Self Help Group

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Self Help Group

Self-help groups are informal groups of people who come together to address their common
problems. While self-help might imply a focus on the individual, one important characteristic of
self-help groups is the idea of mutual support – people helping each other.
Self-help groups have been used as an effective strategy for poverty alleviation, human
development and social empowerment and are therefore often focused on microcredit
programmes and income-generating activities.
Over the past 20 years, self-help groups have been used in various forms in the disability sector,
and self-help groups of people with disabilities and their families are engaged in a whole range
of activities including health care, rehabilitation, education, microcredit.
Self-help groups can facilitate empowerment means through which people with disabilities can
participate in their communities and it is through the involvement in groups that they can begin
to develop their awareness and the ability to organize and act and bring about change.
Over the past 7 years, Antara Swanirbhar Dal has focused their activities through their regular
meetings and started group stabilisation through thrift and credit activity amongst the
members and building a sufficient group corpus. In Antara Swanirbhar Dal, there are three
leaders. One president, one secretary, and one cashier

Functions of Antara Swanirbhar Dal:

  • The group leader arranges the daily meetings and records the
    attendance of the members.
  • They collect money for monthly savings in the group meetings.
  • They are maintaining cash books, stock books, savings pass books, and credit pass books.
  • Number of meetings conducted by the group leaders annually: 12–14
  • The leaders of the group also participate in local panchayat meetings every month.
  • This year, they got a Cash Credit (CC loan) loan up to 2,50,000/-.