Table of Contents
“Self Help Affinity Groups (SAGs): Their role in Poverty Reduction and Financial Sector Development”
paper presented at the
International Conference on “Micro Finance in the Global strategy for meeting the Millennium Development Goals” hosted by Concern Worldwide, Dublin, Ireland, March 2005
By Aloysius P. Fernandez, Myrada, Bangalore, India
I. Introduction
1. The broad framework of this paper is set by the theme of this conference namely: “Micro finance in the Global Strategy for meeting the Millennium Development Goals.” However the focus is on a particular component of the Micro finance strategy for poverty eradication, namely: “Self Help Groups in Poverty Eradication and Financial Sector Development”. The paper takes the position that in several developing countries where societies are still influenced by traditional customs and values – some that help to promote SHGs, others which SHGs have proved they can change as they were obstacles to progress -, the SHG strategy has proved to be successful in eradicating (or mitigating) poverty in a sustainable manner. It has also proved to be a strategy which women find acceptable and appropriate since it gives them the space they require to grow and finally, as far as India is concerned, it has been successful in changing policy and practice of the official institutions like the Reserve Bank of India, NABARD[1] and the Banking Sector. These official institutions have accepted the alternate rules and structures developed by the SHGs to manage savings and credit and respected them, instead of insisting that they be mainstreamed which is usually the first step in the total loss of their identity and strength as an alternate system which the poor have taken the lead in designing
2. This paper focuses on people’s institutions - the Self Help Groups- which are participative (as distinguished from those which are representative); they are often looked at solely from the perspective of micro finance although they have several other functions related to fostering and maintaining a level playing field for the poor as well as relations in the social, economic and political environment which promote their interests. As far as micro finance is concerned, they are geared to promoting the habit of savings, and managing micro finance (first to save, later to extend credit for all purposes to which each member gives priority and to mobilising repayments) rather than to credit provision alone or as a major objective. It is in managing micro finance rather than in its provision that the members acquire the skills and confidence to initiate change, build linkages and to protect their over all interests. The attention of international and even of national organisations promoting micro finance is largely directed solely to Micro finance Institutions which raise funds through borrowings and on lend to individuals; the extensive literature and studies in this sector deal mainly with these Micro finance Institutions. Even in India where the Reserve Bank, NABARD and the Government have come together to change banking policy radically to enable the banks to lend to Self Help Groups, most of the attention of micro finance promoters is geared to Micro finance Institutions which function as intermediaries; this focus is mainly a carry over from the attention given to such institutions in the West. Little attention is given to the policy changes in India which have allowed the main line financial Institutions (Banks) to lend directly to groups as groups thus enabling the Self Help Groups to continue to function as independent institutions in their own right. This paper therefore does not focus on the Micro finance Institutions; it tries to explain the history of the Self Help Group movement and how this resulted in a change in official banking policy; it is only in India that such a policy change has been effected and implemented over the past 13 years.
3. Micro credit is not new. The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) has been a major plank of Government policy to provide credit to the poor since the 1960s. Unfortunately it included a heavy dose of subsidy, was restricted only to so-called income generating purposes, was designed according to standard packages and costs and suffered from excessive political influence. Recoveries were poor. The Regional Rural Banks started in the early 1970s were supposed to provide micro credit; they did so but suffered from many restrictions and active trade unionism; most ran into heavy losses. The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, started in the early 1970s; it is the popular example of a micro finance Institution; it added a feature to micro finance management by building in group pressure for repayments. Its focus however was on micro credit; the encouragement to save was introduced much later. The Self Help Groups which emerged in Myrada in 1984-85 were people’s institutions; they were not what is popularly called micro finance institutions; they decided what to do and how to go about it; as a result, their scope and functions were much wider than micro credit provision.
II. What are Self Help Groups? 4. My approach has always been to describe how the building blocks of a strategy emerged in the field rather than to describe them in a more abstract way, and, since my experience is with Myrada[2], I crave your indulgence – permit me to describe our experience which led to the SHG strategy being adopted in India as a major component of the Poverty Eradication Programme.
