Sa-Dhan Newsletter Volume 4 Issue 2

Community Based Organisations

than at the village organization (VO) level (5.3%). It

With regard to the above issues, the panelist observed that

was seen that VOs could perform better in providing

formation of clusters will have to be left entirely to the

financial services than the federation. The rationale

interests of the group; facilitators could only assists in the

behind this could be the better degree of homogeneity

process. Networking should also be viewed as an evolutionary

at the village level and thus better understanding of the

process; this would also require a great deal of time and

need and capacity of the members.

patience. Keeping in mind that different organizations have

different strategies when it comes to dealing with clusters,

There was an increase in fund mobilizing activities at



one should not blindly follow any one model in forming

the federation level than the groups. The focus has

clusters. Also, due to  various policies, clusters became

shifted from the groups.

financial intermediaries by default; this had to be checked.

Groups form the basis of cluster federations; so



STATUS OF SHG FEDERATIONS IN AP: APMAS

neglecting them would be detrimental to the success

of federations.

ASSESSMENT FINDINGS

Support services to the groups were low. Capacity



On the issue of financial practices of federations undertaking

building of Self-Help Groups is the need of the hour.

financial intermediation, the APMAS experience was unveiled

by L.B. Prakash, Sr. Vice President, APMAS. The followings

In terms of operational self-sufficiency, the VO ranks



are the findings of APMAS study:

higher than the federation. It has also been observed

that there is a sheer lack of accuracy regarding matters

It was observed that the strategy of the various promoters



relating to accounting. It is also imperative that the

of the groups was also different in different regions.

federations/clusters have a proper MIS in place. The

This has shown that the promoters have had to change

need for this was felt for tracking delinquent loans. It

and reformulate their strategies based on the prevalent

would also help in maintaining a regular monitoring

social environment. Even the federations were providing

system. This would be one way of tracking problems

similar services within the same district with minor

and solving them. Just having a MIS would also not

be enough if proper analysis were not done. The

modifications.

analysis should also comprehend determinants so that

Attendance at the group meetings was an important

the federation members understand them.



determinant of the success factor of cluster/federation

formation. The overall correlation between the board

STATUS & PROBLEMS OF SWASHAKTI PROJECT

quality and overall performance was to the tune of 82

FROM STATES

percent.

Following this presentation, the participants (mostly) the

There was an absence of a second line of leadership.

Swashakti project officials and partner Ngos were group



Capacity building of all the members of the federation

according to the states they represent with a view to

was required. This was important from the point of

understand the problem face by the officials in each of the

view of sustainability of the federation.

state where the Project is being implemented. The followings

were the presentation made by each States:

The responsibility of the promoter should also be to



ensure participation of all the members in the group.

Bihar

An increase in the degree of participation will result in

the establishment of an efficient community-based

The Swashakti project in Bihar has promoted 449

§

SHGs with 40 clusters. All the groups promoted are

organization-federation/cluster.

only one year old. The problems and the agenda that

There was widespread ignorance of legal issues. They

needs proper attention especially by the by the project



were not aware of the legal formalities that had to be

officials and Ngo partners are related to registration of

fulfilled in order to get the federation registered.

SHGs and dealing with the issues of homogeneity in

Legalities have to be kept in mind when federations

the cluster.

become financial intermediaries.

Haryana

A very high degree of correlation between the attendance



at the meetings and the rate of recovery/idle funds.

One hundred and fifty (150) groups have been promoted

§

Attendance and recovery rate are positively correlated.

with a total of 20 clusters. They are three to 12 months

old. In a cluster there are 8-12 groups. The problems

There exists a negative correlation between attendance

faced by the project officials and Ngo partners are

and idle funds. The aspects mentioned above are quite

related to checking of members progress, to organised

self-explanatory in nature. Regular attendance will

regular meetings, removal of social evils, sharing of

result in regular loan repayment, this in turn results in

success stories, discussion on benefits of different

reduction in the amount of idle funds.

government schemes, opening bank accounts and

Idle funds were higher at the federation level (12.3%)

motivating members to generate funds.



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