Women in self help groups and Panchayti Raj institutions: suggesting synergistic linkages

"It can be said that given the fact India has seen two major initiatives towards women’s empowerment, in the guise of PRIs and micro finance, the time has now come for research to delve into unraveling the areas of overlap between the two processes. There are issues, which affect women’s lives intimately which are seen in both initiatives. A common conceptualization of empowerment should be used to gauge the extent of empowerment that has been unleashed by women’s participation in PRIs and in SHGs. It is not to suggest that necessarily there are similarities or that similarities have to found under any circumstance. The purpose of this paper has been to suggest that there already exist linkages between the two processes and the extent and scope of these linkages need further investigation. Such research will serve well to suggest policy change that will coordinate between these two processes.

Women in self help groups and Panchayti Raj institutions: suggesting synergistic linkages

"It can be said that given the fact India has seen two major initiatives towards women’s empowerment, in the guise of PRIs and micro finance, the time has now come for research to delve into unraveling the areas of overlap between the two processes. There are issues, which affect women’s lives intimately which are seen in both initiatives. A common conceptualization of empowerment should be used to gauge the extent of empowerment that has been unleashed by women’s participation in PRIs and in SHGs. It is not to suggest that necessarily there are similarities or that similarities have to found under any circumstance. The purpose of this paper has been to suggest that there already exist linkages between the two processes and the extent and scope of these linkages need further investigation. Such research will serve well to suggest policy change that will coordinate between these two processes.

7. Can microfinance empower women?

Currently, microfinance has become the endorsed solution to poverty alleviation. Over the past few years microfinance has been advocated internationally as the formal route to offering opportunities for livelihoods and pulling the poor out of poverty traps. Small sums of credit are made out to persons who are supposed to put the money to productive use, thereby guaranteeing repayment. Women are seen as more creditworthy than men and hence the bulk of microfinance is directed towards them. In ..

Women in Self Help Groups and Panchayti Raj Institutions: Suggesting Synergistic Linkages

Questions about the processes of empowerment generated under each of these interventions and also suggests synergistic linkages between the two are raised.women, Institutions, financially, families, Panchayati Raj, rural development, village, education, Empowerment, decision making, synergistic linkages, interventions, Self Help Groups, woman, child marriage, SHGs, micro finance

Microfinance challenges: empowerment or disempowerment of the poor?

Microfinance is often presented, not only as an efficient tool to fight against poverty, but also as a means of promoting the empowerment of the most marginalized sections of the population, especially women. However, reality has shown that the causal relation between microfinance and empowerment is neither linear, nor unequivocal and that it is even less systematic. This book is an attempt to nourish the debate, on the one hand, by combining theoretical reflections and case studies, and on the other hand, by engaging practitioners and researchers from various backgrounds (mainly economists, sociologists and anthropologists). First of all, we consider the question of definitions. Even if everyone agrees that the concept of ‘empowerment' refers to notions of choice, of power and of change, the diversity of definitions suggested here confirms that under no circumstances does a universal conception of it exist. The second part insists on the central role of the environment. The link between microfinance and empowerment is all the more subtle, and sometimes unforeseeable, as microfinance projects take place within an economic, socio-cultural and political context that is itself complex, evolutionary and which partially conditions the results obtained. Microfinance projects - as any development projects - should therefore be understood and analyzed as endogenous processes. Finally, a third part relates to the crucial question of evaluation. Here still, the diversity of the results is striking: certain experiments are very positive while elsewhere the results are very mixed and sometimes even worrying. One does not speak any more of empowerment, but of “disempowerment” or even “overempowerment”. This heterogeneity of results is due as much to the diversity of the projects, their methods of action, the target population, and the context of intervention as to the methodologies of evaluation. The conclusion leads us to go beyond a certain number of contradictions evoked throughout the book while proposing to think of empowerment using the French concept of “solidarity-based economy”. This concept of solidarity-based economy, which is theoretical as well as normative, is a framework for analysis and action, which, according to us, must make it possible to guard against the risks of failures and perverse effects mentioned throughout the book.La relation de causalité entre microfinance et empowerment n’est ni linéaire, ni univoque et encore moins systématique. Cet ouvrage propose d’alimenter le débat, d’une part en combinant réflexions théoriques et études de cas, d’autre part en confrontant praticiens et chercheurs de diverses disciplines. Une première partie propose de définir le concept d’empowerment. Une seconde partie insiste sur le rôle central de l’environnement. Le lien entre microfinance et empowerment est d’autant plus subtil, parfois imprévisible, que les projets de microfinance prennent place dans un contexte économique, social, culturel et politique qui est lui-même complexe, évolutif et qui conditionne partiellement les résultats obtenus. Une troisième partie porte sur la question cruciale de l’évaluation