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Editor’s Note :
There is a notion that while MYRADA is actively involved in building
people’s institutions and
constantly deliberating on how these institutions can be strengthened and
made sustainable, the building
of Federations is not on its agenda. This is not true.
MYRADA has been promoting the formation of federations of self-help
groups for well over ten years
now. However, what is true is that the degree of clarity that exists in
MYRADA with regard to primary
membership institutions such as self-help groups or watershed development
associations did not, until recently, extend to higher level
representative-based institutions
such as federations. Both in its own work and in the work of others,
MYRADA has not fully been able
to isolate those structural features that can make a federation a vibrant and functional institution without
performing such functions that the primary groups can
well perform on their own, or without merely becoming an additional link
in the conduit for channelling
funds to primary groups.
Our early experiences with federations showed us how quickly they could
get politicised, how easily
they could come between ourselves and our contacts with the primary
groups, and how conveniently
they lent themselves to achieving our agenda rather than being built in
response to a push from the
primary groups. In fact, the push never came. Even now, our work with federations is somewhat one-sided: the
efforts are more ours to bring primary groups together
than any great need expressed by the primary groups themselves to
federate. However, we recognise
that this can be true of many development interventions until their value is experienced. It is what has kept
us going with regard to federations. But there is a greater
consciousness now that (a) federations must provide such services that can
strengthen primary groups without
themselves becoming power centres, (b) channels of direct
communication between MYRADA and the primary groups must continue to be
kept open, and (c) federations
must be promoted with a view to setting and achieving their own agenda rather than "taking over the
functions of MYRADA when MYRADA withdraws"
This Paper is divided into the following sections:
· A brief introduction
· Key questions and concerns
in MYRADA on Federations, followed by a brief record
of discussions and positions taken with regard to them
· Suggested
roles to be played by MYRADA in promoting federations, including
some "dos" and "don’ts"
· Some criteria to be
adopted in the grading of federations of self-help groups
Introduction
This Paper emerged out of a Workshop held at MYRADA Kamasamudram
Project on 10th, 11th, and 12th May
1999 on the subject of Federations or ‘Apex
Bodies’ as they
used to be known as until now in MYRADA. It was MYRADA
Staff Workshop at which almost all Projects were represented, called in order to resolve prevailing
differences of ideas and actions within MYRADA and
develop a common perspective with regard to federations.
This Paper does not attempt to
describe our work with federations. On the contrary,
it provides a framework for what we should do in the future. This framework
itself has been shaped by our past experiences and the lessons we have
learnt. Though we have not dwelt upon these experiences and lessons in this Paper, we believe other
organisations have also encountered difficulties along
the way of promoting federations. It is for this reason that we presume to
believe that this Paper is worth
sharing with others.
Key questions and concerns
The Workshop began with each Project sharing its experiences of
promoting federations. At the
end of all presentations the common concerns that were listed were
:
1. Why are federations needed? Why are we promoting them?
2. What are the activities that a federation must undertake?
3. What should be the size of a federation, and at what level should it be
formed?
4. Who should be the members of a federation?
5. What should some of the key management features of a federation be?
6. Should a federation engage in fund-raising? From whom, and for what purpose?
7. What should be the training imparted to federations?
8. Should the registration of federations be promoted?
9. How can a federation establish credibility and legitimacy for itself?
10. What should MYRADA’s role be in the promotion and development of
federations?
These questions were discussed in sub-groups and presented in the
plenary. At the plenary there
were further discussions, and the positions that were finally accepted
by all Projects now constitute MYRADA’s approach to federations:
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Key
questions
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Positions
accepted
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Remarks
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Why are
federations needed? Why are we promoting them? Every time we ask ourselves
this question the answer points to federations as some kind of an alternative to
MYRADA:
"When MYRADA withdraws the federation can continue to perform many of the functions
earlier performed by MYRADA". It was
brought up at the Workshop that this reason was not good enough.
Federations had to be seen as institutions in their own right and not merely as a
replacement for MYRADA.
Therefore, our reasons for promoting federations had to be more positive.