5. Between 1983 and 1985 several of the Co-operative Societies[3] started by Myrada with over 100 members broke up because of lack of confidence in the leadership and poor management systems. Members met Myrada staff in small groups; they expressed their willingness to repay their loans to Myrada, but not to the Co-operative Society, which was a large and heterogeneous group and dominated by one individual. We informed them that they had not taken the loans from Myrada; hence the issue of repayment to Myrada did not arise. We asked: “Why not repay to the small group of people assembled here?” They agreed. The large Co-operative broke down into several small groups and the group members repaid their loans to whichever group they chose to join. Thus was born the first set of “Self Help Affinity Groups”. On analysis, Myrada realised that there was a strong feeling of “affinity” which linked the members of each of these small groups together. This affinity was based mainly on relationships of trust, relations that were non-exploitative, on certain social features (like a degree of homogeneity among the members, of voluntarism and self reliance and willingness to support one another in need), on certain structural features like a common origin (blood or ancestral village) or the same livelihood base (all daily wage earners, landless or marginal farmers, even though from different castes, religions or communities), on gender bonds (all women, or all men, though about 5% of the groups were mixed). In a few cases they were based on similar activities undertaken by each member (like basket weavers – though caste also had a role to play here; besides a large group of households undertaking a similar activity often decided to break up into smaller groups of 10-15 on the basis of affinity). Interestingly no groups were formed on the basis of political party affiliations. Briefly, the affinity groups were unpolished diamonds hidden under stones, some of which we ourselves had placed; we just happened to kick these stones aside by accident; all that we can be credited for is that we stopped to look, to learn, to identify people’s strengths or the potential of the diamond and then to build on them.
6. It is important to note that the affinity relationships existed before the intervention of an outside agent like Myrada; they were adequate to support traditional actions like mutual help in times of sickness or childcare. We often referred to this complex of relationships as “traditional social capital”. Our strategy built on these strengths. However, with new functions emerging in the self help affinity groups, this traditional capital had to be built up to cope with the demands of effective financial and organisational management, as well as with the social role that the groups had begun to play, for example, to initiate change in society and in the home, to protect and further their interests, as well as to establish linkages with supporting services and institutions. Myrada does not take the position that ‘traditional social capital’ in every situation is static and presents an obstacle to change; rather, given adequate institutional and social space in small affinity groups and with adequate capacity building support to develop organisational skills, traditional social capital has the potential to provide a base on which institutions can build ‘social capital’ that is adequate to cope with new roles. These institutions can also be empowering, provided the structure and the rules, functions and the supporting systems are designed by the people; they can also be sustainable provided they are appropriate to the resource to be managed and can be adapted or changed in response to emerging situations and needs. Briefly, this approach which Myrada adopted built on people’s strengths, which people then used to initiate changes in society and in their home which helped to protect the interests of the poor and provide space for their growth in the human, social, economic and in several cases political domains[4].
7. The relationships that members of a group establish among themselves are motivated not only by material gain – which the word ‘capital’ popularly implies. These relationships are motivated by a mix of social and material needs. Based on existing evidence, it is even fair to say that in an affinity group, which has been fostered along the lines advocated by Myrada, the motivation of the members in the initial stage is equally divided between the perceived fulfilment of social needs and the expectation of material gain. In the case of women’s self help groups, social needs, however, often tend to get priority. Women need space in our traditional rural societies to meet freely, to share concerns, to express a sense of togetherness and fellowship. Women in particular, need a place to call their own, as they are unable to meet (like men) at the village corner or around a shop. As spots that traditionally provided women with a level of security and privacy have become scarce -like water points some distance from the village – the privacy and security of an affinity group meeting is a godsend. This is why women’s affinity groups take a strong stand against men trying to interrupt their meetings. It is interesting to note that when other villagers are asked to express their opinion of a women’s self help group, their assessments focus more on the social habits developed by the members, rather than on their material progress. The most appreciated qualities of the groups include their regular meetings, the ability of members to manage their affairs in an organised and transparent manner, to take collective decisions, to impose and accept sanctions for dysfunctional behaviour and to take the lead in improving their surroundings; these are the features that others appreciate, far more than their capital (which they build up by savings which are deposited in the groups’ common fund) or material progress. These are also indicators of a well functioning institution with a high quality of governance.
