Social Impact Assessment of Microfinance Programmes - weman

To mobilize people's willingness through the provision of social guidance, NRSP takes
the following steps:
Relying on local perceptions, a poverty profile is prepared to assess the intensity of
poverty prevailing in the community that seeks social guidance.
The willing community is introduced to the philosophy of NRSP, based on which the
community organizes itself into a socially viable group called the community
organization (CO). In view of the information provided by the poverty profile, an
attempt is made to encourage the poor to join the CO.
During initial interactions with the community, genuine activists, who have an ambition
to support their communities in their quest to overcome poverty, are identified. The role
of these activists in harnessing the willingness of the communities is of paramount
significance.
Following the identification of an activist, a micro plan for each member is developed
to see what he or she is willing to do on his/her own. Along with catering to the
individual needs, group level and village level needs are also identified. A thorough
analysis of each is conducted in view of available resources and
constraints to assign priorities to the identified needs.
The next step after the cost-benefit analysis is the arrangement of the desired resources
to address the priority needs. These resources are pooled by the community, provided
by the support organization or managed through other stakeholders like private and
public sector service delivery departments, NGOs and donors.
(Source: NRSP Annual Report 2004-05)
7.1.5 Social Mobilization: NRSP’s Vision for Rural Development
NRSP works to release the potential abilities, skills and knowledge of rural men and
women, to enable them to articulate their aspirations and to effectively marshal the
resources they need to meet their identified needs. The purpose is poverty alleviation –
enabling people to break the cycle of poverty, which begins with lack of opportunity,
extends to the well-known miseries of economic and nutritional poverty and leads new
generations to endure the same conditions. The process is social mobilization - bringing
people together on new terms for a common purpose.
The conceptual tools are ‘social guidance’ (recruiting local men and women who will
take on a leadership role), advocacy, capacity building and awareness raising. The
programmatic tools are training, support to institutions, micro-credit, infrastructure
development, natural resource management and ‘productive linkages’.
7.1.5.1 Social Mobilization, the core of NRSP’s philosophy
Social mobilization is based on acknowledging that the community is the centre of all
development activities. It is only informed and engaged community members who can
plan and undertake sustainable grass roots development. NRSP utilizes the following
steps in mobilizing rural men and women:
7.1.5.1.1 Programme introduction: The process of social mobilization in a new
Union Council begins with a series of dialogues with community members, explaining
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