Very informative and relevant post. I wonder why such SHGs are formed and then left midway to survive themselves by the district officials? In Madhya Pradesh the SHGs were success story , at least till a couple of years back. I am not aware of the current status. You may study those also. The skills needed are to be imparted to SHGs as per the changing demands in the district and beyond. Feel sorry for the ladies covered in your post. Link up of each SHG with a marketing network is a must and this has to be arranged by the District officials. Hope your report is published in national level newspapers/magazines to attract attention.
You are right in asking the question about why SHGs are left midway by district officials/government programs
My sense is that there are two reasons:
(1) The government has limited resources and budgets hence its unlikely that they will be able to reach SHGs in all corners of the country to provide continuous and deep support.
(2) While governments may provide handholding, access to funds, markets etc. to some extent - they will struggle to make them function as "real viable businesses". This requires very deep and ongoing professional/business leadership and support often from within (As I've also mentioned in the case studies above). So governments are not in the best place to take this up.
It needs entrepreneurs/social entrepreneurs, NGOs and governments to work hand in hand and make this change happen from within.
Very informative and relevant post. I wonder why such SHGs are formed and then left midway to survive themselves by the district officials? In Madhya Pradesh the SHGs were success story , at least till a couple of years back. I am not aware of the current status. You may study those also. The skills needed are to be imparted to SHGs as per the changing demands in the district and beyond. Feel sorry for the ladies covered in your post. Link up of each SHG with a marketing network is a must and this has to be arranged by the District officials. Hope your report is published in national level newspapers/magazines to attract attention.
Thank you Vivek. I will look into the MP SHGs.
You are right in asking the question about why SHGs are left midway by district officials/government programs
My sense is that there are two reasons:
(1) The government has limited resources and budgets hence its unlikely that they will be able to reach SHGs in all corners of the country to provide continuous and deep support.
(2) While governments may provide handholding, access to funds, markets etc. to some extent - they will struggle to make them function as "real viable businesses". This requires very deep and ongoing professional/business leadership and support often from within (As I've also mentioned in the case studies above). So governments are not in the best place to take this up.
It needs entrepreneurs/social entrepreneurs, NGOs and governments to work hand in hand and make this change happen from within.