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No. of SHGs received Community Invest Fund (CIF) 44799
Affinity is the Crux of SHGs
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A pioneer in the field of sustainable development, MYRADA (Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency) is an NGo that's been active since 1968. over the last 50 years, it has consistently helped the underprivileged in building their own institutions. MYRADA focuses on five domains - livelihood promotion, natural resource management, health & sanitation, vocational education and capacity building. This actionist NGo works in 1500-2000 villages, in 18 districts across south India, and soon starts work in Maharashtra. Arvind Risbud, Executive Director, MYRADA talks about the organisation’s experience in promoting SHGs as part of livelihood promotion. this affinity, they have a better future. Groups which have true affinity have survived and done very well as they have understood that what can’t be achieved as an individual can be done through a group. SHGs have made women more confident than ever before. 99% of the groups are all-women groups, and it has been proved that women groups are more stable, with affinity being one of the factors. over the past 3 decades, we have seen SHGs shift from taking loans of Rs.5,000 - Rs.6,000 to Rs.2 lakh - Rs.2.5 lakh, and the recovery rate remains 98-99%. Prior to the forming of SHGs even when a woman did most of the work, she was never part of the decision making. The man would decide what crop to plant or the price, and the woman was supposed to help him. But now women are playing a key role in matters such as a daughter’s education and agricultural investment and this strength that has now come as a result of SHG.
Now you see, this gets translated into money, confidence, and willingness to take on a collective decision. And this goes on for years when they realise, ‘if somebody can grow, so can I’. Affinity and the willingness to work collectively over a long period of time, is the intrinsic strength of SHGs. Confidence building has had a significant impact. We insisted at the time of forming the SHGs that there should be a rotation of office bearers. This has worked well most of the time. Now, the members are very confident and don’t need anybody’s help.
How effective are SHGs in improving livelihood security and gender empowerment?
We call the activities of self help affinity groups, their federations, and federations of their federations, as the CMRC – Community Managed Resource Centres. We have promoted about 100 CMRCs so far. Each CMRC stands for about 100 to 150 SHGs and represents around 2,000-3,000 women, in total about 200,000-300,000 women. The CMRC is a registered entity now, owns assets and provides a great variety of services to its members, who are the SHGs. 70% of our CMRCs are now economically independent, they don’t need assistance. They have their own savings account, they have their own money, they earn money, they have their assets like office buildings, vehicles, etc. When we first began to work, we realised that the problem of poverty was not being addressed in rural India; the crux of poverty alleviation in a rural setting is the willingness and ability of the person / family to work without having to depend on others to provide livelihoods. our focus became centred on the woman of the house as she has the motivation, ability and inclination to start saving, while looking at herself not as an individual but as a part of the bigger group. our job was to bring such women together and show them the possibilities. The affinity between similarly placed women is very crucial. If a group of 15-20 women with a common agenda and goal come together, they have a better chance of appreciating what is possible for them to do in the short term and if they understand the advantage of sticking to
Has the growth of SHGs in India any impact on the standard of living in India?
Generally speaking, at least in south India, visible poverty has reduced, due to many contributing factors, including SHGs, which have given access to the needy for easy loans. They were able to accelerate the process where the poorest of the lot could get a chance to take on something, try out something and earn a little more. one of MYRADA’ s learnings was that the poor definitely know how to manage resources, and it is managed by the woman in a family. We have only given them a push through the concept of SHGs, and encouraged them to take on the risks.
What is the role of SHGs in combating social problems?
Spectacular changes happen when confidence builds up over a period of time and these changes are sustainable if the woman involved continues playing that role. Rural problems begin by discriminating against the girl child in matters such as property rights and decision making rights. Now because of the strength of SHGs, things have considerably changed. In all the areas where we work now, there are no child marriages. We have worked to rehabilitate devdasis in Belgavi and 4,000 devdasis are now self reliant.
Similarly, in the outbreak of HIV in the early 2000s, MYRADA worked with the health department to help female sex workers in rural Karnataka. The SoUKHYA groups of female sex workers were formed on the same logic as SHGs. Unlike SHGs, the Soukhya members didn’t lack money, but they had problems such as their children’s future, security, safety etc. We followed the same model as CMRC and SHG, and the SoUKHYA groups also became partners with the government's health department schemes for tackling HIV.
What is necessary for SHGs to be an effective vehicle for socio-cultural changes?
Change can’t be forced from outside. Self help has to be evolving and it cannot be imposed from outside, and it should be done at a pace which is comfortable for them. The group members’ inclination has to be the driver; the clarity with which a group begins to work, to say I don’t want anything for free, but I want an opportunity to work, is important. The concept of giving freebies is negative for sustained growth.
How effective are interventions such as loans / training, etc. given to SHGs? Have they had the necessary impact / met the targets in health, finance, agriculture and empowerment?
Training is a way of making people think. And this has to be done repeatedly. In the initial stages, the amount of discipline required to sit together and decide what you want to do, individually and collectively, and why should we be sitting collectively, are more important. After the training or orientation is given, loans provide the opportunity to convert whatever they have learned into reality. To that extent loans are necessary, but not freebies.
