Sostenibilidad de los grupos de autoayuda en la India : dos analisis

The self-help group (SHG) model is the dominant form of microfinance in India. SHGs have grown explosively in recent years. It is reported that by March 2006, 2.23 million SHGs were reaching about 33 million members. Such outreach appears to represent a major breakthrough in a country where 50 million households live in poverty, with very limited access to financial services. This occasional paper reports on two separate studies of SHG programs conducted by Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) staff and partners. In part one, Jennifer Isern, L. B. Prakash, Anuradha Pillai, and Syed Hashemi review SHGs developed by five different self-help promotion institutions (SHPIs), representing the main approaches to SHG promotion in India. The study looks primarily at the financial viability of these SHG programs. The study reported in part two was done by Robert Peck Christen and Gautam Ivatury for a leading commercial bank in India. This study proposes a methodology for designing SHG programs to ensure their sustainability.