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- Title
SELF-HELP GROUPS: LOOKING BEYOND CREDIT A STUDY.
- Authors
Tapan, Neeta
- Abstract
Self-Help Group (SHG) is a sort of "Credit for Empowerment" strategy, which extends itself beyond the limited objectives of ensuring access to credit only. Group formation is seen as crucial to the empowerment process as women draw strength from numbers. Creating visible economic opportunities like savings, access to credit, linkage with banks, and employment generation need resources and specified interventions. But a vibrant social exchange can lead to invisible changes in attitudes, perceptions, awareness and potential, with the proper functioning of SHGs and minimal required interventions from the facilitator. Therefore, this paper analyses the non-economic transformations, which might occur in response to the group cohesion and social exchange in SHGs. This paper attempts to study the performance of the SHGs on the credit plus front. Well-planned group formation, clearly spelt out concept of SHG, regular and vibrant meetings help these groups to sustain and evolve fully and so can be treated as the sustainability parameters. Consequently, transformations emanate beyond economic issues in the potential of individuals as well as groups exhibiting the evolution parameters. The basic reason behind the shortfall in credit plus performance is the lack of desired level of interventions of the self-help promoting institution or the facilitator in the group activities. Thus, the groups must not be treated as SHGs in the literal sense completely and for their sustainability and evolution the Self-Help Promoting Institution (SHPI) should play the appropriate role of initiator, facilitator, promoter, advisor, and supporter.
- Subjects
INDIA; SUPPORT groups; CREDIT; SOCIAL exchange; SOCIAL cohesion
- Publication
ICFAI Journal of Public Administration, 2008, Vol 4, Issue 2, p77
- ISSN
0973-225X
- Publication type
Article