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 athree fold increase in population over the last half acentury but the economy has not been able to cope up withthis rate of growth. Being heavily dependent on agriculture,livelihood in rural areas could not provide employment foreveryone. In the absence of significant industrial growth,there has been severe unemployment and underemployment,resulting in poverty. For most of the poor, fight forsurvival has been a life long mission and natural resourceshave been the main source of livelihood.

During this long struggle, women have suffered themost. They have to cope up with day-to-day basic needs suchas fetching water, collecting fodder and fuel, grindingfoodgrains and nursing their children and sick, apart fromattending to livestock and agriculture chores. Most of therural women have been suffering from various ailments due tomalnutrition, unsafe water, lack of sanitation, exertion andneglect. They are deprived of basic education and confinedto their houses. In spite of their significant role insupporting the family, women in many regions have no statusin the society. They are treated as idle, despite their workschedule stretching throughout the day. They are not expectedto participate in decision making and even to express theiropinion on matters concerning themselves.

The important role of women in the welfare of the familyis being realised gradually. As the socio-economic progressof the community has a direct link with the empowerment ofwomen, the development programmes for women are receivinggreater attention. The task now is to ensure effectiveparticipation of women in sustainable development of thecommunity.

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 andstayed back to manage the Nisargopchar Ashram, established byGandhiji. Over the next 20 years, he established a closerapport with the rural people and introduced suitableinterventions to solve their problems. With this successfulexperience, BAIF was established to promote sustainablemanagement of natural resources such as land, livestock,water and vegetation, while providing gainful self-employmentto over 75% of the underemployed rural people.

BAIF’s activities include dairy husbandry, waterresource management, afforestation on wastelands, promotionof improved agriculture through agroforestry and eco-friendlyfarming practices. The deprived rural poor, particularlythose belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes,having small and marginal land holding and living in droughtprone areas, are the major target groups. The programmes aimat sustainable livelihood, empowerment and clean environment.

The cattle development programme has been sponsored bythe Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India underthe Integrated Rural Development Programme. A CattleDevelopment Centre covers about 2000 breedable cows andbuffaloes owned by about 1200-1500 families spread over 10-15village, in a radius of 10-12 km from the office. The annualoperating cost of this centre is around Rs.1.0 to 1.35 lakhswhich is met from the infrastructural fund of the SwarnaJayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana. Presently, BAIF is providingbreeding services for cows and buffaloes owned by over 1.0million rural families, through 725 cattle developmentcentres, spread over 10,000 villages in Maharashtra, Gujarat,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh andRajasthan states. The unique feature of this programme isdoor to door livestock breeding service by a trainedtechnician, who also provides technical guidance andmotivates the backward families to initiate variousdevelopment activities. As most of the rural poor owned lowproductive local cattle, BAIF decided to breed these cattleto produce high yielding crossbred cows, which yield 2000-2500kg milk as compared to 200-300 kg/lactation produced bytheir mothers. A family owning three such cows can earn a net

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income of Rs.15,000-18,000 per year. This programme neitherrequired capital investment nor skills. The women couldeasily manage the cattle as a part time activity, withoutdisturbing their routine work. Cattle could be maintained onagricultural byproducts with a small quantity of feedconcentrate to generate nutritious milk as well as farmyardmanure for agriculture. As milk had good demand, dairyfarming was an excellent opportunity for small farmers andwomen to ensure their livelihood.

To improve the profitability of dairy husbandry, BAIFpromoted the cultivation of fodder shrubs and tree onwastelands. While developing degraded lands owned by thetribal families in some backward villages in Vansda taluk ofValsad district in Gujarat, cultivation of fruits wasintroduced, with fodder and fuelwood plants on the fieldbunds. Water being the critical input for agro-basedactivities, water resource development activities werepromoted. The tribal families who established mango orcashew plantation on 0.4 land during 1982-87 are nowgenerating year round employment and earn a net annual incomeof Rs.18,000-20,000. Looking to this success, the programmehas now been replicated in the backward pockets ofMaharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, coveringover 1,00,000 families belonging to weaker sections of thesociety.

