Self-Help Groups rise to Covid challenge

Preeti Madan
Distinguished Fellow, TERI

In recent years, Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have emarged as an increasingly effective tool of collective empowerment of women. Started on an experimental basis by voluntary organisations and the civil society more than four decades ago, the SHGs were initially conceived as vehicles of group lending and, later, to seek microfinance credit. The initial concept was somewhat modelled on the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and was supported by Nabard, but it took almost two decades for the concept to be assimilated in the national-level programme, when it found a place in the Swaran Jyanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) launched in 1999. In 2011, the SGSY was subsumed in the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), later re-named as the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-NRLM (DAY-NRLM). With its focus on the creation of economic opportunities for providing sustainable livelihood, the SHG concept lies at the core of the DAY-NRLM mission. DAY-NRLM is one of the largest poverty alleviation programmes in the world.

Currently, there exists a network of over 61 lakh Self-Help Groups with about 690 lakh women members under the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP), a sub-component of DAY-NRLM. Their primary objective is to build capacity among women by making systematic investments to enhance their participation and productivity in agriculture and allied activities to create sustainable livelihood opportunities, targeting the poorest, most vulnerable women through farm and non-farm activities. SHGs have emerged as an important component in the strategy to empower rural women through capacity-building in farm and non-farm activities. The programme has enabled women to earn independent incomes through off-farm and non-farm enterprise interventions through skill-building support to federations, financing, marketing and trade promotion. A linkage with the DBT mechanism allows for a timely intervention and support to 6.9 crore families of women members of SHGs. The programme has acted as a catalyst for improving self-confidence and social solidarity of women.

The SHGs are now participating in government procurement on the GeM portal. The Take-Home Rations prepared by micro-enterprise units consisting of NHGs (neighbourhood groups) under Kudumbashree is a pioneering initiative in the field of rural development, financial inclusion and, most importantly, in the battle against malnutrition. The neighbourhood groups are in the nature of ‘producer groups’ where individuals from SHGs under a village federation get together for a common enterprise. This model has been replicated by other SHGs for mid-day meals, stitching of uniform for schoolchildren, and recently even for running Fair Price Shops in some states. There exists a tremendous potential for expansion into other government procurement orders, such as file covers, jute bags and envelopes through the GeM portal. Some SHGs are foraying into the MSME sector by registering one of their members through Laghu Aadhaar identification.

The sensitivity and responsiveness demonstrated by SHGs amid the Covid-19 crisis at the community level is highly commendable. Amidst the growing concerns of shortage of face masks, SHGs located in 521 districts in 27 states/UTs came forward quickly and have already manufactured over two crore face masks for distribution (as on April 9, 2020). In most states, the SHGs are also involved in the distribution of dry rations, and provision of cooked food to the poor and vulnerable families. Their role is being expanded to produce sanitisers, protective gear and gowns for frontline workers.

The SHG network in the states provides an institutional structure which can reiterate the right messages to members and community to generate awareness on social distancing, use of face masks, recommended practices, quarantine etc. SHG volunteers are playing an active role in ensuring that people maintain social distancing in markets, PDS shops etc. In Kerala alone, about three lakh Whatsapp groups with 22 lakh SHG members have been set up (as on April 9, 2020) to educate the members, and, through them, the families, about government instructions regarding Covid-19. Nutrimix powder (fortified health supplement for six-month to three-year olds) units have been started in all districts to ensure supply during lockdown.

Self-Help Groups across the country comprise vulnerable women belonging to marginalised sections of the society, but they have collectively provided meals twice a day to over seven lakh people through about 10,000 community kitchens across the country. Several other collective actions have been taken by the SHGs in the significant role played by them in the war against coronavirus while themselves being empowered both socially and economically in the process.

The SHGs are cohesive/collaborative groups with a flat leadership structure (for example, while being engaged in the farming activity, a women farmer with several years of experience would assume the role of a project leader, but when a non-farming opportunity arises, another member with an appropriate skill-set takes over). This helps them to respond to the fast-changing requirements and in ensuring quick skill transfer from one member to another, eg when the requirement for providing face masks presented itself in the wake of Covid-19, a large number of SHGs quickly responded and organised themselves into face mask-producing units. The expansion of SHGs in newer areas is quicker when the work involves relatively low level of technology, there exists an easy availability of raw material, quality expectations are well defined, instructions for production are simple and clear and the uptake of production is assured.

The SHGs are a homogeneous grassroots-level organisation, socially sensitive, with a high level of pro-poor orientation because of their composition, capable of scaling up or adapting quickly through a federating and re-forming process. This makes them extremely useful in times of natural disasters, particularly for disseminating socially important messages, including, but not limited to, health, nutrition and education.

As they mature, the SHGs will potentially prove themselves to be invaluable in ensuring literacy; sanitation and hygiene; ante-natal and neo-natal care; nutrition to child and mother; inoculations and vaccinations and social hygiene (malaria etc). There is an urgent need to invest in SHGs, and to consider simultaneous investments in the panchayats to get the best synergistic impact.