Non SHG Based Schemes

SHG Based Shemes

Profile

SHG Based Schemes – which we have implemented earlier in the project span

Maharashtra Rural Credit Programme:

The Maharashtra Rural Credit Programme (MRCP) is a poverty alleviation programme supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development. In the first phase from 1994 onwards the programme was implemented in 4 Districts of Chandrapur, Yeotmal, Nanded and Pune. Thereafter from 1998 onwards 8 Districts namely Gadchiroli, Bhandrara, Amravati, Dhule, Jalgaon, Thane, Beed and Nandurbar were added. In the programme MAVIM was entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring \"Women\'s Access to Credit\" as an important dimension. While organizing rural women into SHGs MAVIM ensured that along with their economic development, the political and social developmental needs of the women were also addressed and a strong sense of \'self\' was inculcated in the women. Up and 64,423 women were organised together under this scheme.

In this project at the end of March 2007 the women had savings of Rs.10.51 crores and Rs. 39.56 crores of internal lending. The groups had accessed bank loans to the tune of Rs. 25.82 crores. and 36549 women started their own business.

Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) :-

The SGSY is a Central Government Scheme implemented through the District Rural Development Agency under the Rural Development Department with the aim of alleviating poverty. The scheme was initiated in 1999 but MAVIM has implemented the scheme in 2001. The scheme is being implemented in 31 rural districts of Maharashtra. At the end of March 2007, 10413 SHG groups were formed and 1,15,8284 women were organised.

By the end of March 2007 the women saved Rs.13.64 crores and generated internal lending of Rs. 35.15 crores under this project. The women also obtained Rs.35.15 crores of bank loans and 45405 women started their own business.

Swayamsiddha Programe (IWEP)

The Indira Mahila Yojana was implemented by the Central Government from 1994 and the Mahila Samruddhi Programme was merged with it and a revised Swayamsiddha Programme was declared for implementation for 5 years from 2001 - 2002 onwards. To implement the programme MAVIM was declared as the Programme Implementation Agency (PIA) vide G.R. No. IMY-2001/40/Ka-10 dated 3.12.2001. The Women & Child Development Department, Mantralaya, has declared MAVIM as the Apex Body for the same. MAVIM implements the Swayamsiddha Programme in 19 districts and 36 Blocks in Maharashtra. Out of 36 blocks, 21 blocks (old) of Indira Mahila Yojana and 15 new blocks were selected. A target of forming 3,500 self-help groups by the end of 2006 was given in 19 districts where the programme operated.

At the end of March 2007, 3943 SHG groups were formed and 50066 women were organised. The women saved Rs. 5.70 crores and generated internal lending of Rs. 10.31 crores. They obtained bank loans of Rs. 12.65 crores. 17734 women started their own business.

Ramai Mahila Shakshamikaran (SCP):

Under the Special Component Plan, the department of Social Justice of the State Government allotted the scheme of formation of 20,250 self-help groups of Scheduled Castes i.e. 3,03,750 women throughout Maharashtra to cover 5920 villages within 4 years. Through this programme, trainings were arranged on gender equality, gender sensitization, women\'s empowerment, social awareness, functional literacy, entrepreneurship and other related capacity-building aspects.

MAVIM has been appointed as an implementing agency of the scheme and Rs.20.25 crores was sanctioned for the project as per GR No. MAVIM 2001/4/ KA/10 WCD Dept., dated 15.2.2003. The scheme is implemented in 33 districts directly by MAVIM Sahayogines and through NGOs appointed by MAVIM.

At the end of March 2007, 20950 SHG groups were formed and 2,53,092 women were organised. Rs. 22.10 crores were saved by the women and they generated Rs. 34.33 crores of internal lending. They obtained bank loans of Rs. 16.89 crores. Under this project 56190 women started their own business.

NABARD ADD-ON PROJECT:-

Under this project, MAVIM was to form 1000 SHGs in 10 districts and 15,000 women were to be organized. MAVIM was to be given a promotion grant of Rs. 1,880/- per SHG amounting to a total of Rs.1,88,000/- by NABARD. The period of this project is of 2 years during which it is expected that the emphasis will be primarily on establishing SHGs and making credit available to them. As suggested by NABARD the 10 districts selected are Parbhani, Jalna, Washim Latur, Beed, Hingoli, Nanded, Aurangabad Gondia and Kolhapur where the scheme is implemented.

