How SHGs have helped in empowering rural women

Self-Help Groups came in the form of a boon, first started on a large scale by the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). It was the revamped version of the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, which was launched in 1999 but didn’t achieve what was intended. The game-changer was the autonomy given to the states, which trickled down to subsequent subunits of the system.

SHGs are typically groups of around ten women whose primary purpose is to provide members access to finance. These groups usually meet once a week, collect savings from members, and create access to capital at low interest rates. NRLM helps link these self-help groups to village-level organizations and then cluster-level federations, run entirely by trained local women. One downside seen with this model initially was the inability of some groups to pay back loans to the government; in 2016, it was reported that Rs. 9,000 crores worth of bad loans to self-help groups were in danger of being written off.

This model of SHGs is emulated at several levels and by multiple players in contemporary times, but with tweaks of their own. Private players have contributed immensely, majorly as a part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR), bringing in the aspect of skill enhancement apart from financial independence. This transformed not only access to finance but livelihood generation as well. At FarmDidi, we implement both elements with a unique touch of our own.

We are focused on empowering women through livelihood generation and creating a sustainable business model to ensure accessibility to income, not merely finance. Women of rural India possess esoteric knowledge of local traditions, especially regarding health and hygiene. We channelize this strength to create products that utilize this unique knowledge and combine it with rigorous skill training to enable independent income generation for women.

Being a social enterprise, FarmDidi reinvests its profits back into the business for fast growth, both in terms of income generation and the greater inclusion of women. We believe that all these women need is guidance—someone to show them the path—and that is what we strive to achieve with our small step at FarmDidi.

Check out our tasty Homemade Pickles made by rural women of India.