While implementing land based activities, the followinglessons were learnt:

1. Initial priority should be given to the development of theindividual families instead of addressing the generalproblems of the community;

2. Involvement of the entire family in the programme isessential for success.

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

4. Illiteracy and ill-health of the target families adverselyaffect their morale and capacity. Hence health care,education, training and organisational development

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activities should be introduced simultaneously with incomegeneration;

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

Involvement of Women in Development

While developing orchards in Vansda, the land ownersparticipating in the project had to work hard for landshaping, water conservation and establishment of fruitplants. The interspace was used for growing cereals, pulsesand vegetables. As the men often went out for earning wages,shopping, or on some other pretext, the women had to put inhard labour. This was an additional burden, besides theirroutine activities. The incidences of sickness among womenand children were high due to the consumption of unsafewater, lack of immunisation, sanitation and malnutrition.This affected the attendance of children in schools. Theseproblems had to be addressed simultaneously to ensure activeparticipation of women in the programme. This could be anentry point activity to involve women in any developmentprogramme.

While interacting with the tribal families, the FieldOfficers learnt about the traditional custom of ‘wavli’,through which the women exercised control over their income.Traditionally when tribal women maintain poultry or growvegetable crops in their backyards as wavli, the income earnedfrom this activity is exclusively enjoyed by them. The BAIFProject Team studied this custom carefully and consideringits advantages, women were encouraged to grow vegetables asintercrops in the orchards under wavli. While thetraditional Wavli is an individual woman’s activity, theconcept was extended to group activities as well. This was agood beginning to sustain their interest in the project. Inmany 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 tolandless women groups to cultivate vegetable crops. Thesewomen were trained in different skills, which led tofunctional literacy. The training courses also covered

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elementary aspects of community health and child care.

At this stage, the idea of forming Self Help Groups forinitiating saving and credit activities was introduced topromote savings and additional income generation activities.Many women from lower income group felt that they may not beable to contribute regularly. Most of them felt that theoffice bearers may misuse their money. Ability to maintainthe account and follow up to recover the loan were alsodoubtful. They were further discouraged by the men, who feltthat micro-credit may not be of any help to their families.The Extension Officers of BAIF and women field guidescarefully addressed all these problems. Most of the womenwere convinced mainly because of the good reputationcommanded by BAIF in rendering self-less services for thedevelopment of their communities.

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

After undertaking several such development activities,the women saved some money and contributed to their fundevery month. They loaned this amount to their members forconsumption and productive purposes. Initially their demandfor loan was for consumptive purposes and subsequently forproductive uses. Looking to the success of these SHGs ofwomen, the men also planned series of income generatingactivities through SHGs, which included organising bandtroupes, utensil hiring services, tree seed collection,carpentry work, etc.

The strength of the women groups and their influence onthe success of horticulture development was very

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significant. Formation of SHGs was beneficial in empoweringthe women, while implementing various development activitiessuccessfully. Apart from savings and micro-enterprises, SHGswere also effective in discussing their family welfare andsocial issues and in finding suitable solutions. Hence BAIFdecided to adopt a similar approach for implementing otherdevelopment programmes.

Formation of SHGs

While the formation of SHGs in Vansda was to support thehorticulture based development, a new project was initiatedin 1988-89 in 12 villages around Urulikanchan in Punedistrict to establish SHGs for empowerment of women. Thesevillages, located about 10-12 km away from BAIF’s CentralResearch Station were aware of BAIF’s work. However, BAIFhad not initiated any development activities in the past, dueto lack of financial resources to meet the cost. As formationof SHG required only Rs.5,000- Rs.8,000 during the initialtwo years, the expenses were met from the internalresources.

