Nisarga - Women Self Help Groups

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WOMEN SHG
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OKKOOTA
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Women Self Help Groups
The need for the Women SHG was felt by The Franciscan Sisters of Mary Hosadurga, Nisarga because of the socio-economic condition of the taluk. The taluk was filled with superstitions, lack of hygiene, caste system, high illiteracy specially among women, high rate of school dropouts and child labour. Since the area was drought prone, it caused many people to struggle to earn their livelihood who always depended on agriculture which is rain fed. In order to arrest these and many more social evils that were existing no other solution other than the formation of Women SHG could come to the mind of the NGO.

Women SHGs are the groups that provide a forum for collective learning that rural people find more “friendly” and which is consequently more effective than the individual. The groups promote a democratic culture and provide the members with the opportunities to imbibe norms of behaviour that are based on mutual respect. The Women SHGs are the only means to transform the lives of the older women who are mostly illiterate. Hence we started Women SHGs in our area.

Formation, Membership and Functioning

The purpose of the formation of Women Self Help Groups in Hosadurga is to organise the poor, illiterate, exploited rural women and help them in their integrated and sustainable development by empowering them and their families socially, economically, politically and educationally. The maximum number of members in each group can be 20. The members come together for a weekly meeting and do the savings. Each SHG is linked to a bank. They have their own bank account in the name of the SHG. SHGs maintain various documents and registers for their smooth functioning. Their registers will be audited periodically to ensure the proper functioning of the SHGs. The members of the SHG can take loans basing on the ratio of their savings which will be paid back periodically with lesser interest.

Social Dimension of the Functioning of the SHGs
Very often, the groups take up social issues of the villages:
		Attend Grama Sabhas

		Attend school programmes and encourage the students by sponsoring gifts and prizes

		Attend and take up membership of School Development and Management Committee

		*Organise and participate in Shramadan* in the villages**

		Celebration of Women’s Day, Girl Child’s Day, Environmental Day

		Deal with the issues concerning women

		Visits to all the line departments and get the benefits available for the people



Criteria for Membership

The member should be:
A married woman Below poverty line Between 18 to 50 years old Only one member per family is allowed The SHG is for likeminded people Compulsory to attend weekly meetings and to do savings

Organisational Structure
The SHGs are village level organisations. They elect two representatives within their group to act as their leaders for one whole year. The representatives can be re-elected or new representatives can be elected every year. The meetings are conducted every week.

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CLUSTER LEVEL FEDERATION (CLF)
Each SHG sends one member (either a member or a representative) to represent their SHG in the Cluster Level Federation. CLFs are the collective group of 15-20 SHGs. Only one elected representative (along with another member from the SHG) from each SHG attends the CLF monthly meetings regularly. CLFs are organised in order to bring together different SHGs in sizeable small blocks so that easy administration is possible. The information about the different facilities and schemes available in the line departments will be shared in the Clusters, which reaches the SHG members. This way SHGs can easily have access to the schemes and facilities. This is also a forum to share their problems and success of the SHGs and settle the issues. The core committee of the CLF will take up the issues and try to resolve them. CLF takes up the responsibility of arranging programmes and events for the particular cluster. E.g, Celebration of Women’s Day, Girl Child’s Day etc. The issues that are not resolved in the CLF will be forwarded to the Main Federation.


Criteria to Join CLF

The SHGs to become members of a CLF should be at least 6 months old. SHG should pay repayable share capital of Rs. 2,000 to join the CLF One member is elected from each SHG to represent the SHG in the CLF. This member should regularly attend the monthly meetings along with another member from the SHG. Monthly savings of Rs. 20 from the SHG is compulsory along with 5 rupees of contribution

Social Dimension of the Functioning of the SHGs
Very often, the groups take up social issues of the villages:
		Attend Grama Sabhas

		Attend school programmes and encourage the students by sponsoring gifts and prizes

		Attend and take up membership of School Development and Management Committee

		*Organise and participate in Shramadan* in the villages**

		Celebration of Women’s Day, Girl Child’s Day, Environmental Day

		Deal with the issues concerning women

		Visits to all the line departments and get the benefits available for the people



Criteria for Membership

The member should be:
A married woman Below poverty line Between 18 to 50 years old Only one member per family is allowed The SHG is for likeminded people Compulsory to attend weekly meetings and to do savings

Organisational Structure
The SHGs are village level organisations. They elect two representatives within their group to act as their leaders for one whole year. The representatives can be re-elected or new representatives can be elected every year. The meetings are conducted every week.


NISARGA MAHILA MAHA OKKOOTA ® (Taluk Level Main Federation)
Every SHG member becomes the member of the Main Federation by default. The main federation is a registered body and acts as an independent organisation. The main purpose of the federation is to bring together every member of each SHG under one roof. This is the forum where women of the taluk come together to raise their voices and find solution to their issues. The federation takes up women empowerment through trainings and exposures. The federation encourages income-generating activities. This also renders financial support to SHGs through CLFs. The federation organises different programmes for the empowerment of women in the whole taluk, which aims not only at the SHG members, but also to empower other women. .


Structure and Organisation




Main Federation Activities:

		Monthly meetings

		Various trainings to all the SHGs and CLFs

		Organising exposures for the SHG members

		Organising the taluk level programmes

		Training the active members of the SHGs to become resource persons

		Taking the direct responsibility of smooth functioning of CLFs

Trainings Provided to the SHGs
Societal analysis How to conduct survey ToT SHG Concept and related topics Book writing and keeping How to conduct meeting Networking Linkages Representatives training EAP (Enterpreneurship awareness programme) PRI (Panchayat Raj Institutions) Credit Management Leadership training Communication Health, Hygiene and Sanitation Vision Building		Gender training RCH training (Reproductive child health care) Pest control Dairy farming/ Sheep rearing/ Poultry Bee keeping IGA/Skill based training Federation training Resource center training Water and soil conservation training PRA On farm and nonfarm trainings VBT (Village based training) related to live stock SWOT analysis Value education HIV/AIDS Environment Globalisation

Loans and Income Generating Activities:
1. Loans are given for on-farm and non-farm sectors. Consumption loans are also given.

2. New house building, house repairs, education, medical, household things, gold purchase, vehicle purchasing, income generating activities, business requirements, land purchase, bore well digging etc.

3. Income generating activities are held in priority 75% of IGA loans, 25% consumption loans.

4. Till date we have availed more than 10 Crore rupees of bank loans for the SHGs. We have availed 6 Crore rupees of loan from other financial institutions for the SHGs (e.g NABFINS, Sangamithra).

5. The loans that are given to the SHGs in Hosadurga taluk are utilised mainly for the income generating activities

ACTIVITIES OF WOMEN SHG


WOMEN EMPOERMENT ACCOMPLISHMENT


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