invariably blew it away by consuming liquor. The problem of food for the day was the sole concern of the women. Under these circumstances, they wanted BAIF to assist them in saving their hard - earned money. Promotion of Self Help Group (SHG) was suggested as a solution to their dilemma. (Ghorpade 1994).

Initially, the villagers raised the following issues regarding Self Group’s.

Why has BAIF focused on women’s group for saving and credit instead of starting income generation activities.

Is it possible for poor women in particular, to save money regularly? Is it savings credit or self help? Are multiple objectives valid ? Is it proper to fix financial with the non - finance used areas.

However, the basic aim of BAIF was to evolve local leadership, make women more vocal, build their decision making capacity, educate them to tap their potentials and instill a sense of co-operation to manage their financial and non-financial resources for improved quality of life.

Till the concept of SHG was introduced in the village meeting, the women’s concept of saving was traditional. It was a challenge to build their confidence in themselves that “they can change their life if they decide to do it’’ (Ghorpade 1994). Now, there are 14 women’s SHGs, and 4 men’s SHGs in this village. Among them, one such SHG is “Snehal Mahila Bachat Group (SMBG)”, which received the Dr. Manibhai Desai Gaurav Puraskar in 1999 for their outstanding work and the second prize (outstanding work in the block) from the State Government in 1997.

SMBG was established in 1990 with 30 members (Women). Two local women, Rajani and Nanda were the facilitators for the groups and the members of the SMBG. Regular monthly savings of Rs.5 per member was started. I remember a line from an Urdu couplet “Bhookh Adab ke Sancho Main Dhali Nahi Jatti”, hunger does not obey the rules of elegant behavior. Hunger is hunger. Poverty is poverty. Deprivation is deprivation. We searched for saving strategies in the village. The houses were mostly made of mud but they were clean. The children played on the streets. Nobody had time to care for them. The women were busy from early morning till late night. They started saving of Rs.1.25 per week with great struggle after fulfilling their daily needs.

The monthly meeting of SMBG was a thrilling experience. It was held in the primary school, which is located in a central place as a village. The primary teachers allowed them to use this premise for their meetings. After ringing the bell at 9 pm, on 12th of every month, the members gathered with their pass book and saving amount. Learning from experience, the sitting arrangement was changed from a classroom sitting to a semicircle one to make it more

participatory and less authoritative. The style of conducting the meeting has also been changed after facing the problem of drop outs from the meeting. Now it begins with a review of previous meeting reports, personal and social problems and collection of savings. After the collection, proposals for fresh loans are put forth by the group leaders. After assessment of the urgent needs, the credit distribution starts. The penalty for coming late or absenteeism or delay for repayment is paid by the members. The discussions are open. The field officer of BAIF encourages effective democratic functioning.

The amount collected by the group was inadequate to fulfill the demands of the members. So they started exploring various options, such as increasing the group size to 20 and also to get the benefit of the bank loan. The bank manager’s visit to the SHG was arranged. After evaluating the recording system, the procedure of conducting meetings, sanctioning loans and repayment procedures, the bank sanctioned the first loan of Rs. 10,000/-. The linkages of SHG with the bank took four years. Initially the bank felt that what was viable to the group may not be manageable unless the skills and resources of the group are upgraded. After following a strict schedule of repayment, the second loan of Rs. 40,000/- was sanctioned (without delay).

The yearly savings of the group has risen from Rs.12,000 in 1997 to Rs.24,000 in 1998 and Rs.42,000 in 1999. The group has given priority to the members who needs loan for health, education and socio-cultural functions. The group has utilised Rs.60,600 for agricultural related activities, Rs.27,900/- for small trades, goat purchase and other income generation activities. As a result, the agricultural labourers are able to start self employed activities. Nanda who is physically handicapped started her independent tailoring unit, while Rukhmini who is the sole bread winner in her family and has three daughters, started full fledged vegetable selling business and has been able to continue the education of her daughters. Other members have improved their agricultural production by developing irrigation and farms, renovated their houses, kitchen garden and backyard poultry.

The group has also given priority to girl child’s education and water scheme. They have also taken up responsibility of maintenance of handpumps. Three members are involved in village development committee (VDC), two in village watershed development committee, two in imparting training for bankers and NGOs for promotion of SHGs and two are members of the legal rights cell. One of the members is an Anganwadi worker. The group has worked hard for prohibition of early marriages, alcohol consumption, introduction of the state transport bus service from the village (on a weekly market day) and are now working towards increasing its frequency. The group has also participated in the children’s immunisation programme and has achieved 100% participation in the village. The SMBG has promoted new groups as well as cluster associations in the watershed area. The group is acting as a pressure group for effective function of the Gram Panchayat.

Rotational responsibilities of leaders in the group and steady efforts of overcoming hurdles related to gender issues, socio-political and economical issues have empowered rural women. While financial and non-financial issues are unrelated for most of us, particularly in urban areas, for them it is linked with their survival.

Reference Ghorpade Ashwini. 1994. Self-Help Groups - a path to Women’s Empowerment. BAIF

Report. 22 pp.

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FIG.2.

LINKAGES OF VARIOUS ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT

ResearchInstitution

TechnologyDevelopment

Universities GovernmentDepartments

Finance Mobilisation

Donor Agencies

Industries Information Network

Krishi Vigyan Kendras

Technology Adoption

TrainingCentres

FinancialInstitution Finance

Disbursement

ConsumerOrganisations Marketing

Extension Division

Technology Transfer

Regional NGO Procurement Processing Distribution

LOCAL NGO GRAM PANCHAYAT

Self-Help Groups

Zilla Panchayat

Village Level Organisation

Gram SabhaSource : Hegde, 1999.

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