Self Help Group(SHG)

 

Self Help Group

Informal associations of people who choose to come together for better living conditions by their collective efforts towards common issues. 

SHG is a vehicle of change for the poor and marginalized section of society. It encourage self employment and poverty alleviation. 

History of SHG

1972- Ela Bhatt, lawyer of a formal group Textile Labour Association(TLA, formed in 1918 at Ahmedabad by Gandhiji) founded Self-Employed Women's Association(SEWA), an informal group of textile female workers. 

SEWA- first SHG of modern India. 

1992- SHG Bank Linkage Project was launched by NABARD. 

SHG was allowed to open bank accounts. This helped the SHG to get formal credit from banks at reasonable intrest rate, rather then getting trapped in the hands of moneylenders. 

1999- Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY) was introduced to promote SHG. 

2011- SGSY was replaced by National Rural Livelihoods Mission(NRLM)

Objectives of SHG

• Leadership quality promotion
• Collective decision making
• Capacity building
• Saving as a tool to invest
• Job seekers to job creators

Benefits of SHG 

Challenges of SHG 

Most of the SHGs are dependent on promoter group(government, NGO etc) 

Kudumbashree in Kerala is the largest women’s networks SHG in the world. And it is Promoted by state government of Kerala.