‘Self Help’ can mean self-service or helping oneself to achieve something which can be said in simple layman’s terms. Self Help Groups have been ‘invisibly’ playing and defining social changes in many villages of India, take for example AMUL Cooperative Society a leading brand in dairy products from Gujarat started through the concept of ‘Self Help’ and gradually merged into a bigger entity as a registered cooperative society. Today various state governments are considerably giving a push to integrate developmental programs and link these interventions to Self Help Groups or SHGs’ as we would say in short.
The gradual increase in SHGs’ playing a proactive role in initiating pilot projects towards promoting alternative livelihood activities, intensive skills, education, and community awareness programs has seen a positive impact on the rural community not only in terms of the quantity of people who are sent for undergoing training but importantly in bringing out quality entrepreneurs.
The Government of India has all along initiated various schemes and programs wherein village communities are the ultimate stakeholders in society and this is where also SHGs come into the picture of having a role to play. However, having said that, there are issues where people would say that joining an SHG would allow benefits to come in and those not in an SHG are the ones who lose out.
Well! I would say that it is true to some extent in fact being a member of an SHG or not being one doesn’t actually discriminate but yes, there are specific areas like for instance trainings in livestock management, irrigation, fast food making, confectionary etc…or maybe say embroidery, tailoring are such skill-intensive courses where only those within a group get to participate and prepare themselves as upcoming entrepreneurs. Therefore by involving all members of a village into an SHG is always important so that any form of development within the village is supported and taken up in the right earnest with a sense of responsibility and ownership.
There are a number of villages that have not yet been ‘affected’ by this SHG boom as I would like to put it, whereas in most parts of rural India, women have always taken a strong and leading role in displaying wise decisions and also a positive attitude in helping others. Women self help groups have considerably counselled and assisted other women folk in taking active part in organising and mobilising formation of SHGs’. It is also a good note that even men folk between the ages of 20 to even 40 years have shown keen interests in joining along with women as a mixed group or forming their own SHG as the case maybe.
The formation of Self Help Groups does not end up in electing their own office-bearers but a set of module trainings are initiated to keep them together and especially in deciding financial matters. It is important to note that as previous years the criteria was at least ten or more people can form an SHG however this has been relaxed as per Government of India norms for the north-eastern states whereby five members above either men or women or mixed can form an SHG it can also involve one’s nearest family members to be part of a group. So when a group is formed and office bearers are elected it becomes the whole responsibility of all members to take active part in attending training, awareness camps etc for the betterment of the group and moreover to learn and inculcate new things within the community.
There have been many successful rural entrepreneurs who have come out of SHGs’ and in turn motivated and mobilized others to take up small livelihood activities that can generate income. But again not all SHGs’ can be successful when infighting, dishonesty and self centric attitude tend to creep within the group especially those holding office. Such groups not only lead to failed goals but bring a bad name to the entire movement.
Internal bickering will always be there within a family so an SHG is a typical family where differences occur off and on, but such issues can be brought out in regular meetings. For a Self Help Group to become a model amongst others it should ensure discipline, cohesiveness, unity, responsibility, ownership and self-reliance.
The other part for an SHG to become self reliant and mature is that it would require its members to hold their regular monthly meetings accordingly where all members are present, that all financial matters of learning, re-payment etc are resolved and issued in a time bound manner.
The important factor that requires most members to understand why an SHG is important and what is its role, is possible to know through understanding with them the type of module training and thematic training required both in-house and in the field. These sessions are long and very useful in getting to know the basics and structure of an SHG. It is the continuity of these modules over and over again and they also start to spread the message to other community members.
There are SHGs’ who have enlarged their numbers and spread to adjoining villages by which they later come together to form a federation of self help groups. These federated groups play specific roles in a federation as well as in a SHG, they also initiate in setting up of an enterprise unit through savings mobilized in their corpus fund and with the support of financial institutions they avail soft loans at nominal rate of interest.
There have been self help groups or to an extent I would say federation of self help groups who have been successful models of instituting changes within their villages and the mindset of the common man. For affluent people the meaning of having an SHG in a village doesn’t mean much only and if it has a business interest linked to it, but such individuals will not take time to dwell in-depth into the working system of an SHG be it in trainings or initiating programs for the people so the concept of an SHG does not suit them.
The concept of an SHG will be beneficial only if people with humble roots coming from impoverished families take initiative upon themselves and start a movement that not only resounds within their families but around the village and the message is spread far and wide that this movement are the wheels of development for one and all without inequalities.
The need for a separate sector or special corpus for supporting self help groups from the state government should be thought upon so that they get the required impetus and all round support for various activities that would benefit many in the long term. We hope that the SHG wheels of improvement and development towards a long term and sustainable future will bear fruit for those involved in improving the livelihood of rural society. (The writer’s views are personal based on his activities and experience in the social developmental field. He is a Resource Expert with an organisation based in Meghalaya and a columnist)
