Data collection visit to Gadcharoli and Chandrapur

As a part of the continuing process of data collection for the study on micro finance and livelihoods, a
trip was made to Gadcharoli and Chandrapur which are two eastern districts of Maharastra and fall
under the eastern hills and plateau region of the agro-climatic zones. The trip began on January 6 th
evening and ended on January 20th evening. A total of six organisations were visited and four field
areas of four of these organisations were explored. A total of 76 questionnaires were filled, out of
which 36 were from Gadcharoli and 40 were from Chandrapur. Organisational profiling for each of the
organisation were carried in accordance to the questionnaire prepared for this purpose. Given below are
the details collected on each of the six organisation's followed by reflections.

Gadcharoli Distrct

Aami Amcha Arogya Saati

Aami Amchai Arogya Saati is an NGO which is located in Khurkeda village of Gadcharoli district.
This village is located on the Maharastra- Chatisgargh border and is a naxal infested region. A visit to
the organisation was made on January 8th . The investigators spend three days with this organisation.
Shubda Deshmukh one of the founders of the organisation guided them around. Field investigators
were hired and were given on the field training. These field investigators were able to fill up to 36
schedules from two villages.

Aami Amchai Arogya Saati was registered in 1984 and began work in 1986. The founders of this
organisation were once a part of the J.P Narain's youth movement. After they came out of the
movement, they decided to start an organisation which would work in the rural areas. The organisation
today works in Chandrapur, Gadcharoli and Nagpur. Their work in Nagpur is quite recent and the
focus is on city slums.

The main focus of this organisation was health. But the organisation has not just limited itself to health.
Over the years, it has tried to be relevant to rural communities by taking up other issues of the villagers.
Accordingly, they also have programs on education, livelihoods (Income generating activities), mother
and child care, local self government and joint forest management.

Income generating programmes are an important part of Ammi Amcha Arogya Saati's (AAAS) work.
Lots of planning and efforts have gone in implementing these programmes. In order to facilitate this
and also other programmes they formed SHG's in 1996. The first SHG bank linkage in Chandrapur
district was made made by them. The formation of SHG;s in the villages and linking them up to the
banks have actually helped women and their families to build assets and also initiate small income
generating activities. It has freed them from money lenders. Before, these women used to take money
from money lenders coming from near by Andhra Pradesh (called by the local people as “Kangal
Bank”) for interest rates as high as 120%. AAAS has formed about 16 SHG federations so far. Three
of these federations have got revolving funds from Action Aid. Groups within a radius of 5-6 kms has
been organized into federations.

The main motivation behind having an income generation promoting programme was to empower
women economically and to make then independent. The organisation sees livelihood simply as
income generating activities and believe that local resources including the local market are able to
provide for the income of local communities.
AAAS conducted a survey in the local market and observed what was being sold in the market.
Accordingly it encouraged people to sell the same items. They also promoted a honey production
programme. Accordingly, they have trained a few people in the near by Centre for Science. These
people were traditional honey hunters. Here they were trained on honey extracting techniques without
destroying the bee colony and thus promoting sustainability of this venture. As a result of the trainees
following these practices, the honey colonies in the jungle have grown. 25 families have been
benefiting from this. AAAS is also running a small honey processing unit. The annual sale of this unit
is about 40 quintals. Besides this, AAAS has also encouraged and trained people in gathering
medicinal plants and herbs from the forest. SHG members collect them and AAAS sells them. As on
date this activity happens on a small scale. They have outsourced the marketing to an outside NGO
called AROHA in Nagpur. AAAS hopes that people will be make use to local resources and
opportunities and promote their livelihoods. AAAS on its part is thinking of more income generating
programmes dairy being the next in line.

Other than these they have also organized EGS unions to strengthen the bargaining power of people.
Naxalism has got a good presence in the areas where they are working. Whenever they try and object to
the working of the SHG, the SHG members themselves deal with these groups.

The organisation hopes that in the future people will be able to take forward these programmes on their
own.