At the end of March 2007, 1773 SHG groups were formed and 21263 women were organised. Rs. 2.85 crores were saved by the SHG members and Rs. 5.39 crores were given as internal loans to members of the group. The women obtained loans of Rs.2.43 crores from banks. Under this project 4141 women started their own business.

Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana (RSY) :-

The Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana of the Planning Commission is to be implemented in the districts Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Nandurbar, Gondia, Dhule and Chandrapur. MAVIM has been entrusted the task of setting up 1000 SHGs in 3 years (2003-2005) in each district. Components such as vocational training, revolving fund MIS have been included in this programme. It is also proposed that \"MAVIM GHAR\" should be build from this fund. 

At the end of March 2007, 2213 SHG groups were formed and 27159 women were organised in six districts. Rs. 1.99 crores were saved by SHGs and Rs. 3.29 crores were given as internal lending. Under this project, 6479 women started their own business.

Krushi Saptak Yojana:-

The Krushi Saptak Yojana of the Agricultural Department is implemented by MAVIM in 4 districts i.e. Washim, Nanded Parbhani and Sangli. Under this project 25 SHGs are to be formed in each district and 250 women will be organised. The training imparted is on Agricultural skills, Animal husbandry, Dairy Development etc. The women trained in this field are to start activities related to agriculture which will help them to earn their own income. Qualified sahayoginis have been appointed by MAVIM in order to train the SHG women in agriculture related self employment activities. This scheme started in the year 2004-05.

At the end of March 2007, 501 SHG groups were formed & 9441 women were organized. Rs. 49 Lacs were saved and Rs. 1.02 crores were given as internal lending and Rs. 44. Lacs bank loan obtained by women. Under this project, 2628 women started their own business.

Tribal Development Project (TSP):-

The Tribal Department sanctioned a Project to MAVIM to develop SHGs to be implemented in 8 districts i.e Nasik, Nandurbar, Thane, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Amrawati and Yeotmal for the empowerment of Tribal Women. In this project 4600 SHGs are to be formed within 3 years. The village survey and selection has been started in 8 rural districts by March 2007. 2832 SHGs were formed and 33663 women were organised. Rs. 41.58 crores were saved by women and Rs. 2.01 crores was the internal lending and Rs. 1.58 crores Bank Loan obtained by women.

On going Schemes : 

1. Tejaswini Maharashtra Rural Women Empowerment Programme

The problems due to upscaling of MAVIM’s programme began to surface in 2004 as a large number of groups were promoted by MAVIM under the Special Component Plan which envisaged the creation of 20,250 Groups of Scheduled Caste women and the Tribal Sub Plan which had the target of setting up 4,600 SHGs of tribal women. It became difficult to retain programme quality and manage the data pertaining to the large number of SHGs with only four field level officers in every district. The expansion in the number of village level SHG animators (Sahayoginis) also created the problem of ineffective supervision of these staff. MAVIM hence requested the state government to sanction a new project for setting up second tier people’s institutions to give more effective services to SHGs. The state government then approached IFAD with a proposal for a programme aimed at providing stability and sustainability to the SHG movement in the state. Thus, in 2007 the state government sanctioned a new programme for MAVIM supported by IFAD known as the “Tejaswini Maharashtra Rural Women Empowerment Programme”.

Area of operation of Tejaswini

The Tejaswini programme will be implemented in all the 33 rural districts of the State and over 13,000 villages where MAVIM presently operates, supporting over 65,000 SHGs.

Targeting the Poor

The target group for Tejaswini will be poor rural women especially from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, woman headed households, widows, deserted women, divorcees, landless laborers, AIDS affected women etc. 

Thrust Areas

The Tejaswini Programme will focus on the following thrust areas:

Grass Roots Institution building
Micro Finance Services
Livelihood & Micro Enterprise development
Women Empowerment

Strategy for Tejaswini : Building “Community Managed Resource Centres “

It is observed that SHGs require two levels of support in order to emerge as sustainable grass root institutions. The first level of support required is for the proper mobilization of SHGs with regular and appropriate books of accounts, an efficient MIS system and assistance to members to pursue a socio -economic development agenda. The second level of support is in the form of apex organisations that provide services related to capacity building training to SHG members, SHG quality checks, bank linkages and other required services. These second tier organisations need to be owned and managed by the SHGs themselves as primary organisations. Under the Tejaswini Programme, MAVIM has thus adopted the strategy of building second tier people’s institutions called Community Managed Resource Centers.

