Self-Help Groups and its Future Directions: Evidence from West Bengal

Abstract

The delivery of credit through Self-Help Groups (SHG) to rural women has had remarkable outcomes, both economically and socially. We articulate findings from our field visit in two rural blocks in West Bengal on the motivation and benefits of being an SHG member and provide suggestions for strengthening the existing programme. While our analyses suggest that the SHG programme has successfully mobilised women from poor economic backgrounds to form groups, it seems a few SHG members were not satisfied with the benefits they expected from the group. At a time when significant emphasis is given to economic inclusion of the disadvantaged sections of society bereft of resources and benefits of formal banking systems, the implementation of suggestions stated by the SHG members can help to promote and strengthen the existing SHG programme in the state of West Bengal, India.