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The following
were accepted as reasons for promoting federations : 1. For strengthening SHGs
through providing a forum for regular interaction and networking
2. For information dissemination to SHGs
3. For undertaking such activities that benefit the SHGs and
communities but cannot be taken up by individual SHGs on their own
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It was agreed
right at the beginning that federations could be of various types but what we were
deliberating on were clearly FEDERATIONS OF SHGs ONLY.
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What are the
activities that a federation must undertake?
It was felt that to be a functional and sustainable institution, the activities of
federations had to be CONCRETE, INTERESTING, and USEFUL to the SHGs and
communities
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1. Regular
review of the functioning of member SHGs
2. Strengthen SHGs through ideas, suggestions, visits, exposures, audits, training, etc.
3. Collect and disseminate relevant, useful, and interesting information to SHGs (at monthly
meetings, through newsletters, etc.)
4. Take up activities of benefit to member SHGs & communities
5. Take up activities that strengthen the federations themselves It was agreed that federations
should not be encouraged to take on such functions that the individual
SHGs could perform on their own.
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What should be
the size of a federation, and at what level should it be formed?
Discussions centred around MYRADA’s experiences with federations until now, and the
fact that we were talking here of federations of SHGs only, and not of any other kind
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1. It was
decided that at this time we would encourage federations with a membership of not less
than 10 and not more than 20 SHGs
2. It was decided that federations that were already in existence and had more than 20 SHGs as
members would not be broken down unless absolutely necessary.
3. It was decided that, if necessary, higher level federations (i.e.
federation of federations) could be promoted at a later date.
However, the reasons for forming such apex federations would have to be clearly thought
out, and their activities would need to be well-defined
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The reasons
for keeping the federations to a maximum of 20 SHGs was a management decision
taken with a view to ensure maximum participation through keeping the size and
scale of activities manageable.
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Who should be
the members of a federation?
Discussions centred around MYRADA’s experiences with federations until now, and the
fact that we were talking here of federations of SHGs only, and not of any other kind
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1. Groups that
have the features of SHGs and have functioned as SHGs for atleast 6 months prior
to joining the federation
2. SHGs will attend federation meetings for six months as observers before being granted
membership
3. Membership in federations promoted by MYRADA will be
open not only to SHGs promoted by MYRADA but other SHGs as well, on the same
conditions as mentioned above
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Key features
of SHGs
· Stable & voluntary membership
of 20 members or less
· Regular meetings attended by all
members
· Regular savings by all members
· Building up of Common Fund
· Bank account in the name of the
group
· Credit transactions from the Common
Fund
· Maintenance of books and documents
· Rules and regulations for proper
governance
· Rotation of leadership roles
· "Credit-plus"
roles
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What should
some of the key management features of a federation be?
This was discussed under the following sub-heads :
· Terminology
· Ensuring continuity
· Meetings
· Rules and Regulations
· Responsibility-sharing
· Books and documents
· Appraisal, monitoring,
and evaluation
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Terminology : 1. It was decided to henceforth
refer to these institutions as FEDERATIONS, and not ‘Apex Bodies’
2. It was decided stop using words like ‘Share Capital’ and ‘Savings’ since they were
wrongly being used anyway.
Instead, ‘Contributions’ could be the word used for financial collections made from
SHGs.
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Federation
implies a union with autonomy for the individual units that constitute
the union; Apex implies a hierarchical structure where the unit at the top has
power over those below.
________________
There are no shares or savings in the federations we have promoted so far.
_________________
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Ensuring
continuity :
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It was decided
to promote the following :
1. Training of all Self Help Group members on the basic concept and roles of federations and
themselves as members
2. Federation meetings to be attended by 2 members from
each SHG for a 2-year term per member, with one member of the pair retiring every alternate year.
(In federations that are 4 years
or older, one member per SHG to attend compulsorily; the second member is optional. This is because
by then all the SHG members have a fairly clear idea of the functioning
of the federation)
3. Federation Meeting Minutes to be circulated to all member SHGs, and discussion of these
Minutes to be on the agenda of each member Self Help Group
4. SHGs to be encouraged to send agenda points for discussions at federation
meetings
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In the matter
of ensuring continuity, the concern was to ensure that all SHGs were aware
of all the activities of the federation so that even when persons representing an SHG
at the federation changed, there would not be a gap in understanding.
