Women Empowerment Through Self Help Groups in Watershed Development Projects in Aravali hills of Rajasthan: An Analysis of Success, Failures and Sustainability

Abstract

Women empowerment through promotion of Self Help Groups is a key strategic initiative for ensuring gender equality, inclusive growth, financial inclusion and socioeconomic development particularly of weaker sections of the society. This was one of the thrust areas of a corporate funded watershed development project which operated in 35 villages located in a highly vulnerable Aravali hills ecosystem of arid region of Rajasthan. The problem of poverty, illiteracy and drudgery of women highly marginalized in the social system of muslim dominated communities of the project area was defying solution. At the grass root level, the project was operated by an NGO Sir Syed Trust (SST) and technically supported by a professional team of watershed management experts. Efforts were made by the SST to organize the women from weaker section and landless families as Self Help Groups (SHG), provided exposure visits, trainings, and arranged bank loans to start income generating activities to support their large families. Monthly collections and inter loaning was started to begin with. Goat rearing was opted by large number of landless families as an income generating activity. These groups were federated at the block level to develop linkages with the banks for easy loans. However, the evaluation and impact assessment study conducted in 2024-25 on the present status and long term sustainability of 223 SHGs formed from 2006 to 2016 revealed a mix of success and failures. In a random sample of 93 SHGs from seven study villages, 45 SHGs became defunct over times mainly from the muslim community dominated villages, because of pressure to maintain Parda, male domination, illiteracy to maintain records and deal with banks, pressure of agriculture and livestock work, burden of caring/maintaining large size families which could not permit them to spare time for group activities. On the other hand, where non-muslim including SC and STfamilies was relatively more, the literacy rate was better, facility of easy bank loans was capitalized and the SHGs remained sustainable. In these 48 functional SHGs, regular collection of savings, inter-loaning and access to loans from federation continued. Many graduated from goat rearing to dairying, milk vending, and grocery shops in villages and remained sustainable on a trajectory of growth. This intervention of the project remained a mix of success and failures and reasons of both are deliberated in the paper for future policy guidelines.