Transition of SHGs into Sustainable Member Centric Institutions

It is increasingly realised that introduction of new technologies and raising productivity would not suffice to create and sustain the level of change desired to enhance livelihoods in the rural sector, especially of rural poor women. An alternative paradigm that has gained currency in the recent years is the formation of producers’ organisation (PO) to help farmers to gain easy access to marketing services and to reduce distress sale, besides helping the rural population to collectively address issues facing them. Presently, small and marginal women farmers are organised into institutions such as self-help groups (SHGs), which enable them to receive timely technical support. Realising the need to organise these smaller institutions into producers’ groups, the governments and development agencies are working hand in hand with non-government organisations to organise women members involved in similar kind of activities. The objective of these initiatives is to develop business centric institutions creating value chains to be owned and managed by community institutions. This paper documents how SHGs in Bundi in Rajasthan had graduated into a PO. Good practices observed in the transition process would help in emulating the model elsewhere in the country.