Empowering Women Self Help Groups Through Microfinance During Covid-19: A Case Study of Women SHG

Abstract

The paper describes the mitigating effect of self-help groups in India during and post covid-19 situation. The study examines the potential opportunities and challenges concerning the contextual differences across and within the countries. Self-help group has been important in empowering its members by providing opportunities for livelihood support and income generator during the covid-19 situation. The self-help group played a very important role during the covid-19 situation as half of the SHG was involved in community awareness and infection prevention activities in their community. The study identifies a potential mechanism through which women's groups may be affected by covid-19 situations.
 JEL Classification Codes: G21, I3.

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“…Natural catastrophes and pandemics are becoming substantial global dangers, posing a significant threat to social, economic, and environmental well-being [5]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries imposed a statewide lockdown, and women's self-help groups assisted in managing of the village's health and nutrition difficulties [26].…”

“…Women in SHGs raised health awareness by organizing specific capacitybuilding programs linked to medical information and its applications in an emergency [4]. According to statistics from April, around 20,000 SHGs across India have produced over 19 million masks and 100,000 liters of sanitizer [5]. These things have been supplied to several masses without going through the shipping logistics because the manufacture is decentralized.…”

A Study on Impact of Microfinance Institutions on Socio Economic Development of Saurashtran Women

“…Self-help group mechanism has been widely accepted as an integral part of microfinance (Sharma et al, 2021). Several directives and guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to the commercial banks have clearly mentioned the need to recognize the self-help group as a potential tool of micro finance.…”