Financial Independence

While working with the village women we realized that they usually had severe financial problems. Probing further we came to know that the major needs for finance like the marriage of the son or the daughter were fulfilled by borrowing from private money lenders. The interest rises were neck- breaking and usually got cascaded into further loans. This used to leave the poor family on the verge of bankruptcy. Forming SHGs (Self Help Groups) and arranging for micro credit through bank scheme to be the right solution. We pursued with the idea and started forming SHGs in 1996.
During the first 6 years training was provided in the managing of the working of SHGs. This brought about the financial discipline. Additionally the SHGs also provided a common platform for the village women. Thus a self supporting organization structure got created. Today about 300 SHGs are spread across 26 villages covering more that 40000 women. Twenty five women coordinators provide them the necessary support and provide supervision on their operations.
Bank Linking was another milestone. As any SHG matures the group is to be linked to the bank and the women start getting the loans from the bank. All the financial operations are handled by the groups and till date these SHGs have a record of 100 % return of the loan amounts which are availed by these women
The financial independence boosted the entrepreneurial skills within the women. Today more than 3500 women have their own small scale business.
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