Socially deprived to financially independent

Sangharsh Mahila Manch’ is a federation of women Self Help Groups (SHG) in Ramgarh block of Alwar district of Rajasthan. The Manch is empowering its women members, most of whom belong to poor and socially deprived sections in the area. It was promoted in 2004 with support from IBTADA, a well-known non-profit organisation in Alwar that is supported by the Trusts under the Sakh Se Vikas – Rajasthan Microfinance Initiative.

The federation is now partnering with IBTADA to provide extension services to members for livelihoods such as goat and dairy promotion and even agriculture. It has helped to identify and train a cadre of 30 active SHG members as pashu sakhis and krishi sakhis who respectively provide routine animal health care services and extension services on various crops to members. Since 2009, the Manch has been helping interested SHG members to purchase good quality seeds and other agri-inputs for various crops. Since 2010, the federation also became actively involved in facilitating life and health insurance linkages among members. It also provides audit services to the member SHGs. It has recently started a health programme for its members wherein with support from IBTADA, it will try to address health issues of women through training a cadre of Swasthya Sakhis from among its members.

As on March 31, 2011, the federation has a membership of 1,636 women organized in 146 SHGs and 13 clusters. It has a staff cadre of four Munshis, one Accountant, Assistant Manager and a Manager to carry out its operations. It is now able to cover its full operational costs including salaries of staff from the fee paid by member SHGs for its various services. The federation leaders meet every month and review their work. Annual plan and budget are prepared for each financial year and the books of accounts are audited annually by an external auditor. The federation has a Board of 13 members comprising one representative each from the member clusters. The Board, in turn, elects a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and Treasurer from among itself. Elections are held every three years. The federation is registered under the Trust Act.

While the achievements may seem impressive, the journey of the past 7-8 years has been full of challenges for the federation. Explains Meena, the feisty 35 year old Chairperson of the federation, “The women members and especially the leaders faced huge resistance from their families and villages as they came out to hold meetings, interact with outsiders and involved in a large number of activities. Conflicts within the groups also led to setbacks from time to time.” For IBTADA, building the capacities of illiterate women to understand accounts and finances and take decisions on financial and operational issues was a huge challenge. “But the women took up the challenge and are now proud of the fact that they are not dependent upon anyone for grants to run their operations.However, they still look up to IBTADA for mentoring and guidance,” she adds with a grin.

A unique feature of the Sakh-Se-Vikas initiative of the Trusts is the 3-tier model of SHGs, clusters and federations across all its projects. Promotion of higher tier institutions of SHGs, i.e., clusters and federations has helped to sustain the quality of the SHGs and also helped them become financially sustainable. Of the 25 federations supported under the initiative, 13 cover their full operational costs and the remaining are in the process of achieving the same. The focus within the initiative for mature federations is to help them play a significant role in livelihood promotion for members and also address other development concerns of members – such as health and establishing access to government programmes.

Intensive capacity building of members and leaders of the SHGs, clusters and federations is one of the most critical inputs required to achieve the above. Also, ensuring transparency in operations, democratic governance and adhering to high level of financial and institutional quality standards have been instrumental in this direction.