Field visit to an AAAS promoted SHG

The investigators were able to visit an SHG promoted by AAAS called Prena. This group was formed
in 2001 under the SJSY scheme. It has a membership of 10 people. The inspiration for these women to
organize themselves into a SHG came when they saw other groups being formed in the village and
women benefiting from it. The members of this group are not members of any other group. The group
has undergone training in health and sanitation and have been so far able to supplement the efforts done
by AAAS in the villlage.

The group began with an initial savings of Rs 20 a month, but today they are saving up to Rs 50 a
month. They borrow for the purpose of agriculture and also for making baskets. The existing CCL of
this group is 2 lakhs. Even though they don't depend on the money lenders any more, they are
sometimes not able to meet their entire credit needs. In order to address this, they depend on the
federations for more loans.

The basket making activity is being undertaken at small scale and also provides employment to
members of other group. The baskets are made by women irrespective of the groups they belong in
return for Rs 100 (aprox) a day which is paid by Prena SHG. The raw material is got from the nearby
Wadasa town and the finished goods are sold to traders who come from Wadasa.

This group has been nominated for the best group award under the SJSY scheme for this year.

Chandrapur District

Maharashtra Village Development Association

The investigators visited this organisation on 15th January. Mr Nandu Lakhe the director of this
organisation hosted us. His team helped us to fill up 40 questionnaires from two blocks of Chandrapur
district. We were also taken to their field area, where we met an SHG promoted by them.

Maharashtra Village Development Association (MVDA) was founded and registered in 1994. This
organization works in Chandrapur, Bhandara and Wardha districts of Maharastra. Since the beginning
the only programme this organisation has been focusing on is promotion of SHG's. They have so far
promoted 2300 SHG's and have linked 95% of them to the banks. They have been the “Best performing
NGO in state” award from NABARD for six consecutive years since 2001.The organisation believes
that suicides in that area has reduced after the formation and functioning of SHG's.

Other programs which have been undertaken by MVDA are a village development program aided by
NABARD and a capacity development programme for the tribal's which was supported by IGSSS.
Besides these, the organisation also assists in data collection for institutes, government bodies and other
NGO's. The organisation does not have a focus approach or strategy for the promotion of livelihood.

Off late they have been implementing an Micro-enterpise development programme along with MGSKP
, which has been promoted by NABARD and is being piloted in Chandrapur distirict. The main aim of
this programme is to create 500 women entrepreneurs from matured SHG's. For our field visit we
visited a mature SHG promoted by MVDA, where some of its members were willing to partner with it
for this programme.

The organisation plans to get into education and organic farming in the future. The reason given for this
is that they are fed up of just forming SHG's and working with them.

Field visit to an MVDA promoted SHG

The investigators were able to meet an SHG which was promoted by MVDA .

The investigators visited Jijavu Mahila Bhachat Ghat in Mangli Rai village of Bhadravati taluk of
Chandrapur district. This SHG was formed in 2005 and has 12 members. The savings and lending
activities in this group has been going on quite well. The members save Rs 50 a month. Their CCL is
95,000 as on date. The group does internal lending at 24%. The repayment amongst the group member
according to the group is good. The group also claims they don't have to go to the money lenders
anymore for loans.

The group utilizes loans predominantly for agriculture. A few of them use it to finance their shops. A
few people have purchased cows and have started a small diary unit. The group has been successful in
closing down liquor shops in their village.

A few members of this groups along with few members from other SHG”s in the village have come
together to start a fly ash brick making unit with the support of NABARD and MVDA. This
programme is a part NABARD Micro-enterpise development programme which is in its pilot phase.
The women have already received training in fly brick making from the local fly brick manufacturing
units and right now are waiting for the bank loans to be sanctioned for this purpose.

Manas Sanstan

The investigators visited Manas Sanstan on the 16th of January. Bhimrao Bhalme and Nilesh the
founders of the organisation hosted us.

Manas Sanstan is a new NGO. It was registered in 2007. It is a very small organisation with no staff at
all. They have just started the process of forming groups and linking it to banks under a water shed
development programme sponsored by DRDA. The organisation says that it faces difficulty in forming
groups as there are too many SHG's already formed and that ever woman is a part of one SHG or the
other. The organisation does no have a specific livelihood programme. Other than forming SHGs they
are involved in developing check dams as a part of the watershed programme.

