Women's self-help groups in Andhra Pradesh: participatory poverty alleviation in action

Abstract

The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, one of India's poorest, has used development self-help groups (SHGs) extensively as a primary tool of poverty alleviation and empowerment. A SHG is a small group of persons who come together with the intention of finding a solution to a common problem such as medical issues, livelihood generation or watershed management, with a degree of self-sufficiency. However, in Andhra Pradesh, the groups largely are the conduit through which micro credit is routed to the poor in the belief that it will serve as a catalyst in helping them to pull out of poverty. National and state government initiatives, as well as NGO efforts, have used SHGs to implement poverty alleviation programs in Andhra Pradesh since 1979. Self-help groups also empower poor women, more than 4.8 million of whom are mobilized into SHGs. Early programs sought to provide self-employment, empower, and incorporate rural poor women into the development process. Homogenous groups of women would choose and collectively undertake an economic activity suited to their skills and resources, supplemented by state matching grants.