8. This approach also flows from Myrada’s vision and the strategy for empowerment that it endeavours to promote. Myrada does not consider quick increases in household income as the primary objective of its micro finance (savings and credit) strategy. It has other and equally important objectives, namely empowerment of the members both as a group and as individuals. Myrada’s strategy is to use finance management as an instrument of institution building, which in turn lays the basis for empowerment. The pace and progress of the empowerment of individuals however differs from member to member. In some cases individual members leave the group after 4 to 5 years; they are able to hold their own in society, have confidence to forge and maintain linkages with other institutions and service providers and relate directly for larger loans with the Bank, which had previously extended a line of credit to the group to which the member belonged. In other cases, they are accepted by traditional “chit fund” groups which save and lend to the highest bidder with the organiser enjoying certain privileges. These members report that they themselves did not have the confidence to join these traditional groups (or for that matter to approach the Banks), prior to their membership and experience in the affinity group which gave them an opportunity to increase their incomes and a degree of credibility.
9. Before concluding this part on the Self-help Affinity Groups, it may be useful to reflect briefly on the various types of groups being promoted under recent development programmes implemented by Government, some of which are supported by Multilateral and Bilateral Agencies. In most cases, the groups formed are viewed primarily as “implementers” of the programme with the added attraction that responsibility of the intervening agency (Government and NGOs in some cases) can be off loaded onto the group in the name of “empowerment”. The claim of some intervenors (including donors) that, “we are empowering the groups”, often amounts to little more than shifting the monkey from their backs to the group (often without adequate institutional capacity building investment) The “implementer“ image of groups formed in this context is strengthened by the message often given explicitly by field staff: “if you want money, you must form a group and carry out a particular action to prove your good intentions”. If the criteria for the selection of beneficiaries is pre-set by the project, it further strengthens the impression that the group composed only of “eligible” beneficiaries is viewed as an “implementer” and will dissolve when the project is over and often long before.[5]
10. While Myrada realises that for practical reasons, groups will continue to be formed within the context of a “project”, yet, to reduce the negative impact on institutional building that this project context imposes, it is important to ensure the following: (i) groups need to be formed on the basis of affinity, not on the criteria for beneficiary selection –this requires a change in the traditional approach to costing of the community organisation component which is guided by the number of beneficiaries. (ii). At least six to eight months must be devoted to institutional capacity building before the group is asked to prepare plans for investment in infrastructure or to apply for grants for individual assets. (iii) During this period a significant investment in capacity building is required; this should focus on helping the group to build a vision and a strategy which is not limited by the “project” on hand but by what the group envisages in the long term. (iv) If the project envisages provision of credit, the group should be assessed on the basis of its institutional strengths (not on the viability of each individual loan) and a line of credit provided to the group, leaving the group to decide on the purpose of each loan, on the interest rates, repayment schedules and on sanctions where members fail to conform to agreed schedules or accepted norms of social behaviour. 11.
12. The SAGs need not exist forever. Experience indicates that after several years, the self help affinity group is able to decide whether it should continue or whether it has served its purpose and can wither away, whether it has to re-engineer itself to take on new roles and functions or whether the present interests of the members require them to leave and join other institutions or establish linkages on their own. Myrada has never claimed that each affinity group will continue “for ever” or for that matter that it is the “only” path to economic salvation for the poor. What it seeks to ensure, as far as possible, is to build the members’ confidence and skills through participating effectively in the functioning of an affinity group and to ensure that individual members and the group have the space, knowledge, confidence and skills to decide on their future. The continuation of the group itself depends on the decisions of the members. The needs and aspirations of each member change over time, and while some may decide to leave the affinity group, others may apply to join or the group itself may decide to dissolve; some members may decide to form or join other groups which are structurally more appropriate to support their growth like traditional chit fund groups formed to provide larger loans, or unions or networks to lobby for their social and political rights.