The sate of affairs of this organisation can be assessed from the fact that the founders of this
organisation are trying hard for their own survival.

Field visit to meet Manas Sanstan promoted SHG members

The investigators were able to meet members of about three SHG's who had gathered in the house of an
SHG member.

The women who gathered here were clearly happy about the functioning of their groups. They said that
their dependency on money lenders has decreased. The loans taken by the groups were used for goat
rearing, shops and also for co-operative farming. In co-operative farming women across groups had
come together and have taken 10 acres on rent. The success of this they say depended on the
monsoons. The groups are able to give out an average loan size of Rs 5000.

Few of the women are thinking about venturing into candle making. A lady has expressed desire to
start a tailoring unit. But one incident narrated by a woman brings out the challenge for women
entrepreneur in that village. This woman had began a stationary shop using the loan from her SHG.
Business was good until a local trader began to come daily to that village. Since he had more variety to
sell and also because people thought that since this woman is a local person, her products will not be as
good when compared to the local trader. The resulting consequences of this attitude was that this
woman had to close down her shop.

Maharastra Gram Sikshan Ani Karya Prathistan (MGSKP)

The investigators visited this organization on 18th January 2009. Mr Rajesh Pinjarkar the director of the
organisation was there to welcome them.

MGSKP has been working since 1995. This organisation has its presence in Chandrapur district only.
The organisation began with a focus on youth, farmers and labourers. So far they have worked in
building the capacities of panchayati members, implementing a food for work programme supported
by CASA. Other than this, they have also formed a union of contract labourers.

But the main area of work of this organisation has been SHG promotion. This is mainly because of the
thrust given by NABARD. The thought of forming SHG's they say came because of their desire to
reach out to women. They have promoted about 1000 SHG's so far and claim 100% bank linkages.
HDFC had offered them loans so that they could re-finance it the SHG groups. But since the interest
rates were high they did not venture into that field.

Off late they have been implementing an Micro-enterpise development programme along with
Maharastra Village Development Association (MVDA), which has been promoted by NABARD and is
being piloted in Chandrapur distirict. The main aim of this programme is to create 500 women
entrepreneurs from matured SHG's.

This organisation does not have got any livelihood program. They did not allow us to visit their field
saying that they were not ready for it.

NABARD

The investigators were able to visit NABARD on the 18th of January. Here Mr Thite AGM NABARD
Chandrapur welcomed them.

Chandrapur according to NABARD is the most successful district in terms of SHG-Bank linkage
programme in Maharashtra. It has the most number of SHG formed and linked to banks. The 239 bank
branches in the villages according to Mr Thite were in profit because of the SHG bank linkage
programme. So far in this financial year about 30 to 40 crores has been extended to about 34,000
SHG's in the district. Mr Thite claims that the repayment rate in the district is 96% and has shown
documentary evidence to prove it. He also siad that the adivasi area of the district still offers a good
scope for more SHG-Bank linksages program. .

Seeing the success of the SHG bank linkage program NABARD has now initiated a pilot project to
develop micro-enterprises in that region called micro-enterprises development programme. The
objective is to covert 500 women into entrepreneurs. These women will be picked up from mature
SHG's. They have partnered with MVDA and MGSKP for this and have already reached their targets.

YARD

The investigators were able to visit YARD on January 17th. Here Mr Arun Chaudri welcomed them.

Youth Awareness and Rural Development (YARD) was founded in 2002 and is based in Warora taluk
of Chandrapur district. The main aim of this organisation is to work with the youth in rural areas and
through them get into many rural development activities. The organisation so far has worked on Village
planning process sponsored by UNICEF, Aapkhe Saathi Project sponsored by CRY, SGSY, Organic
Farming programme funded by Agriculture Department, Joint Forest Management supported by the
the Forest department, Nirmal Gram project supported by the government and an Women's
Empowerment Programme.

This organisation does not have any focused programme on livelihoods. Only recently, they have
formed about 25 SHG;s and have linked a few of them to the banks. They plan to do more of this in the
coming days. This organisation has plan to take over groups which were left behind by other
organisations after their project got over.