These villages being closer to the city, many men wereemployed in the industries. Agricultural development hadlimitations, due to severe water shortage and basicinfrastructure such as schools and primary health centreswere established although they were not fully functional. Theidea of saving a small sum every month was well accepted bythe women, but such savings did not impress the men.Therefore the women had to be motivated regularly to sustaintheir interest. Management of the funds collected by themcalled for greater responsibility and integrity. Realisingthis need, BAIF selected some active women and trained themas kindergarten teachers, as an entry point activity.Subsequently, the task of SHG formation was entrusted tothem. Kindergarten helped to establish a good rapportbetween BAIF’s Extension Officers, teachers and the localwomen. This was helpful to promote the SHGs successfully.

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

Development of drinking water facilities

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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 theirpressing needs and benefit most of the people in thevillage and the impact should be evident within a shortperiod. Under the Energy Conservation Project implemented infuelwood scarcity areas of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, supply ofimproved wood stoves and pressure cookers at a subsidisedprice was helpful in sustaining the interest of women SHGs.Promotion of kitchen garden, vermiculture and compostingwere very effective in Karnataka and Rajasthan. In EasternUP, where many women were suffering from leucorrhoea, theirtreatment was given priority even before initiatingagricultural development programme.

Based on the experiences of Vansda and as reported byothers, it was decided to restrict the membership of each SHGbetween 10 and 20. A small number could help in forminggroups of homogenous socio-economic status and facilitateeffective and coordial communication among the members. TheSHGs in these villages initially attracted single women andwomen heading the family, who had undergone social andeconomic problems. Moreover, they did not have to seekpermission from anybody. The members demanded loan forprocurement of agricultural inputs, leasing of land forshared cropping, small business and medical treatment.Gradually, the villagers were convinced about theopportunities for employment generation through micro-creditwithout depending on local moneylenders. In Uttar Pradesh,families of many SHG members were in the clutches of themoneylenders. It was almost impossible for these women todevelop their micro enterprises without settling the oldloans. Hence, BAIF encouraged them to settle the old debtsby negotiating the terms of settlement with the moneylenders and providing additional revolving funds. Thishelped in developing harmony in the village as well.

In the watershed development programme undertaken by BAIFin Akole taluk of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra,

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deliberate attempts were made to ensure the participation ofwomen. Although they were prepared to participate in manyactivities, it was necessary to understand their workload andfind ways of reducing their drudgery, before assigning newresponsibilities. Water scarcity being the major problem,roof-top water harvesting, deepening of wells andconservation of natural springs were undertaken to providesafe drinking water at closer locations. This saved theirtime and drudgery, while reducing the incidence of waterborne diseases. In many villages where women usedtraditional stone grinders to prepare wheat and sorghumflour, ball bearing was installed to conserve energy. Inother villages, where electricity was fairly dependable,SHGs were motivated to install floor mills. Thus with goodhealth and surplus time at their disposal, the women wereable to attend the meetings of Gram Sabha and SHGs, andinitiate activities such as managing grain banks, consumerstores, nurseries of fruit and forestry plants, vegetablegardens, flour mills, community biogas plants, etc. dependingon the local needs and opportunities. While promoting theseactivities, the Social Scientists played a significant rolein identifying active and literate local women, orient themfor 3-4 weeks to promote SHG activities, assess theirservice and credit needs and facilitate them wherevernecessary.

The success of SHGs, depended on several factors butmutual trust and cordial relation among the members were thekey to success and sustainability. Therefore it is necessaryto understand the background and tradition of the localcommunities, before mobilising the rural women to form SHGs.In semi-urban areas, women of equal economic status cancommunicate and interact positively, ignoring their caste andreligious backgrounds. However, castes do matter in remoterural areas, particularly during the initial stage. In theabsence of a community centre, when the groups meet in templeor some houses, castes and religions affect theparticipation. Therefore, when the number of women in ahamlet is more, they prefer to form a group of their owncaste. They also prefer to select the members from the samelocality who meet formally and informally on a daily basisand communicate cordially. Generally, there is no difficultyin identifying such cordial groups in villages. It is