III. Why Groups? 13. The answer to this is relatively simple: It has to do with the strategy that an organisation adopts for empowerment of the poor. If the organisation adopts as its mission “to build poor people’s institutions” that are continuously evolving due to an internal momentum that embraces human, social, political and economic dimensions which together support the livelihood base of the poor and over which they have a degree of control, then the need to form groups emerges as a critical component. Of course this very statement reveals a bias; the most one can do is to make the bias as evident as possible. The bias emerges from the belief that to initiate a process that has the potential to eradicate poverty in a sustainable manner, it is necessary to go beyond awareness to build institutions that people can control right from the start. Our experience has shown that the institutions most suited to achieve this objective are participative (namely where all the members participate in decision making and not only their representatives) and only of the poor. Other bodies exist in Myrada’s projects whose members are elected; these are representative bodies and have proved to be appropriate to achieve objectives related to management of drinking water systems and sanitation, but not to eradicate poverty or to change social relations since they are still influenced by traditional power structures. When well established, the participative institutions, like SAGs play a critical role in lobbying for the representative institutions to be more transparent in their operations, inclusive in decision-making and equitable in the allocation of resources. Examples of representative institutions are all the political bodies at the National, State, District (Zilla Panchayat), Taluk and Gram Panchayat (5 villages together) level; while examples of the representative institutions are the Gram Sabha (which covers one village or habitation and which is the only participative body in the Panchayat Raj system), the SHGs, Watershed Management Associations and several similar bodies below the Gram Sabha. Myrada believes that participative and representative institutions are equally important as building blocks of a healthy democracy since together they play a major role in eradicating poverty and in bringing in good governance at the base.
IV. Micro finance as a Component of the Broad Strategy to Eradicate Poverty 14. During 1984-85, Myrada made several studies related to the structural causes of rural poverty. Dependence on credit from private sources at exorbitant rates of interest was identified as one of the major factors. Private sources offered credit in time, without paper work and at the door. Exorbitant interest rates however resulted in the poor never being able to build a capital base for investment even when the activity they were involved in generated adequate income to do so. As a result they were constantly in debt. Other activities like trading, which had the potential to earn around 20%-25% income per day were not considered to be viable as interest rates itself averaged around 10% per day. Often the borrower repaid debt not only in cash and kind but in labour and services (for e.g. they had to plough the land of the lender immediately after the rains leaving their own lands for later when it is difficult to plough in some types of soil leaving fields unploughed thereby missing the opportunity to use the first rains; they had to run errands often far away) and often ending up in losing land and assets which they had pledged as security. The poor had limited access to credit from formal institutions ─ hardly 20% of credit actually disbursed came from the four official financing institutions, namely the Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Co-operatives and Land Development Banks (LDB). The official institutions dispensing credit were subject to political decisions and pressures, lack of capital and initiative, inappropriate credit policies and norms and a general sense of decay.[6]
15. I was once asked by senior Government Officers what impact the new liberalisation policy would have on the poor. Besides pointing out the additional problems that they could face, I stressed that the poor had always lived in a “liberalised” economy, at least as far as wages and interest rates were concerned. Their wages went up and down depending on seasonal demand and the interest rates they paid were far higher that the regulated regime that governed the official financial institutions. The direct link between poverty and finance cannot be over-emphasised. Besides, when two groups of people in the same country borrow at widely different rates, it indicates an inefficient use of resources.
16. An analysis of the structural causes of poverty revealed that the relations of dependence caused by borrowing money were being strengthened and perpetuated by a host of traditional social factors related to caste and sub-castes and often class. Some of them played a constructive role in days gone by but due to expectations rising, resources becoming increasingly scarce thus increasing competition and the need to strengthen one’s social identity in order to balance the growing sense of alienation due to the increasing pace of change, these traditional social practices and institutions have become more exclusive, more intolerant of “dysfunctional” behaviour (which we would hold up as an example of social change) and more aggressive in controlling resources (land, water, government schemes etc). A sub-culture of being reconciled to one’s fate or situation also prevailed among the poor. Myrada realised that the old slogan: ”do not give the poor a fish; teach them how to fish,” which in the 1960s had led the way from a charity approach to one that invested in building people’s skills and capacities, was no longer adequate. In the social situation described above, even those who had learnt to fish continued to remain poor, because they could not reach the river. Apart from the lack of livelihood skills, their way to the river was blocked by a host of hurdles mainly constructed by social and political forces which they could not overcome alone. They borrowed money on the way for food and to meet with urgent needs and had to work for years to repay before they could move on; they could not draw water from wells since the were controlled by the upper castes, they could not read the road signs showing them the correct way to the river and when they reached the river, others had already captured the fishing rights. Their experience in the SAGs and their Federations which emerged later provided the poor with the confidence, power and organisational skills to negotiate these hurdles and to work out solutions adapted to each situation.