Structure of the CMRC

The Community Managed Resource Centre (CMRC) is a federation of around 150-200 SHGs formed in a cluster of around twenty villages, within the radius of 20 to 25 k.m. All SHGs in the cluster, regardless of the agency that promoted them, will be eligible to become members and avail of the services of the CMRC. All SHGs will strive by means of training, regulation, adherence to SHG rules and implementation of entrepreneurial and socio-economic agenda to become ‘A’ Grade SHGs. The CMRC will be a registered organization and will work on a no profit no loss basis. It will not necessarily be at block level but can be established at any centrally situated village. 

Governance in CMRCs 

The CMRC will be governed by a Board represented by one SHG representative from each village elected by the SHG village level committee, adopting the principle of rotational leadership. A CMRC covering twenty villages, will have a Board constituted with twenty members. The Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Treasurer and other office Bearers will be appointed by the Board members by election from amongst themselves. The CMRC will operate by means of sub committees on various issues such as Training, Audit of SHG Accounts, Health Services, Sanitation and Water Supply, Drudgery Reduction initiatives for women, Gender and Panchayati Raj etc It will have a strong professional managerial support seconded by MAVIM in the shape of a CMRC Manager and an Accountant as well as field workers (Sahayoginies). Each Sahayogini will have around five to seven villages and provide support to around forty SHGs. The CMRC Manager will be the Member Secretary of the institution, whereas MAVIM’s District Coordinating Officer, will be an advisor to the CMRC.

Role of CMRC

The CMRC will function with a comprehensive and holistic agenda for area development. The overall role of the CMRC will be to provide the basic primary services to SHGs, that is - capacity building training to members, bank linkages, gradation, audit of SHGs. The CMRC will also provide specialized services to SHGs such as assessing the livelihood needs of SHGs, tapping the required resources through convergence with various government schemes and services and enabling the SHGs to access them and take up community development programmes.

Fees and Service charges of the CMRC

The services of the CMRCs will be paid for by the SHGs in the shape of monthly charges. There will be a standard list of services included in the general monthly service charge, as well as charges for special services and rates to be charged for non members. 
MAVIM will be supporting CMRCs for the first few years of the project period on a reducing scale. Thus the SHGs will make a contribution to the running of the CMRC right from the very beginning. CMRCs should strive to become self reliant from the fourth year of their establishment

2. ACC Ltd . assisted “ Women Empowerment programme “ :

ACC limited is a renowned company in the cement manufacturing business. As a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility Policy, ACC is keen on undertaking various development projects in selected villages near its Cement manufacturing units in various parts of India. Hence ACC ltd assisted “ Women Empowerment Programme” has been initiated and MAVIM has made a partnership agreement with ACC Ltd. It is eight years project and will implement in Chandrapur and Yeotmal districts. It will implement in 30 villages around ACC area. All the poor families of the villages will be cover in the programme. The identification of the poor will be done by MAVIM’s 14 point survey form.

The programme will focus Formation of new SHGs and nurting the existing SHGs of the villages. Major focus will be given on institution building of women by providing capacity building of SHG members and leadership development. Also women will be addressed on sensitive topics like gender integration & gender sensitization , drudgery reduction of women providing trainings. Social awareness camps health camps etc. Specific activities will be concentrated in order to give an opportunity to women to live a qualitative life. Focus on Enterpreneurship Awareness and development to enhance & ungrade the skills & providing marketing ties up. So that impact can be observed. 

Under the Tejaswini Programme, MAVIM has thus adopted the strategy of building second tier people’s institutions called Community Managed Resource Centers. In this programme also “ Community Managed Resource Centre” will be developed at block level. The CMRC will be a registered organization and will work on a no profit no loss basis. It will not necessarily be at block level but can be established at any centrally situated village. 

The CMRC will function with a comprehensive and holistic agenda for area development. The overall role of the CMRC will be to provide the basic primary services to SHGs, that is - capacity building training to members, bank linkages, gradation, audit of SHGs. The CMRC will also provide specialized services to SHGs such as assessing the livelihood needs of SHGs, tapping the required resources through convergence with various government schemes and services and enabling the SHGs to access them and take up community development programmes. So that CMRC will be self sustainable. 

3. UNFPA Assisted “ Capacity Building For Increasing Demand For Reproductive Health Services “ 

MAVIM is the State Women’s Development Corporation of Maharashtra and is working in across Maharashtra. MAVIM has covered 13000 villages and covering a population of seven lakhs women of Self Help Groups. MAVIM has its offices in every district comprising of four professional officers, support staff and Sahayoginies. Each Sahayoginies look after 40-50 SHGs covering around 20 villages . 