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better to allow the women to select their own members,considering the pros and cons, without any influence fromthe 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 ina joint account of 2-3 office bearers, who had a goodreputation for being honest and efficient. This fund wasdisbursed to needy members at an interest of 12% to 24% asmutually agreed by the members. Most of the SHGs did not feelthe need for lowering the interest rate as the moneylenderscharged over 60-120%. BAIF had trained the office bearersof the SHGs to carry out the basic functions such asaccounting, keeping record, linkages with the local bankersand monitoring of the loans granted.

BAIF has been organising training for the rural womenfor formulating SHGs and micro enterprises with the supportof the SHGs. BAIF has also produced a working manual anddocumentary films to strengthen the training programme topromote SHGs by the rural community as well as the bankers.NABARD has sponsored several such training coursesconducted by BAIF in the past. Many SHG members and officebearers have also been effective as resource persons intraining the officers of rural banks and voluntaryorganisations in promoting micro-credit activities and theireffective linkage with banks.

Development of Micro-Enterprises

Initially in 1992-93, when the SHGs started disbursingmicro-credit, under our Tribal Development Programme inVansda Taluk of Valsad district in Gujarat and aroundUrulikanchan, over 60% loan was utilised for consumptionpurposes, such as food, clothing, house repairs, educationand medical services. However, with greater awareness andsuccess of other members who utilised the loan for productionpurposes, the trend changed (Hegde and Ghorpade, 1998).Presently BAIF is promoting SHGs under all the developmentprojects. These groups are saving money and providing loanto their members for different purposes. Efforts have alsobeen made to establish formal link of SHGs with local banks

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to avail additional loans. While the SHGs are keen to opentheir bank account to deposit their money, they are reluctantto take additional loan from the bank during the initial 1-2years, due to lack of confidence to repay the loan. With theinitiation of income generation activities, they come forwardto take bank loans.

Around Urulikanchan, individual members of SHGs havetaken loan for a wide range of income generation activitiessuch as selling of cloth and bangle, embroidery unit,stationery production and sale, purchase of agriculturalland, improved seeds, bullocks and other inputs for cropproduction. In U.P., SHGs have initiated tailoring, ropemaking, vermicomposting, nursery raising and food processingas group activities. In Gujarat, SHGs are involved inpickle and papad production and sale, leaf cup production,vermicomposting, mushroom production, nursery management andsale of sarees. The tribal women groups at Vansda andDharampur have taken up Warli painting and Bandhani garmentproduction.

In Karnataka, two women groups are operating communitybiogas plants for electricity generation. This energy isbeing used for providing tap water and lights to all thehouses in the village. In Rajasthan, a women group hasundertaken community pasture development with good success.Production of washing powder, operation of flour mills,consumer stores and fair price shops, preparing food productssuch as chilli and turmeric powder, pickle, papad, currypowder, ragi malt and production of mushroom are otheractivities efficiently handled by the women SHGs in BAIF’soperational areas. While most of the SHGs who have initiated foodprocessing are selling their produce locally, a few groupshaving larger scale of production have started establishinglinkages with city consumer groups for marketing. A tribalfood processing cooperative at Vansda has established amarketing linkage with the Apna Bazar in Mumbai. This washelpful in improving the quality of the products and inexpanding the business through local retailer’s network.However, further strengthening is needed to regularise thelinkage between the SHGs and the urban based consumers.

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Among many micro-enterprises undertaken by the womengroups, soap powder production was most profitable inproviding an income of Rs.195/day per member, after deductingthe expenses. The other remunerative activities were mushroomproduction (Rs.113/day), warli painting, production ofgreeting cards and bandhani dress material (Rs.45). Theprofitability was based on the demand and price realised forthe products in the local market. Producing superiorproducts and developing better market are the biggestchallenges to sustain the development of SHGs. This callsfor continuous support of research and development andlinkage of SHGs with consumer organisations for efficientmarketing of their produce.

