Promotion of Women SHGS and Rural Finance

The Activities Under This Sub-Component Are:

Forming Gram Panchayat Level Federation (GPLF)

Capacity building of NGO staff and CRPs in SHG methodology, savings and credit and financial literacy

Forming and reviving SHGs

Capacity building of SHGs

Gender Training

Rural financial services

Provision of revolving funds

Cluster level credit cooperatives

Formation of Gram Panchayat Cluster Level Federation (GPLF)

The NGO will promote a women's federation at each GP. Initially (till SHGs are formed), women members of the VDCs from each village will be the members of the GPLF and they will select a three member executive. The GPLF will assist in forming and nurturing SHGs, promoting savings, setting up grain banks with pulses, develop bank linkages, manage revolving funds granted by the Programme and spearhead advocacy on issues affecting women's well-being. Once SHGs have been formed and are mature, the GPLF will be reconstituted as a federation of SHGs.

Capacity Building of NGOs and CRPs

NGO staff, CRPs-GPLF, women leaders in the VDA and leaders of functional SHGs will undertake exposure visits to OTELP or NRLM area to understand the functioning of SHGs and federations. CRPs and GPLF members will be imparted comprehensive training on good practices in formation and functioning of SHGs by the FNGO staff using the ToT methodologies described in Sub-Component 1.1.

Formation and Revival of SHGs

CRPs, with the assistance of GPLF members of respective villages will collect data about SHGs in the Programme villages, their status and bank defaults, if any. Existing functional groups will be taken in the programme fold, defunct groups with no bank defaults will be revived or restructured and women not in any group will be motivated to form new groups. The FNGO and MPA will take up the matter of groups in default (or dispute) with banks for one time settlement. The attempt will be to ensure all women are members of one or the other SHG.

Capacity building of SHGs

SHG members will be trained in: (i) Good practices in SHG functioning and importance of panchasutri; (ii) financial literacy; (iii) nutrition, basic health care; and (iv) reproductive health care. A training curriculum will be developed using the ToT described in Sub-Component 1.1.Participation of the FNGO's Community Institutions and Nutrition Officer in SHG meetings is a key contributor to SHG capacity building. Sine SHGs will be formed over a period of 18 months, S/He must attend the first meeting of every SHG and at least one meeting of each SHG during the first three months.

Gender training

Gender training for women and men covering such aspects as patriarchy, participation of women in local governance, gender and livelihoods, woman and her body, participation in external institutions, etc. will be delivered to both men and women.

Rural Financial Services

The programme will facilitate (i) regular savings by SHG members; (ii) services of Business Correspondents of banks at GPLF level for savings in scheduled banks; (iii) internal lending from SHG savings and need-based bank credit; (iv) need based issuance of Kisan Credit Cards and joint liability group financing; and (v) access insurance and pension schemes.

Provision of Revolving funds

The programme will revolving funds/seed capital as: (i) Pro-poor Inclusion Fund (PIF) in two instalments, one year apart, each of INR 500 per SHG member, the first instalment given when the SHG is 3 to 6 months old, to enhance its corpus for internal lending;(ii) Vulnerability Reduction Fund (VRF) in two instalments of INR 125,000 after 3 months and 12 months of forming to each GPLF will be provided to be used as longer term low-interest loans for health, education of children, loss of livelihood assets,debt redemption, etc. to be given to SHG members via their groups; and (iii) The Community Investment Fund (CIF) at the rate of INR 2,200 per SHG member shall be provided to each GPLF to support simple IGAs of SHG members via loans through SHGs.

Cluster level credit co-operatives

The Programme may promote two credit cooperatives as pilots, if found viable after conducting a feasibility study.