17. A major feature which Myrada considers critical to its strategy is the legitimacy and effectiveness of conflict as a component of the strategy of empowerment which plays a key role in changing the situation of the poor both in the financial as well as in the social domains and gradually in the political. Conflict, however, has to be managed in order not to expose the poor before they are ready to take the lead according to their own timetable. The SAGs emerged as the appropriate institution to manage conflict. The SAG members did not start by challenging the existing power structure openly and in the public space but by building institutions of the poor in neutral and even private space which took time to affect prevailing systems allowing those whose interest they had an impact on to readjust. They also decided to start by attempting change in the financial domain by introducing a system of savings in the SAGs after they were convinced that their savings were safe and that they could use them according to their rules and needs. They did not condemn the moneylenders as evil. The people knew that moneylenders would always be required as the demand for credit could not be met only from official sources or even from SAGs; the objective was to bring the private interest rates down which happened when the immediate and urgent needs of members were met from the SAGs common fund; the SAGs introduced competition in the financial sector. For example two years after SAGs were formed in a village, we discovered that the interest rates levied by money lending families living in the village (which ranged from 5% to 10% per month) fell - at times by about 50%; the purposes also changed; the SAG members no longer borrowed from money lenders for urgent needs like health, food and education though they still approached them for larger loans for assets; even this changed over a period of three to four years as the common fund of the SAGs grew larger. Moneylenders from outside the village stopped coming, as the cost of travel made their operations unviable when interest rates fell.
18. The SAGs also introduced change in the private, social and political domains while managing the conflict that arose in the process. The major objectives of Myrada while supporting poor people to build institutions is to provide them with an opportunity and the space to develop a vision and mission, to grow in confidence and skills to maintain organisational and financial management systems, to establish the linkages required for an institution to function effectively and with a degree of sustainability and to become agents for social change. In this process, the members of the Self-help Affinity Groups build new relationships within the group and within society. The assumption is that if the status in the home of a woman SAG member, hitherto conditioned by relations with her husband and other men folk, has improved, then her membership in the group must be partly (if not entirely) responsible for it. As far as impact on society is concerned, it is reasonable to assume that if the SAG member’s credibility rises with his/her being a member of the group, which is respected by others for its performance in the village, their membership in the group has influenced to some extent the traditional perceptions of society towards the poorer families most of whom are from the lower caste or social strata. All these changes are described by the word “empowerment”. The perceptions of society need to change along with the growth in self-confidence and the increasing involvement of the poor sectors in society. If, on the contrary, the perceptions of society do not change while the SAGs increase their social role, society tends to react negatively to initiatives of the poor; this gives rise to unhealthy tension and often to open conflict.
V. Indicators of Empowerment 19. In order to analyse whether becoming members of an SAG, empowers the poor, six indicators were used in studies carried out both by Myrada and external evaluators.
20. If the poorest members hold positions of authority in the SAGs it is an indicator that the group’s functioning has contributed to the empowerment of the weakest within the group. This indicator, however limited, is tangible enough to point towards an empowerment process that the institution building strategy fosters. In all affinity groups fostered by Myrada, there are two representatives appointed by the members. They are the signatories of cheques and other documents. They are supposed to be changed every year, though this does not happen in all groups in the initial years. A study conducted by Myrada showed that that the members who were identified by the group as belonging to the ‘lower poor’ category are not marginalised when candidates are selected for positions of authority in the groups, though they have not been given preference during the first years in some groups and their representation has not been proportionate to their respective numbers in other groups.