SHGs in Community Development

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

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

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

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

Members should bargain for equal wages for women workers;

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

SHG members in Urulikanchan took keen interest inverifying the revenue record of their properties. They foughtfor the rights of their members. It was also observed thatSHGs initially attracted the poor and weaker sections of the

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society, because even with a small sum, the members were ableto solve their problems. Protection of the natural forestsand environment were also undertaken as important activitiesby many SHGs.

The members gained confidence to face their problemsboldly, which has been a remarkable achievement for theirdevelopment. This has enabled them to initiate severaldevelopment activities such as improvement in hygiene,sanitation, public utilities, kindergarten, primary school,adult education, child health care and immunisation, familyplanning, safe drinking water supply and management of localbodies and public institutions. Indeed, this has empoweredthe local people to monitor public services and utilitiesprovided by the government apart from providing direct andindirect benefits to the community.

With a view to encourage the formation of SHGs and torecognise the outstanding work undertaken by the SHGs, BAIFhas introduced “Dr. Manibhai Desai Gaurav Puraskar”. This annualaward includes a cash prize of Rs.10,000 along with acitation and a medal. The first award was given to SnehalBachat Gat, Bharatgaon. The achievements of this SHG arepresented in Annexure I. While evaluating the SHGs, weightagehas been given to their initiative and output in dealing withthe routine micro finance, empowerment of women andcommunity, initiative in solving various socio-economicproblems such as water resources for drinking and irrigation,public transportation, prohibition of alcohol sale, controlof livestock grazing, etc.

Benefits of SHGs

The significant achievements of SHGs in BAIF’sprogrammes have been in efficient implementation ofdevelopment activities such as water resources development,improved agricultural production, horti-forestry developmentand tribal rehabilitation. Considering the advantages, BAIFhas now initiated the formation of SHGs in all the cattledevelopment centres as well in organising programmepromotion, input mobilisation and marketing of the produce.

The SHGs have excellent opportunities to initiate small

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business and to extend various essential services. Thesegroups 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 andprofitability of farming and off-farm activities;

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

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

Institutional Linkages

SHG can be an important local organisation, which canmobilise the members of the Gram Sabha and closely interactwith the Gram Panchayat for implementing various developmentprogrammes in the future. After the 73rd amendment to theconstitution of India, the Gram Panchayat is the keyorganisation responsible for carrying out all the developmentand welfare activities on behalf of the Government.However, in the absence of proper awareness and adequatemotivation, the Gram Sabhas may not play the expected roleeffectively. It has been reported that in many states theattendance of the villagers in Gram Sabha meetings isextremely poor and more often it is only those with vestedinterests and those who wish to take undue advantage of thepower and funds of the Gram Panchayat, who attend the GramSabha meetings and endorse their own proposals and actions.

To avoid such problems, people’s organisations at thevillage level need to organise themselves and participate inthe development programmes initiated by the Gram Panchayat,through the Gram Sabha. Figure 1 lists various non-

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government organisations in the cooperative and voluntarysections, operating in most of the villages. These includeconsumer and credit societies, schools, youth groups, MahilaMandal, Farmer’s Associations and SHGs. Most of theseorganisations are functioning independently often inisolation, although some of the members are associated withmore than one institution. These institutions shouldidentify a few of their members as nominees on the GramSabha and ensure that the Gram Sabha meetings are attended byall representatives of all the local organisations. Thisensures proper governance and an effective linkage with thedevelopment programme (Hegde, 1999).

Linkage of SHGs with various other organisationsoutside the village is also essential to support the micro-enterprises. Figure 2 indicates the role of variousorganisations in strengthening SHGs through technologytransfer, input procurement, processing, marketing andinformation back up. Banking, training, extension andmotivation are the necessary support services.