The Sahayogini is the backbone of the entire SHG movement in the state. MAVIM thus gives a lot of importance to the training and capacity building of Sahayoginies on various development issues, so that they can in addition to the economic aspect orient and build capacities of SHG members on development issues. Hence major focus of the project will be on –

Supported by United Nations Fund For Population Activities ( UNFPA ) , MAVIM intends to organize training of the sahayoginis for improving their knowledge, attitudes and health seeking behavior concerning their reproductive health so that they could help the members of SHGs in these aspects. If these women are addressed and their knowledge , attitude and health seeking behavior is increased they could be educating the other women in the community. It is three years programme and will implement in across Maharashtra.

4. Minority Women Empowerment Programme : 

Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal is the State Women Development Corporation , declared as a Nodal agency to implement women development programmes in Maharashtra. With the successful experience of implementing IFAD assisted MRCP programme , MAVIM has taken up various women empowerment programme through SHG building i.e. SGSY , Swayamsiddha , TSP , SCP NABARD ADD ON, Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana which are supported by Central Government as well as State Government. 

MAVIM is working in the field of women empowerment since last fifteen years. We have succeeded in bringing about the poor women in the main stream of the society/ community. The task of developing women have been successfully implemented through the effective strategy of forming Self Help Groups. MAVIM have catered towards the backward class population of Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe community. Looking at the current strata of the Muslim community there is lack of awareness and facility in the field of health, hygiene and education. The women from this community is much more behind the level of empowerment . As this community is still in the era of “Bhurka” system. Women don’t have the right to expression. Therefore it is necessary to cater towards this population and give them proper handholding support, organize them together, train and motivate them to become independent and self sufficient. MAVIM had submitted a proposal to Maharashtra State Minorities Commission, Mumbai and it is sanctioned by them. 

Thus to achieve above objective MAVIM has taken a project called “ Minorities Women Empowerment Programme “ for the selected pockets of Mumbai and eight districts of Maharashtra i.e. Malegaon, Karanja, Bhiwandi, Nanded , Parbhani , Aurangabad etc.

MAVIM will implement this programme through NGO. One NGO will be formed 200 SHGs in muslim pockets and this women will be provided with basic trainings input , functional literacy training programe, Gender sensitization awareness, Enterpreneurship awareness programme, Enterpreneurship Development Programme, village level committee, and CMRC concept etc. This activities lead to the empowerment of village women and they will become self sufficient 

The programme will focus on four major components i.e.

5. 4% Low interest rate scheme : 

NON S.H.G. BASED SCHEMES :

MAVIM Mahila Prangan (MAVIM Ghar) :

MAVIM proposes to set up training-cum –production centers at the district level across the state. These centers or MAVIM Ghar will work as residential training centers for SHG members and also act as sales outlet for the items produced by them. MAVIM Ghar thus will be an important step to provide backward and forward linkages for the SHGs. The main target groups for this project are the economically weak, poor and needy rural tribal and women laborers

Salient feature of MAVIM Ghar

At the district level the women will be provided, a centre which will house under one roof the following activities. training centre, a hostel production centre, marketing facilities for women’s products, medical services and guidance centre, a sales outlet, a crèche, a canteen, the MAVIM district office, a meeting hall for SHG women etc.

Skill training programs will be organised here for needy women, for widows and deserted women, women below the poverty line and for other needy women from SHGs.

Services to be provided under MAVIM Ghar.

MAHILA SWAVALAMBAN NIDHI (MSN):

The Mahila Swavalamban Nidhi - Fund was established under the Societies Registration Act 1860 and the Co-operative & Trust Act vide No. F/19565 dated 11.6.1997. The financial institutions by and large do not extend loans to meet the minor but essential credit needs of rural women. This situation is further compounded by the fact that women cannot offer any appropriate guarantors for their loans. They lack technical knowledge, and hence lack mobility, are overwhelmed by the perceived burden of the loan and have to face a general apathy and lack of sensitivity on the part of the bank officials. All these reasons converge to make it extremely difficult for women to acquire loans from the established financial institutions.

The MSN is basically aimed at providing financial assistance easily and without too many formalities to needy women. The rehabilitation of the women in the earthquake area i.e. Latur and Osmanabad was done through the MSN scheme. A loan amount of Rs.1.40 crores was allotted through 280 SHG groups. Rs.0.86 crores was saved by women and they generated Rs. 1.26 crores as internal lending through 6521 women.