Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment A Case Study of Credit and Savings for Household Support Enterprise (CASHE) project of Care India By. Dr. Madhumita Sarkar Manager GED, Care India

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Background

CARE India’s Vision calls for … changing the position of women and girls in India

The purpose was to To use the Strategic Impact Inquiry (SII) protocol to identify and analyse the linkages between Women’s empowerment and Microfinance and provide evidence on contributions that CASHE is making to fight for gender equity.

To promote reflections on the enabling and disabling factors within organisations that have a wider effect on how we program.

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The Project – CASHE Micro-finance project working exclusively with ‘poor’ women

•Stated goal - increase women’s income

and their control over that income

•Formation of groups, access to financial

services

•Operational for 5 years •Funded by DFID •Begun the process of conceptualizing the

future

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Current State CASHE TIER I PROGRAMME UPDATE # of Groups Programme Status # of Clients # of clusters # of Federatio ns/ MACS/ Vos # grps linked to Apex Total Savings Financial status (Rs.) Amount Leveraged thru' Bank Linkages (NGO+SHG) Member Loan Outstandin g External loan outstanding - BANKS External loan outstanding - CASHE Cumulative RLF from CASHE Andhra Pradesh 8,269 106,528 277 119 4,639 162,806,905 240,062,613 335,519,490 77,578,527 39,805,075 61,630,904 Orissa 7,258 99,369 74 8 5,265 83,681,635 87,470,804 105,469,023 59,264,943 15,943,525 45,570,000 West Bengal 7,686 95,489 258 7 5,601 59,711,936 47,750,000 85,898,492 40,115,159 4,569,730 23,707,265 4

Research Objective/Questions

Objective:

To identify women's own perception of change with respect to their status and position within their families and community and explore to what extent can those changes be attributed to project interventions?

Key questions

Three specific streams of inquiry will be explored: Stream I - What are the women’s perceptions about the most significant changes in their lives in the last five years and how it relates to indicators of empowerment?

Stream II - What has been the impact on women’s workload Stream III - What types of collective actions have women taken to influence wider social/ political issues within the community?

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Further…



What has been the extent of change in empowerment of women and what has possibly caused the changes? To what extent were these changes caused and/or supported by project interventions?

· What are the enabling factors at the CARE, partner and client level that supported or hindered the process of advancing women’s status and position as suggested by the agreed upon indicators?

•What, if any, are the lessons a learned and

recommendations for community-based or owned microfinance programs to advance women’s status and position in their families and communities?

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Research Design/Methodology

A comparative analysis of changes and their relationship to the level and type of group interventions was explored based on the following assumptions: oSome empowerment happens regardless of group

formation

oSome happens because of group formation oSome because of SHG (CASHE-supported) formation Four different location types have been selected. oCASHE intervention site where partners had promoted

prior group interventions since 1996 – 1

oCASHE Site where partners began SHG work only since

2000 with CASHE support – 1

oSite with group without CASHE support – 1 7

What is Strategic Impact Inquiry ?

The Strategic Impact Inquiry (SII) mechanism, in general, is an attempt to better answer the critical question, “are CARE programs impacting the underlying causes of poverty and rights denial, and if so, how?” In SII the focus is on the theme of CARE’s

contribution to women’s empowerment and

gender equity to be reflected in three inter connecting aspects of social change.

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What is Strategic Impact Inquiry ? Contd…..

Em

power

ment

is conceived of as both process and outcome that comprises three dimensions—

agency, structure, and relationships.

These three dimensions are intimately related, structuring and influencing one another as the graphic below implies:

Agency Relations Structure

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What is Strategic Impact Inquiry ? Contd…..

The first, driven by the actor-centered notion of “agency,” is in the aspirations, resources, and achievements of women themselves. The second is in the broader social structures that condition women’s choices and chances. And the third is in the character of the social relationships through which women negotiate their needs and rights with other social actors.

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Methodology

A brief historical/ socioeconomic profile of each selected site – age, caste, marital status, education, political affiliation, livelihood, FGDs were conducted with members of the women’s groups in each of the sites. Individual interviews of other key stakeholders PRA tool (venn diagrams) to map change in institutional relationships; drawing the image of an empowered woman Transect walk/ social mapping added Discussions with partner staff Discussions with CARE staff 11

Guidance for Sample

Women members*** - 4 Young Non members 2 Old non members 2 Men 2 Community leaders/PRI member 2 Women leaders 2 *** may or may not be part of the FGDs ***Interviews with both vocal and non vocal women ***Interviews with residents of remote hamlets *** avoid skew in type of women selected for interviews More individuals may be interviewed as required to get the complete stories of significant change, social actions, etc.

Detailed guides for each stream of inquiry 12

Location of the study

The study was carried out in one of the CASHE operational sites in Andhra Pradesh study.

, and West Bengal. Further one partner NGO, Navjyoti from AP and Bagnan Cooperative society (BCC) from West Bengal, was selected for the 13

Major Findings

Significant Change

 Increased courage   Increased political awareness and participation in political bodies Capacity to run their own business    Change in education profile of the village all children go the school Change in decision-making has happened to some extent, there is more shared decision making.

They are more fearless and comfortable talking to new people 14

Major Findings

Significant Change

  There is reduced dependence on the moneylender Increased mobility   Family members and husband respect them and their image in the family has increased. Access to information on govt. scheme/services increased .

