A journey towards Economic Empowerment- a Case study from West Bengal, India

Gramin Vikas Trust( GVT) – a National level Development Organization, promoted by KRIBHCO, through its  West Bengal ( India)  Program makes an all out  effort  in providing effective and efficient  escort /hand holding support  as a vivacious  facilitator in leading the SHGs promoted  under Government schemes, NABARD linkage program etc. under TDF, WDF projects, towards a steady /balanced  path  of Socio- a. The “ Birds Eye view of such attempt is reflected  below –

Strategies adopted -

a) Community institutional arrangements and mobilization-------  Building Social & Financial Capital for the poor.

 Step- 1. Formation of SHG,

 Step-2, Federating  about 15-20 SHGs under the aegis of Village Organization, strengthening SHGs and arranging line of credits to SHG for livelihood promotions, Social actions —etc.

Step-3. Federating approximately 13 VO’s as Cluster Level Federation  for securing links with Govt departments, Financial Institute's   and auditing of VO’s.

b) Converting Social Capital in to Economic  Capital- creating assets, developing  technical business and management skill-------à Strengthening of Cluster Level Federation  as Community Based Micro Finance Institute and gradually transforms as Producers Organization for better marketing  of the SHG products.

Case study-

Name of the SHG- Bidhu Chandan Mahila Dal, Village- Paisagora, Manbazar-II, Purulia, West Bengal, India

Date of formation- 25.04.2007

Number of members-12 Nos (all APL )

Rate of savings- Rs.30/Month

Total corpus mobilized as on date- Rs.2, 00,000(  Bank loan-Rs.120,000, Savings-Rs.30,000, RF-Rs.50,000) .

Internal lending- Rs.25,000

Utilization of internal lending- Pig rearing, Goat rearing ( Pig rearing-Rs. 13000, Goat rearing- Rs.12,000). GVT extended a Group support @ Rs.5000 for Pig rearing. They purchased 4pigelets with Rs.5000 and later on purchased 6 more with their Group corpus in the tune of Rs.13,000. The earning from piglet/pig selling Rs.5000-Rs.8000/piglet, pig/year.

Bank loan- Rs.120,000 from BGVB - Regional Rural Bank, Boro Branch in October, 2014 @7% /Annum.

Key success in receiving Bank support-

 i) Proved themselves as a credit worthy groups through fuller and fruitful utilization of internal loan amount.

ii) Regular contact with the local Bank Branch.

iii) Regular and systematic Bank transaction.

iv) Systematic training to SHGs on Fund Management, SHG- Bank linkage, Financial Literacy, Micro Finance activities, Entrepreneurship management, Project formulation Mgmt by both Block officials, GVT through Mock drill( SHG Bank Linkage Program, Financial Inclusion—etc.)

v) Systematic and timely hand holding supports (viz, handling problems in opening of Bank A/C, credit linkage  and delay in Gradation by the Block Officials, ensure strict adherence to Pancha Sutra etc.)  provided by GVT.

Loan Utilization-

Purchase of 6 Sal leaf stitching machines, I dice and accessories , cost incurred- Rs.53,000 and invested Rs.20,000 more for purchasing   of raw materials like  ropes, plastic roll etc.)

Income earned-

 Recently they sold approx.12000 Sal leaf plates with an amount of Rs.49000, earned a net income of Rs.10,000.

They get the opportunity for cooking under Mid Day Meal Scheme and earns approximately Rs.38,000/yr.

Towards the “take off” stage-

Based on the tremendous urge of the SHGs  followed by continuous  guidance , motivation towards evolving Federal structures through Organization of  various Capacity Building Workshops, Trainings, Exposure Visits etc, facilitated by GVT-WB and support from DRDC,( District Rural Development Center)   last year the SHGs ( 192nos)  clubbed under  13VO’s,  federated  under the aegis of a Cluster Level Federation , named as “ Boro Samaj Kalyan Sangha”. Each member SHG deposits @Rs.20/Month to the corpus of the Federation.  DRDC extended a grant support in the tune of Rs.300000 to the said federation on last December, 2014 for on lending to member SHG for initiating business for livelihood promotion. Besides, the grant support would also be utilized for training/Capacity Building of the Sangha members on Fund Management and Entrepreneurship Development. GVT, on the other hand, had  extended supplementary  support to the said Federation, in the shape of  preparation of  Micro Credit plan, implementation of Credit rating norms,  preparing Income Enhancement plan, project formulation and Mgmt, Financial Literacy training, preparation of Banking plan-- based on identified scale of finance of the SHG families. 

All these soft skill and technical support would be instrumental in transforming the pre entrepreneur SHGs in to an Enterprising SHG and would thus become a proactive Community Based Financial Intuitions and Producers Company/Organization  in future.  The synergistic convergence of creativity, group dynamics and self management in to single thread, was the driving force behind this SHG based paradigm shift “towards a sustainable and improved livelihoods”.

Prepared by- Shri. Subrata Sarkar, INDIA

Date- 18th October, 2018