Self Help Groups in India: Research, Resources, and Articles
Self Help Groups in India: Research, Resources, and Articles
I’ve been (re)reading parts of “Fortune at Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits” and ran across the case study chapter on (women’s) self help groups in the context of micro loans with the ICICI Bank (p. 115 to 129). The advantages of self help groups include:
An economically poor individual gains strength as part of a group. Besides, financing through SHGs reduces transaction costs for both lenders and borrowers. While lenders have to handle only a single SHG account instead of a large number of small-sized individual accounts, borrowers as part of an SHG cut down expenses on travel (to & from the branch and other places) for completing paper work and on the loss of workdays in canvassing for loans.
In other words the organization provides micro loans and a package of services, including self help groups (SHG) for economic empowerment, education, sharing lessons learned and presumably networking.
Additionally, they are used to create an “ecosystem for wealth creation” and bear some elements of self-organizing, given they are bottom up in nature. These groups can help overcome some of the pitfalls of launching a new business and are sometimes integrated as part of the overall debt repayment model.
Self help groups in India whitepaper.
Self-Help Group Resources and Websites
Self Help Group Gateway
