Capability assessment of women self help groups: A study in Nainital district of Uttarakhand
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Date
2014-06
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
Women constitute a significant part in household as well as in the economy. In India, out of the total population, 48.37% are women. They are the most under privileged and vulnerable section of the society and constitute a sizeable segment of those who belong to below poverty line (Mathew, 2000). Out of several efforts to up-lift women economically, Self Help Groups (SHGs) have emerged as a key strategy for women development. The rural women, with the intermediation of voluntary organizations join together for self-help to secure better economic growth. This has resulted in the formation of a large number of Self Help Groups in the country, but the end objective of maintaining quality is not fulfilled. It is seen that many of the Self Help Groups could not sustain for long and most of the members leave the group in between.
Most of the Self Help Group could not sustain because they lack capabilities necessary for the proper functioning of these group. There is a need to study the prevailing gap between the capability present and required for sustenance of the Self Help Groups. Keeping these facts in mind, the present study was undertaken to study the profile characteristics of women members of the Self Help Groups and to document Self Help Groups profile, to assess the capability of the Self Help Groups and the constraints faced by women Self Help Groups were also studied.
The study was conducted in two purposively selected blocks viz Haldwani and Bhimtal of Nainital district in Uttarakhand state. Ten Self Help Groups were selected through Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) method i.e. six from Haldwani block and four from Bhimtal block. Descriptive research design was used to meet the objective of the study. The data was collected with the help of pre-tested interview schedule and interview guide. Besides observation, focus group discussion was also used to support the quantitative data and collect qualitative data.
The findings of the study revealed that most of the respondents were middle aged (43.30 %), married (83.51 %), housewives (39.17%), belonged to general caste (62.87%), were from APL family (57.73 %), had educational qualification up to primary school (42.27%), medium sized family (56.70 %) and maximum number of the respondents had agriculture as secondary occupation (46.15%). It was also found that majority of SHGs were rated good in organizational capacity (70%) and financial management capability (70%), rated as moderate in savings and credit capability (60%), awareness capability (60%) and in plans and visions capability (60%) and rated as weak in micro-enterprise development (40%) capability, skill development capability (50%), empowerment and influences capability (50%) and networks and linkages capability (100%). It was also observed that in overall Capability Index majority of the SHGs were rated as moderate (60%). The major constraints perceived by the SHGs were lack of training, poor financial condition of the members, delay in sanctioning of loan, unprofessional attitude of the members, less education and time management.
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