Self Help Groups
MAKING A POSITIVE IMPACT IN COMMUNITIES
The purpose of the self-help group approach is to facilitate people, especially women to exists and lift themselves out of extreme poverty in a sustainable manner and to strengthening the position of women in society in order to improve their quality of life. To achieve this, individuals and communities have to be economically, socially and politically empowered to learn and develop further. The shga is a holistic approach which starts with the poorest and marginalized persons belonging to peoples institution (pi). The aim of the project is to establish a people’s institution (pi) that is self-sustaining and keeps developing even after the external support of the shga ceases.
The self-help group approach is based on two (2) fundamental principles.
- Every human has tremendous, god given potential. This hidden potential in the poor can be unleashed if a conducive environment is provided.
- As an individual the poor are voiceless, powerless and vulnerable. By bringing them together as a homogeneous collective, they become aware of their rights, and may gain tremendous strength through collaborative thinking which enormously adds a lot of value to the individual thinking.
Formation Of Self-Help Groups
The self-help group approach seeks to bring women from similar socio-economic backgrounds together to form savings groups known as self help groups. The approach operates within rural communities of the country with the aim to uplift rural households out of poverty, through economic empowerment, using social capital and utilizing the power in numbers of the shg members. A self help group consists of 15 – 20 women who meet and save weekly according to their affordability. From the total accumulated savings of the group, members apply for loans which only receive an interest agreed upon by the group. Each shg operates as an independent entity with its own rules and regulations set by its members.
