Sa-Dhan Newsletter Volume 4 Issue 2

Community Based Organisations

Sa-Dhan Newsletter

Volume 4, Issue 2 May 2003

Special Issue

Sa-Dhan

Sa-Dhan

The Association of

Community Based Organisations

Community Development

Finance Institutions

From the Editor's Desk

CONTENTS

Dear Readers,

1.

Strengthening Access to

We are happy to bring you another issue of our Newsletter on Community Based Organisations

Financial Services for the

(CBOs). These organisations serve as a crucial element of many of our strategies in expanding

Poor : Role of Community-

the access to financial services and poverty reduction.

based Organizations - A

These community organisations rest on what is commonly known as the Self-Help Groups

Workshop Report, Sa-Dhan

(SHGs). SHGs would mean the organisation of women, around thrift and credit, which some of

In-House Research Team

us call the "building block" for livelihood promotion and some others call the "backbone" of

microfinance. Whichever way we look at this institution, there is no denying the fact that SHG as

2.

Report of the Committee on

an institution and approach is vital to contemporary practitioners of microfinance and to other

related issues concerning the development of the poor.

Issues pertaining to Rural

Credit

Under the SHG approach, about half a million SHGs have been formed in India. The exponential

growth of SHG has led to the creation and emergence of close units of network or clusters of

3.

Networking of SHGs :

institutions, which in turn build the social capital thereby helping them to undertake financial &

Concepts,  Issues  and

non-financial intermediation to serve its members. However, the type and models of such

network or clusters differ from one promoter to another. For example, government promoted

Practices - A Workshop

networks/clusters differs from that of the UNDP. Even among those promoted by NGOs, differ,

Report , Sa-Dhan

depending on the various factors like geographical location, density, literacy etc. The result is

that a number of network structures and models are prevailing in the country.

4.

Virtual Round Table, Alloysius

Apart from the approach and the structure, the other more important challenge is that these

P. Fernandez (MYRADA)

structures have to sustain themselves. Therefore, whether it is a question of sustaining the SHGs

as a social institution, or responding to the local context or attempting to sustain itself as a

5.

Guarantee Fund: Frequently

financial institution, there are important implications for the promoting institution. Therefore,

Ask Questions (FAQ)

what should and could be roles for the promoting institutions in trying to empower communities?

If it is performing the role of a financial institution, then what are the important areas that the

6.

Sa-Dhan, The Urban poor,

institution should critically look at? These are some questions that this special issue is attempting

to look at.

And A Bank For Them,

Ashok B Sharma

The report of the national workshop on "Strengthening Access to Financial Services for the

Poor - Role of Community-based Organizations" is about the issues related to CBOs. This

7.

Sa-Dhan Events

workshop rests on a substantive body of work on SHG federations by Sa-Dhan and its members

- to be brought out later in the year. The second report on "Networking of SHGs: Concepts,

Issues and Practices" is a joint workshop of Sa-Dhan, and NIPCCD, the Lead Training Agency for

8.

Sa-Dhan's Mission statement

the Swa-Shakti Project. This report mainly looks at the existing SHG networks in India and their

future. This includes Ajay Tankha's study on Financial Intermediation through NGO-Promoted

Community Organizations in India; Narendranath's sharing on PRADAN's Experience on

Networking of SHGs; the experience of Andhra Pradesh in Networking by CS Reddy of APMAS

and another by LB Prakash on the Status of SHG Federations in AP: APMAS Assessment

Edited by :

Findings. Finally, to top it all we present a point of view again by Shri Aloysius P. Fernandez of

MYRADA. His article looks at the issues related to MFIs' growth, which is about meeting the

Mathew Titus

demand of micro finance services and other related issues on the transformation of NGOs to

MFIs. Together, all these pieces will stimulate debate and hopefully throw light on the challenge

For Private Circulation Only

facing the growth of the sector.

Published by :

We have added this time a new feature on Guarantee Funds; to help explain things, we use in the

Sa-Dhan

format of Frequently Ask Questions (FAQ).

B-4/3133 Vasant Kunj

Hope you have a fruitful time reading this issue.

New Delhi-110 070

E-mail:sa _dhan@mantraonline.com

Website : www.sa -dhan.org

Mathew Titus

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