BIS # 3594 CREATING THE RIPPLE EFFECT

by BIS correspondent 

 

KAPADVANJ, JULY 29, 2013: The idea of Self Help for the poor has been pushed by DRISTI Don Bosco for several years by teaching the women of the villages to save and run their own Self Help Groups. DRISTI has been running 90 Self Help Groups.

The concept, they felt should be spread to more villages so they started a new SHPI project with NABARD to start Self Help Group in 15 new villages. They selected an untouched area along the Kapadvanj Dehgam road and have completed the target.

On the 23rd of July 2013, the audio visual hall was packed to capacity. Two hundred and thirty women were crammed into the hall. It was surprising to see the response of the women since this is a busy season in the fields and besides these women represented only 19 Self Help Groups from 14 villages. The other groups were given this training in October 2012 and February 2013.

During this training session the women were shown a film of 45 minutes duration explaining the concept of Self Help Groups. The resource person, Fr. Mayank Parmar then led them into a reflection cum discussion session. The women who are usually reticent participated enthusiastically and were very vocal in voicing their opinions and their reservation regarding SHGs because of their experience with other NGOs who had cheated them.

At the training session, the bank managers of Central bank of India, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda were also present they helped the women open accounts on the spot for the SHG groups as well as individual accounts. With these individual accounts, banks also offered them a life insurance scheme. For a premium of Rs 100/- a year they will get 4,00,000/- in case of accidental death.

Kudos to DRISTI for the work they are doing among the women of Kapadvanj taluka.