There is also a need for networking among the SHGs to sharetheir experiences and develop a common strategy to facethe threats.

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

New Opportunities : So far, it was easy to promote variousactivities, using micro-credit, as many basic needs of thecommunity were unattended. However, such opportunities tosell the goods and services in local markets will soonsaturate. Hence there is an immediate need to identify newopportunities which should be based on the demand both withinand outside the village. To provide such services, a Tehsilor district level. Information Cell or a DevelopmentService Cell can be promoted by the government or by areputed NGO.

Capacity Building : The members of SHGs need regular trainingon managerial and technical aspects of the business. Linkagewith technical institutions to improve the quality of theproducts and banking institutions for easy flow funds are

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essential for further development of micro-enterprisesmanaged by SHGs.

Monitoring : As the market is unstable and prone tocompetition and satuaration, regular monitoring andevaluation of micro-enterprises is essential. Theentrepreneurs should adopt simple systems to control finance,inventory and costs. As most of the micro-enterprises areoperating with a thin profit margin, inadequate cost controlmay upset the business.

They should also look for alternate opportunities tomodify the process or the business to sustain thedevelopment. Constant vigilance on large scalemanufacturers, who pose a threat to SHGs should also be kept.The SHG network should plan to face competition and unfairtrade practices. This role can be played effectively byreputed voluntary agencies, having experience in this field.Sustainability

Observations over the last 8-10 years have indicatedthat the SHGs can provide a solid foundation to an idealisticand prosperous society. Such grassroot level people’sorganisations can ensure, progress, better quality of lifeand a clean environment for the future. The SHGs can assumethe responsibility of implementing various developmentprojects for their community and sustain the growth evenafter the withdrawal of BAIF. The task is to build the teamspirit and explore other opportunities.

To sustain interest in ongoing development activitiesand to initiate new development activities through SHG, themembers should meet regularly and maintain cordial relationswhile keeping in mind, the long term goal of promotingcommunity development and better quality of life. Saving andmicro-credit activities are helpful in enforcing regularparticipation of the members in the group meetings.Similarly, micro-credit activity in isolation may not be ableto generate substantial employment and income for poorfamilies. Therefore the SHGs formed either for initiatingvarious income generation activities or for promotingmicro-credit should converge into an organisation toaddress the needs of the community.

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References

1. Hegde, N.G. 1999. Development of Infrastructure for RuralProsperity. Paper presented at the seminar on “RuralProsperity 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 RuralDevelopment for Sustainable Livelihood”. BAIF : 87-95.

3. Ghorpade, A.S. 1998. Helping Women to help themselves:BAIF’s experiences in rural Micro-credit Systems. Paperpresented at the Third Global Conference on InternationalNetwork 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 kmaway from Pune Solapur Highway. Income generating activitieshave received a lukewarm response from the women. The maindifficulty encountered by these women is how can they savetheir meagre money. The men invariably blew it away byconsuming liquor. The problem of food for the day was the soleconcern of the women. Under these circumstances, they wantedBAIF to assist them in saving their hard - earned money.Promotion of Self Help Group (SHG) was suggested as a solutionto their dilemma. (Ghorpade 1994).

Initially, the villagers raised the following issues regardingSelf Group’s.

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

Is it possible for poor women in particular, to save moneyregularly?

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 resourcesfor 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 achallenge to build their confidence in themselves that “theycan change their life if they decide to do it’’ (Ghorpade1994). Now, there are 14 women’s SHGs, and 4 men’s SHGs inthis village. Among them, one such SHG is “Snehal Mahila BachatGroup (SMBG)”, which received the Dr. Manibhai Desai Gaurav

Puraskar in 1999 for their outstanding work and the secondprize (outstanding work in the block) from the State Governmentin 1997.