21. A second indicator of the ‘empowerment’ of poor is whether affinity group members get elected to the ‘Gram Panchayat’ (a local governance body). If the members selected by the group win the elections and get elected to the Panchayat, it indicates that the confidence level of the group has grown sufficiently for the members to be engaged in the political domain. Further, it indicates that the village by and large has begun to respect the group as an institution, since many have supported the candidates it puts up. Several of those interviewed in the village after the elections indicated that they had voted for the group member because she/he was a member of a group which was functioning well and which they respected. A significant number of Self-help Affinity Group members have been elected to the Gram Panchayat. This was the case in previous elections, as well as in the last elections. Approximately 200 members of Affinity Groups in Myrada projects have been elected to their respective ‘Gram Panchayats’ in the elections of 2000[7].
22. A third indicator is the degree or level of impact the Group has on village life. This indicator must be viewed in the context of the status of members of the group in society, before the group was formed. These affinity groups are formed of the poor, marginalised and generally lower castes. For them to have influence in the village, to act and to be accepted as ‘agents of change’ is not viewed as a “traditional” role. In fact, any such initiative on their part would be viewed normally as a sign of “arrogance”. If therefore, the group has gained respect because of its functioning both as an institution and of the social roles that it has performed, it further supports the position that an institution that functions well is a powerful instrument of ‘empowerment’.
23. The CATAD[8] study (“NGO-Based Participatory Impact Monitoring of an Integrated Rural Development Project in Holalkere Taluk, Karnataka State, India”), which covered 64 Self-help Affinity Groups, selected three indicators to assess the impact of the group on village life. It admits that all three indicators have limitations, but the findings from each indicator tend to support one another. (Pages 127 and 128)
§ The percentage of groups who have been approached at least once by other groups in the village to help solve socially related problems:
§ The percentage of groups in charge of maintaining at least two village infrastructure assets.
§ The percentage of groups having elected members to at least two local bodies.
Confer Annexure 1 for a few case studies.
24. A fourth indicator of empowerment, particularly of women, is the change in gender relations in favour of women. In women’s groups, the issue of gender (understood as gender relations) is a major one. The CATAD study attempted to assess whether membership in an affinity group had an impact on gender relations in the home between husband and wife. Three areas of decision-making in the family were analysed: Decisions on the purpose of loans, decisions on adding to household infrastructure and decisions on household purchases. In general, the number of decisions made exclusively by the husband decreases significantly over the years. The highest shift from husband’s decision making to wife’s decision making is seen in the issues related to household infrastructure. This kind of change is least in decisions related to household purchases. What emerges from discussions with families is that a joint decision in issues related to the household is most acceptable; disagreement can be managed in a way that relationships are strengthened without leading to conflict.
25. The fifth indicator is the acceptance of SAGs as bankable by financial institutions. In general, Bankers are not comfortable with informal groups of the poor. Dealing with a group of poor women who turn up in a group to their Bank branches has not been their daily experience. These clients do not carry the image that a Banker wants to project to his high profile customers. Besides, the poor have long been considered to be poor risks and in general “un-bankable”. There has been a remarkable change in bankers’ perceptions and approach during the past 6 years due largely to the performance of the SAGs in repaying loans which averages 98%. For example 8618 SAGs from Myrada’s projects have received Rs. 661 million as credit; this is another indicator that the profile and credibility of institutions of the poor has risen significantly.
26. The sixth indicator was whether participation in the group increased member’s self confidence?
The “Social Intermediation Study” provides some insights that are quoted below: – Page 25-26 “Confidence to Access Mainstream Institutions: u Learning To Sign – Many members said that they had learnt to sign after joining the group. Although this might seem like a minor achievement to us, to SAG members it seemed to be a way of gaining acceptance in the ‘mainstream’, and a source of pride. Many members spoke of how they were previously ashamed to conduct bank transactions, as they had to use thumb impressions in place of signing. Only after learning to sign were they comfortable going to a bank. This realisation may be attributed to an increased exposure through the group to the requirements of the ‘mainstream’.
