Functioning Profile of Self-Help Groups - Evidences and Insights

Micro-credit delivery through the thrift and credit group approach was evolved as a blend of financial and social intermediation where social cohesion and group lending are ensured through joint liability to bridge the gaps created by poverty, illiteracy, gender and remoteness. A Self-Help Group is a voluntary organisation and the functional efficiency of the groups can head start the growth of the SHGs whereas inefficiency on this level can lead to passiveness or disintegration of the groups. The SHGs have no written bylaws for their formation or functioning but some basic norms, ensured through regular interventions of the facilitator, can help the SHGs become vibrant entities as functional efficiency is the foundation stone of the successful edifice of bank linkage and income generation.This paper, therefore attempts to study the functioning of SHGs in the context of certain parameters and evaluate the functional efficiency to reflect and evolve prescriptions.