| Self-Help
Groups and Women Empowerment
Empowering rural
women by organising, strengthening their decision
making capacities, increasing their access and
control of economic benefits and inculcating leadership
qualities, form an important agenda of Arpana.
Arpana has formed 42 women’s self help groups
with a membership of 479 women in 78 villages
of Chamba District. A sense of ownership and responsibility
is instilled amongst members towards their groups,
bringing the women into the main stream in the
process of economic emancipation and development.
Arpana has a
clear perspective for these groups and envisions
these as the institutions which, in future, will
promote the overall social, political and economic
empowerment of women.
Social
Action
Members of women’s groups have also been
involved collectively in activities like tree
plantation, sanitation drives, fight against alcohol,
promoting community health, construction of paths,
roads, construction of tanks, etc.
Micro-credit
Interloaning is extensively being done in many groups
and money is being returned regularly. Some groups
have applied for loans from Grameen Bank. At present,
32 women are engaged in a wide range of entrepreneurship
activities, e.g. rearing of sheep, buffalo and cow;
cutting of wood and tiles; grocery shop; sewing,
etc.
All groups have bank accounts and the members operate
these accounts independently.
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