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Meetings :
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It was decided
that federations should meet regularly, once a month, preferably on a fixed date
and at a fixed venue.
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Rules &
Regulations:
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It was decided
that every federation must have certain basic rules and regulations for
governance that are written down, known to all member SHGs and accepted by all
member SHGs
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Responsibility-sharing
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1. Rotation of
cheque signatories each year
2. Maximum opportunities for sharing responsibilities to be
promoted through forming appropriate Task Forces for the various activities to be taken up. |
Task Forces
could also draw upon the talents of the other SHG members and not necessarily be limited to the SHGs’
designated representatives to the federation.
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Books &
Documents:
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The following
books are to be compulsorily maintained :
· Minutes Book
· Cash Book
· General Ledger
· Receipt and Payment Vouchers
Maintenance of other books and documents will depend on needs and activities.
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Monitoring
and Evaluation :
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1. The
federation will prepare a Monthly Financial Statement (MFS) each month
2. The work of the federation to be reviewed at each monthly meeting
3. An appraisal of performance to be done once a year, against established targets and indicators
4. An annual get-together of all members from all member SHGs where certain basic information
on the performance of the federation will be compulsorily be shared
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Should a
federation engage in fund-raising? From whom, and for what purpose?
Discussions were mainly derived from MYRADA’s past experiences with federations
collecting (what they
wrongly termed as) savings and share
capital, revolving funds given from MYRADA itself for onlending to member
SHGs, and so on.
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It was decided
to promote the following means for building up the funds of federations :
1. Membership / Admission fees as a one-time payment from member SHGs
2. Monthly contributions from member SHGs : a fixed amount to be collected each month
3. Fines from member SHGs for violations of rules, etc.
4. Bank interest earned on the account of the federation
5. Donations from any source
6. Contributions from other institutions for programmes within the scope of the
federation’s objectives
7. Service charges (when the federation’s services are used for any work)
8. Income earned from any income generating programme taken up by the federation
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Federations
require funds to meet their own operating costs. Even with a limited range of activities,
they still need money to open a bank account, purchase books of accounts,
files, stationery, etc., pay a bookwriter, host tea for members at federation
meetings, meet travel expenses, and so on. It was decided that they ought not
to depend on grants from MYRADA for such expenses. In fact, most of these
expenses are already being met by them out of their own funds, and this should
be encouraged to the maximum.
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What should be
the training imparted to federations?
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It was decided
that training would be at two levels :
At the SHG level :
One training session per SHG for all SHG members on the concept of federations, roles of
federations, and their own roles as members At the federation level 3 to 4 training programmes
attended by all federation level representatives on key topics related to the efficient functioning
of federations
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The details of
the training topics for the federation level have not been included in
this Paper since they still have to be finalised. The point to note is that in
addition to attending SHG meetings, SHG training programmes, SHG and Task Force
activities, and their own day to day work, we cannot expect these persons to
spend a lot of time attending federation level training programmes as well.
Hence, it is important to keep these trainings to a few absolutely necessary
sessions
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Should the
registration of federations be promoted? This issue was discussed only
briefly from the point of view of both merits and demerits of being legally registered
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It was decided
that at this point, MYRADA would not actively promote the legal registration of
federations. However, if they took the initiative on their own to be registered, they could go
ahead with it
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Though the
legal registration of federations will not be on the agenda at this point in time, the
federations will be oriented to follow all good practices that are needed of a
registered body, including audits
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How can a
federation establish credibility and legitimacy for itself? This point actually
emerged out of an interesting discussion on why our SHGs were known in
their communities and enjoyed a good status while federations were largely
unknown to anyone beyond their own members.
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Concluding
that in order to be sustainable a federation should establish credibility and
legitimacy for itself not only in the eyes of member SHGs but also in the
community, it was decided that the following factors would definitely contribute in this process :
· By attaining the features of
an organisation
· By showing good results in relation to objectives
· By building good relations
with as many institutions as possible
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Features of an
Organisation :
1. Vision & Mission
2. Organisational Management Systems
3. Organisational Accountability 4. Financial Management Systems 5. Linkages
6. Learning and Evaluation Systems
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