SHG (Self-Help Groups)
The Self Help Groups (SHG) and ethical finance activities has been a part of our for over a decade. Currently, women’ make up around 90% of the SHGs and the groups generally have between 12-19 members. Kudumbam acts like the middleman between the SHGs, private banks, and the agricultural development state bank NABFINS. Our field offices staff conduct training for newly established SHG on leadership, the importance of documentation and how to register a group etc. We also strongly beleive that each member in a SHG should stand on equal ground to avoid any form of discrimination. The SHGs helps to boost the members confidence in finance, strengthen their individual and collective capacities, as well as acting as an empowerment for persons who have limited resources in rural areas. The advantage for the group members to become a part of an SHG is that it provides an opportunity to get a quick loan in an emergency situation with less obstacles, compared to conventional applications to banks or other financial institutions. We aim to continue and up-scale our work within the field of micro ethical finance in the coming years.