u Confidence To Approach A Bank – Many members mentioned that, only after joining the SAG, they had gained the confidence of conducting bank transactions on their own, and approaching Bank officials for a loan. This increased confidence may be attributed partly to Myrada’s efforts at promoting bank linkages in all its projects, by providing both SAG members and bank officials with training on SAG-Bank linkage during which they interacted with one another.
u Confidence To Speak To Visitors And Government Officials – Many members said that after joining the SAG they had frequent exposure to visitors. Representatives of SAGs linked to the IMK (Indira Mahila Kendra – a Federation of SAGs), had frequent interaction with public offices, and are now able to seek out and approach Government officials on their own.
u Learning Communication Skills Required To Deal With The ‘Mainstream’ – Several members, mentioned about their ability to frame an agenda, talk, argue and hold their own in a meeting or a formal setting, and be attentive to what others are saying. They attributed this to the skills they had acquired after joining the group. Many also said that they had learnt the ‘appropriate’ language for dealing with officials, i.e., using the plural instead of the singular when addressing another person, using ‘mainstream’ language rather than the local dialect when talking to outsiders, etc. These skills may be attributed to an increased exposure to participation in formal settings, and exposure to interacting with visitors and Government officials through the group.
u Awareness of Rights and Procedures – Many SAG members mentioned that it was only after exposure to mainstream institutions and officials, that they acquired greater awareness of their rights in the welfare system, and of the procedures and requirements of negotiating the bureaucratic maze. This increased awareness may also be attributed to the willingness of the ‘mainstream’, to target SAG members for awareness generation, and the efforts of Myrada staff to educate the SAG members on their rights. Many less aware members of the Groups have also benefited from the experience of the more exposed members who already had access to information and contacts before joining the group.
u Confidence To Start New SAGs And Provide Support To Existing Groups – Many ex-members expressed a wish to start a group on their own. Some had already formed groups in their localities on their own initiative. Many group members also act as community trainers for the new groups in the area. Through the federation, many representatives of the affinity groups provide support to new groups and also help in the process of conflict resolution in the groups. Members attributed this ability to capacity building programmes conducted by Myrada and to the experience in group processes gained in the SAG.”
VI. Why focus on Women’s Groups?27. Myrada is often asked why the focus in its projects is mainly on women’s groups. This focus emerged when Myrada discovered that as soon as men in the SAGs increased their income, they spent most of the increase on themselves. They shifted their consumption pattern from beedis to cigarettes for example. On the other hand it emerged that women spent their increased income on their household requirements especially for their children. There were also other reasons which strengthened this focus. A summary of these reasons is given below; it is an extract from a study made by a student M. Osborne from Kassel University, Germany.
28. Initially, when Myrada staff began organising women’s Self-help Affinity Groups, there were reactions from men who tried to prevent women from attending meetings, often resorting to the use of force. But gradually this changed, as men realised that the women were able to access loans. Many women’s groups continued to have problems with men demanding to attend their meetings. When this was refused, they were found lingering around the meeting place to overhear the conversation. This behaviour was strongly objected to, and fines were imposed on some men.
29. Changes in attitudes in favour of the girl child are also evident. In many groups, resolutions have been taken by the members to ensure that their daughters attend school regularly, and that they will be treated equally as the sons. Fines have been imposed on those who have not conformed to these decisions. The Social Intermediation Study also records several case stories of changes from traditional women’s roles. Three case stories are given in Annexure 2.
