Self-help Groups as Financial Intermediaries in India ... - Sa-Dhan

It is possible to query the methodology of such quantitative surveys that use before-aftercomparisons. Also, the attribution of impact to a particular intervention has been seen to be adifficult proposition. Nevertheless, some of the results are staggering. In terms of economicimpact:• Average value of assets per household (including livestock and consumer durables) roseby 72.3% to Rs. 11,793 during the three-year period.• Average net income per household from income generating activities where loan amountswere deployed, increased from Rs. 20,177 prior to group formation to Rs. 26,889.• Employment increased by 17% and average saving per member was about Rs. 1,000 in1998-99.• Borrowing for income generation activities increased from 50% to 70%.• It was estimated that 112 households or 47.8% of the poor had crossed the poverty line.If these results were to hold true for the programme as a whole, it would be a spectacularachievement. The only unexpected feature is that 326 households out of the sample of 560covered by the study (58.2%) were already above the poverty line in the pre-SHG situation!This raises the serious question as to whether SHGs really cover mainly poor families.Another significant finding was that a standard of living index of sample householdscomprising of socio-economic parameters rose for both economic and social parameters.However, the impact was more pronounced on social aspects rather than economic aspects.Further, social impact was found to be stronger in the case of groups promoted by NGOs thanin groups promoted by banks.Other positive impacts experienced by SHG members related to increase in self-worth,communication skills, desire to protest social evils, improved response to problem situationsand a decrease in family violence. A consistent increased access to various amenities such aswater, health and sanitation, schools and markets is also indicated, though it is hardly clearhow this can be ascribed to loans accessed by some members of SHGs.A more limited study of 70 SHGs promoted in Tamil Nadu through four leadingNGOs, ASSEFA, MYRADA, DHAN Foundation and LEAD, Trichy was undertakenby NABARD during 1996-97 (Puhazhendi, 2000). The performance of groups wasassessed using a scoring system covering indicators such as homogeneity of groups,regularity in holding meetings attendance at meetings, increase in rate of savings,share of production loan to total loan, training, NGO involvement and effectiveleadership. 61% of groups were found to be performing well, 29% average and 10%poorly. (9% of groups had disintegrated, but dropouts do not appear to have beencovered by the study nor reasons for the break up of groups reported).In the Tamil Nadu study, economic impact was assessed through net increase infamily income, which was found to have more than doubled for the sample groupsduring the period of participation in the SHG. The study report is short on detail andanalysis and the methodology is far from robust. Social impacts identified related toliteracy levels, housing facilities and food security. Empowerment of women wasobserved in the form of participation of financial decisions in the family, checkingliquor addiction of male family members and sending children to school. The groups56