Self Help Groups (SHGS)
- Agrotech (AIFPCL) Women Empowerment programme supports its members (and their families) to be included in the existing SHGs, form new SHGs, or sustain the existing ones. This gives them opportunities to resolve common problems, develop their individual strengths, and improve the quality of their lives. It takes special care to build the capacity of SHG members and handhold them throughout. This is done by providing opportunities for conducting meetings, speaking in public with confidence, writing minutes of meetings, resolving conflicts, problem-solving, etc.
- Agrotech encourages new SHGs to learn from already established groups in the community and develop partnerships with them. Such partnerships help share knowledge and resources and ensure that more needy people are reached. SHGs are federated at the village, block or district level.
- Many SHGs are actively engaged in income generation activities, and this provides sustainable livelihoods to their members. This livelihood support helps in the growth of the local economy and the aspirations of the affected people. Agrotech takes special care to nurture existing livelihood means while implementing new livelihood programmes. For example, SHG members doing farming are encouraged to adopt innovative approaches, like focussing on organic farming and doing rainwater harvesting. They are also provided business skills, concepts of costing, pricing and marketing.