4

Sa-Dhan Patrika

Volume 6

Issue 1

their federations promoted under the

for the members to understand the status

UNDP's SAPAP project in Andhra Pradesh,

of their SHG better.

leadership development is more visible

as the focus is also on social mobilisation,

Reading through, one might get the

and not just financial aspects.

feeling that there are a plethora of issues

in scaling-up SHGs. While it is true, it must

Local Resources: T h e n e e d f o r

also be admitted that the benefits of

d e v e l o p i n g local capacities and

SHGs and their role in empowering

capabilities is not to be forgotten. Systems

women cannot be ignored.

and products should be evolved so that

they are easily understood and

There have been many instances, and

managed by the SHG members, who are

not a few, where SHGs have brought

predominantly poor and illiterate. The

about social transformation, empowered

SHPI should make a conscious choice of

women, improved credit access to the

credit delivery or social empowerment,

rural poor and become the entry points

and build systems and processes

for many development activities.

accordingly. It was observed in the case

o f PRADAN in Lohardaga district,

Two other important issues apart from

Jharkhand that where the focus is on

scaling-up of SHGs are:

developing local capacities, members

Reaching out to the Poorest of Poor:

take charge of their SHGs.

Recent studies have shown that the

Financial Focus: Where credit is the

benefits  of  poverty  reduction

primary service, there is a limited focus

programmes accrue primarily to the

on social aspects of the SHG. SHGs

moderate poor and the vulnerable non-

function more as financial institutions

poor. How can the poorest of poor, those

interested in giving loans and recovering

who have no assets and experience

them. This has resulted in the SHG

chronic illness and food insecurity, be

members coming in only to make

effectively

targeted

through

payments and take loans. The concept

microfinance programmes? Many a time

of meetings has changed and many a

the level of compulsory savings itself

time these become more of transaction

seems to become the barrier for the

meetings, and less of occasions for

poorest to be a part of the SHG

women to interact, know each other,

movement.

improve knowledge and develop

Federating:

solidarity.

SHG federations are

promoted for strengthening existing SHGs,

Two-way communication: Instead of

to promote new SHGs of the poor, and

the current bottom-up only data transfer,

to reach various services to the member

would help SHG members be more

SHGs. Promoting large numbers of SHG

aware of their own functioning. It is noted

f e d e r a t i o n s , which are essentially

that many a time there is a data transfer

institutions of the poor, requires

between the SHG, and Federation/SHPI.

adequate availability of professionals

S t a t e m e n t s related to repayment

with adequate knowledge, skills,

performance and portfolio quality are

competencies and experience. There is

prepared but rarely shared with the

a need to make significant investments

SHGs. Where SHGs are rated, the rating

in developing local professionals and

sheets are with the SHPI/federation, with

para-professionals to guide the

no information being passed on to the

development of the emerging SHG

SHG. It has been observed that where

federations.

t h e SHG rating is shared with the

members, the performance of the SHGs

Federations at village and cluster levels

improve, as was seen in the case of

seem to have greater prospects of being

Chalna Network, Maharashtra.

financially viable while ensuring member

control. SHGs and their members seem

Book-keeping and MIS is another area

to comprehend the village/cluster

requiring immediate focus. Quality and

federation structure more easily than that

regularity of book-keeping and MIS are

of federations set up at the mandal/block

the two major areas which need to be

level. The village/cluster level operations

Statements related

improved.  Though  the  records

seem to be in tune with the capabilities

to repayment

maintained at the SHG level are

of the SHGs and their members, and grow

performance and

adequate, accuracy and timeliness in

at a pace that can be managed by

portfolio quality

recording information is low. Many a

the members themselves.

are prepared but

time, accounting systems and MIS are

rarely shared with

Addressing the Issues

developed keeping the SHPI and/or

the SHGs

reporting requirements in view, which

It is expected that an SHPI would ensure

therefore tend to become complex.

that the scale-up strategy and process

What is needed is a simple and user-

would consider the above-mentioned

friendly book keeping system and MIS,

issues. Some possible means of addressing