Samooh
Creating value chains around rural products to empower Self-Help Groups to promote each other's skills & businesses.
Creating value chains around rural products to empower Self-Help Groups to promote each other's skills & businesses.
"One for all, and all for one" is what every woman in a Self-Help Group promise to each other. These women have similar socio-economic status & come together to help one another cope with or resolve mutual concerns like lack of capital, inadequate income, etc.
They meet regularly in a group to share their needs, joys, troubles, and they pool their small savings (could be as low as Rs. 10 or Rs. 20) into the group savings account - to meet the emergency needs of their members and to provide collateral-free loans with terms decided by the group at market-driven rates. This homegrown innovation of microfinance supports the group to empower their members financially & socially.
Every individual has a God-given potential and is unique in their way - which could be open to infinite possibilities with well-promised opportunities. The marginalised & vulnerable people of society have slowly come to accept and "unconsciously" understood their situation. These people are often unheard of & unseen by the rest of the community. And are often easily excluded by the decision-makers.
For example, some creditors won't provide economic support to the very poor of society since these sections generally don't have any collateral. Now, the SHG approach seeks to unleash & empower those hidden potentials to nurture their integration with the rest of the community. And once these individuals start discovering their powers and potential, there is no barrier to stop them from self-developing.
The SHG approach promotes bonding. People come together, give and take help from each other. Their hold is redefined in the community. Their bargaining powers increase, their support system is built - enabling them to upgrade their lifestyle!
Voted and nominated by the members of SHG
Leadership is rotated among the members from time to time
Motivate members to follow the "Panchasutra"
Act as a link between the SHGs and other financial Institution & Organisation
The most literate member in the group is appointed as the book keeper.
Bookkeeper is elected by members and are trained for bookkeeping
Take attendance during meetings
Keep the records of Members and Meetings Book
Maintain Savings Book, Cashbooks and Loan books
An SHG is formed from the poorer section ofthe village, and are organised, owned & operated by its members in a democratic manner, based on solidarity, reciprocity, common interest and resource pooling.
The first Self Help Groups (SHGs) are formed a community of only 15 to 20 members . When SHGs grow in number and begin to realise that there are problems they cannot solve without the help of other groups, they are prepared to form a cluster of self-help groups or a Cluster Level Association (CLA). Generally when there are about 8 to 10 strong SHGs, the groups cometogether to form a CLA. To do this, two members are carefully selected by the SHG members from among themselves to represent their group at the CLA. Thus a CLA is made up of 2 representatives from each of the SHGs that are part of the CLA.
As more and more SHGs are formed, there are more CLAs established. When there are about 8 CLAs, they come together to form a Federation. The rich experience of CLAs in bringing about important changes in the community, whether infrastructure development, helping improve social service delivery, and/or reducing structural dependencies motivates them to participate in local governance ensuring that the principles and features of SHG are recognized and find their way in local, regional, and national laws and policies.
Women aren't aware of SHGs, how can they bea part of it and what are its potentials?
Most women don't step up to join SHGs because of the unsupportive resistance from their family & husbands.
It is certainly difficult to reach each & every homes to provide training facilities from government & different organisation. This creates a lag between their motivation to make a change and their technical knowledge to run a Self Help Group.
Finding literate people in the village for bookkeeping is a huge barrier
Uncertainty about whether their idea of a SHGs would succeed or not, makes a lot of people to not join these groups
The prime reason of lack of resources in the COVID 19 was because there weren't any supply of ingredients. And so the SHG members running their businesses aren't able to receive a regular amount of raw materials.
A lot of women, after taking loans for their businesses, quits the SHG without repaying the interest.
Covid-19 halted the existing business of many members of SHGs. They couldn't go to market to sell their produce, and used to give it to a middle man who collects from their homes. So, for instance, if a vegetable selling price was Rs.20/kg, it came down as low as Rs.7/kg during the lockdown.
A Web App: Creating Value Chains around Rural Products
To document & showcase their achievements and records
To look at how other SHGs are performingand what methods they are using
To create a network with other Self Help Groups
To start, market and invite members from different groups for programs like fundraising or to sign petitions
To sell & buy products from different SHGs
Prove their regularity & dedication to their motto with different organisations and banks
Get inspired and boost their motivation with a positive competition
Help developing SHGs to build up and facilitate them to get trained in different skills
Get more supporters with affinity towards their goal. And complete their goals faster with greater impact.
Be more interdependent and support each other at the time of emergencies
Localisation
Languages
Dialects
Making it familiarised from the moment user enters
Ease of Use
No higher learning curve
Based on Use Cases
Availability
How can we make it "offline"?
Make them feel like that the app is always there for them
Trust
Consents
"What went wrong?"
Transparency
Microinteractions
System Feedbacks
Warning & Alerts
Grey Skeletons (Preload)
Progress Indicator
Communicate importantconnectivity states.
Iconography
5-Second rule: If you get it, you get it. Otherwise, change.
Memorability
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