 Reduced violence against women ( group action was taken against men beating their wives) 15

Significant Change

In Andhra Pradesh only  Increase awareness on issues like HIV/AIDS, need for immunization of the children, how to clean and include vegetables in the diet etc   Awareness the lower caste) amongst youth on contemporary social issues of SCs (Scheduled Castes, those belonging to Active participation of men 16

Significant Change

In Andhra Pradesh only  Break down of caste barriers. There is equal participation of members in collective enterprise and actions. This is because of structures created in the SHG. It is mandatory for all members to attend all ceremonies in the household of members of the group irrespective of caste, class and religion.

 Reduced alcoholism ( it has not been eradicated) ( Cases of extreme alcoholism were taken up and police action sought) 17

Significant Change

Non Cashe Village The findings were different from Cashe villages.

Women here reported greater mobility and education for their children but there was little social action.

Their mobility was restricted to visit to the MRO and MPDO banks.

Women also mentioned increased participation in household level decision making; Enjoying greater self-respect and dignity as well as getting more respect from the community.

The women in the village who belonged to the higher caste did not mingle with the women from the lower castes.

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What do our findings show?

Our findings clearly prove that when women are organized in-groups then change happens in areas like access to financial services, and some decision making at household level. That is primarily there is change in the POWER TO situation, which implies the reinforcement of capabilities and development of leadership qualities.

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Contd…….

The enhanced POWER WITH situation in AP has happened in the CASHE groups primarily because of the strategies adopted by the NGO, their values and their parallel development programs with Cashe thus leading to a change in awareness on social issues, increased voice of women

and

change in structures. In AP the NGO partner started off by organizing Sanghas for women to fight against social issues like Alcoholism and domestic violence. They have projects on reproductive health, education and old age programme. It is clear that economic development impacts agencies of women but the structures have been impacted by strategies for social awareness.

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Contd…….

level of awareness of issues, capacity of the leader and support by the agency working in the area

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Contd….

Membership in groups have increased the workload of women but this is not looked as a burden by most women. Increase in workload cannot be directly linked to Microfinance alone, repeated failure of crops/ no job opportunities have also increased the burden on the women. Alternate livelihood option within the village is only available for women as they were the beneficiaries of all interventions government as well as Cashe.

One can almost generalize from our observations that leaders are typically having support of either their grown up daughter or their mother in law at home. They also have a supportive husband, who encourages her, as the whole family benefits from the improved social status.

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Areas of concern

The groups women from the most marginalized/ communities/ families get excluded from the self-help Continuation or worsening of harmful social practices, like dowry and sonography to test the sex of the child Access to loans often created additional workload and burden on women. The burden on loan repayment rested on women, and they were evolving, in some cases extreme measures to pay back. One such case was of a woman actually reducing number of meals for herself and her children to save money! Repayment at the cost of health poor ?

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Enabling Factors within CASHE

Project leadership structure and support Staff capacity building /Technical Support Space and forum for reflection and response Selection of Partners Focus 24

Factors within CASHE that did not help

 Treatment of GED  Focus of the program  No serious mechanisms for accountability  Lack of Organization will 25

Making Women’s Empowerment operational 1

  A woman who can take decision in her family and community is empowered, but the kind of decisions she can take does it reflect true empowerment?

In a society where there is so much discrimination against women if she is able to negotiate for her daughters education she is empowered. Is this irrespective of the fact that she is still saving money for her daughter’s dowry and withdrawing her from school so that she has to pay a smaller dowry?

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Making Women’s Empowerment operational 2

There is a new kind of leadership emerging that is of the collective kind this is also empowerment. What role can we play and what resources do we need to ensure that there are concrete strategies and concerted efforts to promote social action?

Does participation in social, and potentially create conflicts?

political arenas indicate empowerment? If participation impacts image of self, leads to greater confidence to negotiate on issues that affect their lives then why do they themselves continue or even prefer to make choices that help them in their current positions, rather than make choices that may challenge their subordinate positions 27

Making Women’s Empowerment operational 3

If women do not look at increased workload as a burden and are keen to use every minute of their time in productive activities then what is the role of the project, firstly to educate the women on the need for leisure, a time for themselves ‘me time’, secondly ensure girls are not sharing the burden of ‘economic empowerment’.

Cashe works exclusively with women and the program’s objective is women’s empowerment and gender equity, how can Cashe transform gender power relations without involving men?

What specific strategies could be built into this program to address social issues and ensure men’s participation without them taking control?

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Conclusion

CASHE GOAL is to empower poor women, then gender issues must be understood from a perspective that looks at questions of power, access and control over resources, participation in decision making and qualitative participation in different public forums. Access to micro-finance has the potential to create both positive tangible and intangible changes in women’s lives. It has been observed that women, who are able to access loans, are leaders of groups often have a greater capacity to take part in household decisions, they have a better status within the family. They are also more respected within the family as well as in the community. 29

Conclusion

The increased sense of self-confidence and esteem being felt by many women in the SHGs, and the participation of groups in local political forums are encouraging signs and reveal the change in gender dynamics. The study also throws light on the need for greater organizational commitment and direction in order to mainstream gender in its programs. 30

Recommendations

  Ensure gender is an integral part of project design capable of capturing the type and degree of change occurring in the women’s lives.

Set up systems of accountability that promote organisational commitment towards promoting sensitive organisational culture and integrating gender within programs  Staff capacity across all levels on gender analysis must be enhanced 31

Recommendations

  Organisational systems and processes should provide scope for staff and partner NGO’s to integrate gender into the project activities Ensure that the MIS (Management Information System) for the project, captures not only financial indicators such as amount of loans disbursed, savings amount, and repayment rates but there is a systematic tracking on strategic gender issues that affect the lives of women  Ensure there is systematic gathering and analysis of gender dissagregated data to help mainstream and improve gender dimensions.

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