Profile of self help groups members in Wardha district of Maharashtra

Abstract:

Self Help Groups (SHGs) play an important role in improving the socio-economic conditions of their members by promoting savings, income-generating activities, social participation and self-confidence. The present study was conducted to assess the impact of Self Help Groups on its members in Wardha district of Maharashtra. An ex-post facto research design was used to collect data from 128 SHG members of Wardha and Samudrapur tahsils using a structured interview schedule. The profile of SHG members provides an understanding of their socio-economic, personal and psychological characteristics, which influence their participation and involvement in SHG activities. The profile of the respondents was studied in terms of age, education, family size, family type, marital status, annual income, training received, social participation, source of information, market orientation and economic motivation. The findings indicated that, the nearly two third of the respondents belonged to the middle age group (61.72%) and had secondary school education (54.69%). Nearly one-third of the respondents belonged to the higher annual income category (30.47%), while 66.30 per cent had received two-day training and the findings further revealed that, the majority of the respondents fell under the medium category with respect to social participation (67.96%), source of information (63.28%), market orientation (75.00%) and economic motivation (64.84%). There is scope for improving the socio-economic characteristics of SHG members from medium to high levels through regular skill development, capacity building, better access to information, timely financial support and improved market linkages.