A helping hand

Dr Sudha Kothari,honorary Managing Trustee and founder of Chaitanya,says,“Initially when we started,the concept of SHGs was new in Maharashtra. Because of lack of information,people were a bit suspicious. But after regular visits and genuine rapport building,our efforts started showing results and we have grown from 700 members to more than 25,000 members. It took some time for the men in villages to recognise the efforts of women.”

Actively working in the seven districts of Maharashtra,Chaitanya was sanctioned a Women’s Training and Resource Centre in Rajgurunagar,by NABARD. The centre,which is located around 45 km from Pune,is involved in the activities that facilitate the organisations which are working at grass-root level.

The members have been trained in activities like animal husbandry,organic farming,horticulture,kitchen gardening,tailoring and vermicompost to name a few. Besides these skills,they are also trained as Jankaars – which is further divided into four parts – SHGs Jankaar,Government Jankaar,Legal Jankaar and Financial Literacy and Livelihood Jankaar. This way,the rural women are educated at various levels to solve their problems at their end.

Chaitanya is also a member of National Network of Resource Organisations formed by seven committed resource organisations in SHG sector from different parts of the country,viz. APMAS Hyderabad; CMF Jaipur,Chaitanya,Pune; ISMW Ahemdabad and Reach India Kolkata.

Kothari says,“Chaitanya has been a catalyst in facilitating the process to get the rural women out of the vicious cycle of poverty. It has provided the much needed social security and a platform which can address their financial and social needs.”

Amongst its various future plans,Chaitanya aims to set up a non-banking finance company where the federation would be having share in the company. Also,it plans to reach out to more and more people in other districts.