SMBG was established in 1990 with 30 members (Women). Two localwomen, Rajani and Nanda were the facilitators for the groupsand the members of the SMBG. Regular monthly savings of Rs.5per member was started. I remember a line from an Urdu couplet“Bhookh Adab ke Sancho Main Dhali Nahi Jatti”, hunger does notobey the rules of elegant behavior. Hunger is hunger. Povertyis poverty. Deprivation is deprivation. We searched for savingstrategies in the village. The houses were mostly made of mudbut they were clean. The children played on the streets.Nobody had time to care for them. The women were busy fromearly morning till late night. They started saving of Rs.1.25per week with great struggle after fulfilling their dailyneeds.

The monthly meeting of SMBG was a thrilling experience. Itwas held in the primary school, which is located in acentral place as a village. The primary teachers allowed themto use this premise for their meetings. After ringing the bellat 9 pm, on 12th of every month, the members gathered withtheir pass book and saving amount. Learning from experience,the sitting arrangement was changed from a classroom sitting toa semicircle one to make it more participatory and lessauthoritative. The style of conducting the meeting has alsobeen changed after facing the problem of drop outs from themeeting. Now it begins with a review of previous meetingreports, personal and social problems and collection ofsavings. After the collection, proposals for fresh loans areput forth by the group leaders. After assessment of the urgentneeds, the credit distribution starts. The penalty for cominglate or absenteeism or delay for repayment is paid by themembers. The discussions are open. The field officer of BAIFencourages effective democratic functioning.

The amount collected by the group was inadequate to fulfillthe demands of the members. So they started exploring variousoptions, such as increasing the group size to 20 and also toget the benefit of the bank loan. The bank manager’s visit tothe SHG was arranged. After evaluating the recording system,the procedure of conducting meetings, sanctioning loans and

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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 maynot be manageable unless the skills and resources of the groupare upgraded. After following a strict schedule of repayment,the second loan of Rs. 40,000/- was sanctioned (withoutdelay).

The yearly savings of the group has risen from Rs.12,000 in1997 to Rs.24,000 in 1998 and Rs.42,000 in 1999. The group hasgiven priority to the members who needs loan for health,education and socio-cultural functions. The group has utilisedRs.60,600 for agricultural related activities, Rs.27,900/- forsmall trades, goat purchase and other income generationactivities. As a result, the agricultural labourers are able tostart self employed activities. Nanda who is physicallyhandicapped started her independent tailoring unit, whileRukhmini who is the sole bread winner in her family and hasthree daughters, started full fledged vegetable sellingbusiness and has been able to continue the education of herdaughters. Other members have improved their agriculturalproduction by developing irrigation and farms, renovated theirhouses, kitchen garden and backyard poultry.

The group has also given priority to girl child’s education andwater scheme. They have also taken up responsibility ofmaintenance of handpumps. Three members are involved in villagedevelopment committee (VDC), two in village watersheddevelopment committee, two in imparting training for bankersand NGOs for promotion of SHGs and two are members of thelegal 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 busservice from the village (on a weekly market day) and are nowworking towards increasing its frequency. The group has alsoparticipated in the children’s immunisation programme and hasachieved 100% participation in the village. The SMBG haspromoted new groups as well as cluster associations in thewatershed area. The group is acting as a pressure group foreffective function of the Gram Panchayat.

Rotational responsibilities of leaders in the group and steadyefforts of overcoming hurdles related to gender issues, socio-

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political and economical issues have empowered rural women.While financial and non-financial issues are unrelated formost of us, particularly in urban areas, for them it is linkedwith 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

ResearchInstitu

TechnologyDevelopme

Universities

GovernmentDepartmen

Finance

Donor Agenci

es

Industries

Information

Networ

Krishi Vigyan

Technology

Training

Centre

Financial

Institut

Finance Disbursemen

t

ConsumerOrganisations

Marketi

Extension

Technology

Regional NGO

Procurement

Processi

Distribution

LOCAL NGO GRAM PANCHAYAT

Self-Help Groups

Zilla Panchayat

Village LevelOrganisationGram SabhaSource : Hegde,

2