VII. Affinity vs. Competition 30. The social context described above within which the SAGs function and the underlying cultural pressures and practices do not make much sense to those who function in a liberalised and globalised context. It may be interesting to share the reactions of a group of fairly top and middle level management persons from Motorola and Hansen (a construction/construction materials firm) who visited and interacted with SAGs in one of Myrada’s projects (Dharmapuri) as part of their Advanced Leadership Programme organised by the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, one of India’s premier institutes. Let me quote from the report of their reactions: [9] ... There were typical questions and concerns and counterpoints during the ‘Advanced Leadership Programme’ debriefing § Competition vs. cooperation; individualism vs. ‘autonomous interdependence’; individual utility vs. greater common good This was for most participants the contrast between the way they usually think everything should be organised. They saw leadership as what gives competitive advantage (a la Nokia vs. Motorola). Leadership is about being the best – the best individual, the best group, etc. and they could not perceive how SAGs have cooperation not only between members but also between groups in the village. While all were quite impressed that SAG members were showing extraordinary leadership abilities, they felt that Myrada’s insistence on practices like ‘rotation of leadership’, preference to call people ‘representatives’ not ‘leaders’ – as practices that were preventing natural leadership from living up to its potential (some also said that rotating leadership was really rotation of tasks). Some felt that if natural leaders were allowed to stay in their positions longer there would be ‘quicker economic development’. Of course, some of their own members disagreed – that economic development was alone not the objective of agencies like Myrada – but that ‘leadership development’ itself was an objective and that such leadership can be defined differently from ‘winning horses’ (again read “competition”). The responses for this point were – that countries like India did not lack ‘leaders’ – the buck fell short of ‘leadership’ that was compassionate, responsible and cared for the ‘greater common good’. In fact the participants were shocked that every SAG member when asked ‘what she wanted for herself?’ said – she wanted a better village, better education for children (hers and others’), better relationships between individual and institutions – etc. they were impressed by this ‘expansive vision’ of people. They felt that the strength of the SAGs was that they were organisations that were ‘driven by a vision – that was broad ’ and ‘committed to a strong belief in wanting a greater common good’ – the greater common good here is a ‘value’.
There was an interesting contrast: Singapore vs. Bangalore Singapore = organised; Bangalore = chaotic or ‘self-organised’. The SAGs in their opinion fell more under the Bangalore model – they were not necessarily regimented – no clear hierarchies, no clear environment in which they could function – but were self-organised in such a way that they could manoeuvre even in uncertain situations – one needs greater management and leadership skills to do so. Singapore of course needs leadership of the Lee Kuan Yew style – at the macro – and that sorts out the micro level. Singapore’s rules are known and top down – Bangalore has to work them out on its own. SAGs are essentially creating rules for themselves and for the larger community/environment in which they live. In fact the self-organising at MEADOW[10] was an eye-opener for them. (they don’t have supervisors – somehow they know how to divide up the work and when they want to rotate). For Prof.Mintzberg the key question was, “is Motorola’s leadership managing Motorola or are they managing the numbers?” If it is managing numbers (while numbers are important) – the processes will not empower the employees – nor may it be beneficial to the world at large (short-termism); contrast with processes that empower SAG members and mindful of impact on community. The objectives of SAGs was not only to manage savings and credit well – but to empower the individual members and to attain greater common good. It is typical in corporate organisations to change the leader to increase profitability (often measured by earnings per share). Whereas in the SAG context leadership was seen as a process of raising the leadership abilities of the many to a higher level, to develop the checks and balances – to ask appropriate questions of other leaders and to decide what is good in the long run. Mintzberg: Kibbutz in Israel were more egalitarian as long as they were agrarian and as soon as they turned to industrial pursuits – the needed specialisation invariably brought in hierarchies and unequal rewards. This point was made in reference to MEADOW – where the women did not quite have an ‘incentive system’ that differentiated heavily between different responsibilities. How long can MEADOW carry on like this? In his paper on alternate forms of organising – he speaks of three strategies for organisational development § Handing over: such as Myrada developing SAGs and slowly allowing them to take over functions it performed for them for their daily management – e.g. bookkeeping, basic training, etc. § Crossing over: in this type the new organisation (e.g. SAGs) actually moves on to a more complex activity – such as MEADOW or MASS (Mahila Abhivruddhi matthu Samrakshana Samsthe - An organisation of Devadasis promoted by Myrada): Prof. Mintzberg thinks this is often ‘too much of a stretch’ for local organisations and they tend to saturate or close down. This is his reason for the failure of many complex enterprises of the poor – though their small-scale efforts actually succeed. The third form is a bit of a meeting mid way – Myrada for e.g. simplifies its expectations and the groups build up their capabilities – perhaps having Anandan, a Myrada staff on MEADOW’s rolls is a bit of this strategy too.
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