SHG federations can be instrumental in providing banking to the ‘unbanked’ communities in rural areas

SHG federations, as promoted by the Government and non-government organisations, have long been recognisancial and livelihood services to their members. In recent times, however, they have also been able to provide critical social services about health, education, and sanitation while also undertaking strong advocacy initiatives to demand better development facilities like roads, electricity, infrastructure, clean water supply etc. in their communities. Additionally, women-led federations are drivers of change for addressing gender and women’s empowerment issues. However, while their role in promoting empowerment and livelihoods promotion is well known, not much has been highlighted about the SHG federation's work in providing non-financial and development services in their communities.

In the discourse on SHG federations expanding women’s power in terms of the four disaggregated domains of ‘power over’, ‘power to’, ‘power within’, and ‘power with,’ it is the last domain (i.e. power with) emanating from group solidarity and collaborations that is most effective in successful collective actions for achieving development goals.

In this regard, it is important to mention that the concerted efforts of  NGOs, towards promoting a range of both financial and non-financial services through their large network of SHG federations termed as cluster level (CLNs) and block level networks (BLNs) across the country, has been impactful.  As of June 2023, the organization is working with a large network of 3.4 lakh SHGs comprising 3.5 million women who are federated in 1,708 CLNs (each representing a minimum of 10 SHGs i.e. 100 members) and 58 BLNs (each representing 10 CLNs i.e. 1,000 members). It is these strong and immersive federations that are agents of change for their SHG women and communities.

In Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the SHG cluster networks have used  theircollective strengths to successfully address issues of water logging, improper drainage systems, lack of concrete roads, clean drinking water, construction of toilets, lack of infrastructure in Government schools and PHCs, by getting the district administration to take cognizance of these issues and deliver results. The 100 ‘mothers collectives,’ comprising 1,000 women of children involved in mica mining and other forms of labour were trained on the importance of education, nutrition, and financial literacy and were supported with skill training, bank linkages and market tie-ups to develop sustainable livelihoods. These collectives became catalysts of social change in their communities by networking with village local bodies, child rights protection committees, school management committees and Government agencies to improve school enrolment and continued education in their communities. These examples demonstrate that far from being restrictive, the SHG model is a flexible and comprehensive tool to steer holistic development services as opposed to only providing financial and livelihood services to SHG women.

To begin with, the SHG federations can work with the existing panchayat-level committees to contribute to the development process of the village to upgrade education, health, sanitation and infrastructure facilities. Taking advantage of their huge numbers and deep penetration in remote areas, the federations can work as agents of change to bridge the demand-supply gap in service delivery by creating demand and improving the supply of development services and infrastructure facilities in their communities.  On the demand side, the federation leaders can generate awareness of rights and entitlements of services among SHG women and communities while parallelly working with supply-side institutions like schools, Government hospitals and Banks to improve service delivery.

Here too, the women leaders can work as ‘agents’ of supply-side institutions and generate awareness among their large masses on the Government’s schemes and facilitate access to services to the last mile.  The only thing to keep in mind is that in doing so, the SHG federations should work as ‘partners’ rather than as ‘nitpickers.’     

Finally, the federations should regularly engage with the block and district level administrations to fill the information gaps regarding needs in the villages as well as progress made.

They can thus be seen as ‘well-wishers’ and change agents, which, in turn, may lead to their greater involvement in the village development process. The benefits of bonds of sisterhood, community engagement, community acceptance, scale, presence in far-flung areas, stakeholder management and alliance-building capacities of the federations need to be well harnessed if they have to go beyond the provision of financial and livelihood services to effect development and transformative changes at the grassroots.

(The writer is the President, of Hand in Hand India and a livelihoods and gender specialist; views are personal)