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A display of kewada products made and sold by an SHG |
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Members of an SHG involved in turmeric processing |
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Decision making at a Self Help
Group Meeting |
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Dr Jacob Thundyil, President of PREM, speaking at a national convention organized by
NAC-DIP |
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2,240 SHGs with a total of 41,320 members. The SHGs are located in Aska, Dharakote, Goudogotho, Sanakhemundi, Gopalpur (Ganjam district); Gunpur, Adava, Gilakuta, Mohana, Parimal, Nuagada and Gumma (Gajapati district); Krushna Prasad, Stapada, Brahmagiri, Konark blocks (Puri district).
PREM acts as the mentor and provides managerial support to UMSB. It also stands as guarantor for fund generation of UMSB. The donor agencies including SIDBI, NABARD, OXFAM Australia, the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Plan India, and various commercial banks which have provided grants and soft loans to UMSB for promotion of micro-credit programmes.
UMSB’s micro-credit network members are concentrated among the rural poor, specifically the Adivasis, Dalit and fisher people communities. Traditionally people from these communities have no assets or substantive economic activities that would enable them to raise loans through financial institutions. This has forced many to seek loans from money lenders leading to a cycle of indebtedness and dependence in economic, social and political terms.
UMSB’s approach in mobilizing the rural poor to organize SHGs has enabled members greater financial security through small savings and credit schemes, and the collective strength of the SHG network has also empowered them to bargain with the commercial banks to benefit from credit terms. Through this process of empowerment the SHGs are able to mobilise the existing financial assets for sustainable economic activities such as social forestry, community-managed livestock rearing and fishery and collective marketing.
UMSB is a network member of Indian Network of Federations of Micro-finance Self Help Groups (INFOS). The network, with a membership base of 16 SHG federations, aims at sharing the common mission of contributing towards growth of the member federations through capacity building and policy advocacy initiatives, facilitating co-learning and inculcating self-regulation.
UMSB is in the process of launching ‘Bharat Interstate Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society’, uniting the SHG federations promoted by its network partner NGOs in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Kerala. The society will strive to provide financial and technical support to community based micro-finance institutions in resource poor and socially excluded communities.
NAC-DIP: The Largest Civil Society Network in India for Indigenous People
National Advocacy Council for Development of Indigenous People (NAC-DIP), promoted by PREM, is a national-level forum for advocating the causes of marginalized Adivasi communities in India. NAC-DIP membership consists of 192 Adivasi communities from 18 states supported through a network involving 225 independent NGOs and CBOs. It is an informal platform used by a number of Adivasi organizations to implement various forms of development programmes. Such is its prominence that it has been able to organize five national conventions and five national consultations.
NAC-DIP aims to promote the rights of the indigenous people through organizing capacity building workshops, seminars and conventions to raise awareness among indigenous groups and the general public of the situation and living condition of the Adivasi people. Through network building of CBOs and NGOs, information is disseminated and issue awareness raised at local, regional and national level. NAC-DIP also engineers strategies for promoting understanding and cooperation between indigenous CBOs and NGOs and local authorities through interactions involving all sectors, which will contribute towards preventing conflict between these groups. For more information on NAC-DIP visit www.nacdip.net
ECFPF
PREM has many years experience in implementing development programmes among the marginalized communities of fisher people.
Although its active participation is concentrated along the coastlines of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, PREM has gained experience in working with the fisher people further afield in communities of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala and West Bengal, through its network partners, and promotes the East Coast Fisher People Forum (ECFPF) which comprises 28 member groups from seven states.
ECFPF initiated a micro-finance programme for achieving economic freedom of the target fisher people. At entry point Community Based Organizations (CBOs) were strengthened and Self Help Groups (SHGs) were formed for facilitation of the micro-credit system. The SHGs and CBOs were further networked at local and regional level for strengthening the system.
ECFPF periodically organizes consultations and conventions to formulate its strategies for advocacy. It promoted the East Coast Development Forum (ECDF) for operation of relief and rehabilitation of the Tsunami affected population in the coastal belt of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala.
Promotion of Self-Rule in Adivasi Areas
PREM, in conjunction with its network partners, has supported the forum Orissa Adavasi Manch in formulating an innovative project to enhance the livelihood options of the tribal communities through the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREG) and a further 35 government-funded programmes. As a result of their political, social and educational marginalization, tribal people in Orissa are ignorant of government policies, provisions and programmes from which they would benefit. PREM and its network partners engineer strategies to disseminate information through volunteers which can encourage and empower rural people to mobilize the benefits of such programmes. A total number of approximately 1,700 villages spread over 85 Gram Panchayats and 24 blocks in 10 districts have been included in the project. Efforts are being made to strengthen the Palli Sabhas, or village committees, to ensure sustainable development in tribal villages and Social Watch Groups are formed in each of the villages to achieve the objectives.
The other main objective of the project is to advocate and lobby for implementation of PESA in its true spirit in Scheduled Areas. Panchayatiraj Extension in Scheduled Areas (PESA) is the act which makes provision for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes to be formally represented, and therefore involved in the process and decision making, at Panchayatiraj institutes.
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John Chaloner, formerly Country Director of Plan India, attending a NAC-DIP conference |
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Participants at an ECFPF event held at Chennai |
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Community meeting in a tribal village to discuss National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme |
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