Field Visit

The investigators were taken to visit a gathering of SHG members from various groups.

The women who gathered there said that they were regular in their meetings and financial transactions.
They initially declared that they no longer depended on money lenders for their finances. When
specifically asked about the sufficiency of loans got from banks they said that loan amounts were not
sufficient and that they sometimes asked the local money lender. The loans taken by them are only used
for agriculture. They have not taken up any income generating activities because of the fear that it
might fail.

The group appeared very passive and were not answering many of the investigators questions
questions. Later we came to know that they were formed by some other organisation who felt and wnet.
YARD had just taken over some of these groups recently and planned to take over the rest too.

Reflections

The investigators visit to Gadcharoli and Chandrapur was quite insightful. As mentioned in the report
earlier they had visited one organisation in Gadcharoli and five organizations in Chandrapur. All of
these organizations were NGO's. There is only one MFI to our knowledge which is working in that area
which is SKS which did not respond to the investigators request to meet them.

The organisation visited can be divided into two distinct groups – The first group consists of
organizations which are driven by a vision and has a strategy to actualize this vision. Their projects and
programmes are inspired by this vision. The second group consists of organizations who are driven by
the projects available. The vision of the projects and programmes of the sponsoring agency becomes
the temporary vision of these organizations. Even though they have a vision stated on paper it is not
seen in practice.

Of all the organizations visited by the investigators Ami Amcha Arogya Saati impressed them very
much. This is the only organisation which fits into the first group. The organisation is being led by two
individuals who are driven by a vision to work for the betterment of rural communities. This has been
transferred to the organisation. One can see a proper plan and direction in the growth of the
organisation. They started of by focusing only on health. But today they are also addressing other needs
of people including livelihoods and in this way it is being more relevant. This organisation might not
have the Robert Chambers idea of livelihood. But their work is very much in tune to this idea. They
have worked on education, local self government, women's empowerment, health and joint forest
management which has helped local people develop assets and capacities. Their projects are properly
planned, where they know what they have to to do and what the end result should be like. For the
investigators it appeared that they have comprehended the SHG movement properly because they have
not limited these groups to savings and borrowing only but have linked many of their programmes to
these groups. Many of these groups have been able to successfully take up income generating activities
and support members from other groups. In order to overcome short falls in loans made available
through banks the organisation has federated the SHG's and these federation help in covering the
shortfalls. These SHG federations have been envisaged to be a co-operative bank in the future. Another
important aspect which the organization has kept in mind is sustainability of their activities specially
the income generating activities.

On the other hand all the organizations visited in Chandrapur did not impress the investigators as much.
Many of these organizations were indeed hardworking and doing good work. But they don't have any
strategy as to how they should work and how they should approach things. In fact their capacities to do
so appeared very limited. Their work largely depends on the strategy of their funders. In this case it is
mostly NABARD. Since NABARD is on a nation wide mission to promote SHG and link them to
banks its also becomes the work of these organisation who get funds from NABARD. A few
organizations like YARD have worked on other projects from UNICEF but thats again on a strategy
promoted by UNICEF. None of the projects which these organizations are working on are those
conceived by themselves. As a result none of this organisation has any fixed livelihood program or
strategy. Most of them are working in forming SHG's and linking them to the banks which is the only
livelihood promoting activity they are doing by default. As a result of their efforts Chandrapur has got a
good concentration of SHG's. But the problem that is coming up as a result of this is that a few
organizations are tying to break existing SHG's to form new ones in order to meet targets. Even the
quality of groups formed are not up to the mark. There are reports of many non-functional SHG's
which have become so because of lack of supervision. A few of these SHG's have told us that they are
not being able to meet all their credit needs and hence they still have to depend on the money lender's.
SHG's are formed for every project by the government instead of using existing SHG's for projects.
For example, under the Jal Swaraj Scheme which is right now being implemented by Manas Sanstan it
is reuired by the implementing agencies to form separate SHG's. In a place like Chandrapur where the
density of SHG's is anyway high it spells disaster because as mentioned earlier, some implementing
agencies try and break the already functioning groups for this purpose. These are generally the
problems which were observed by the investigators.