Livelihood promotion is the key component of Women Self Help Groups.

Hand- loom proction of SHG Women of Manachanallur

Livelihood promotion is the key component of Women Self Help Groups.SEVAI with the support of Society General Foundation provides training to women’s self help groups (SHG’s) in livelihood projects to enable women to generate their own income. SEVAI/OFI/SGF has realized the importance of devoting attention to the economic betterment and development of rural women in certin pockets of Trichirapalli District and there should be no discrimination on the grounds of gender. Women undertake the more onerous tasks involved in

Hand loom woven sarees by SHG Women of SEVAI

the day-to-day running of households, including the collection of fuel wood for cooking and the fetching of drinking water, and their nutritional status and literacy rates are lower than those of men. The important feature of self-help groups has been the establishment of links between self-help groups and the commercial banks to promote livelihood promotion activities for women groups. Self Help Groups (SHGs) are village-based programs with agendas of empowerment, income generation for women and their families, development of leadership abilities, anti-poverty agendas, using financial intermediation as a starting point to these goals. SEVAI NGO is one of the pioneers in the promotion of Self-Help Groups (SHG) in Trichirapalli District with the support of SGF. A savings and credit SHG is a simple yet effective way of reaching out and connecting with rural poor women. The women self help groups created with the support of local Government, SEVAI in collaboration with OFI/SGF create a platform for the rural women to earn a livelihood by forming a self-sustainable group which through self help and mutual help prepare products and market them. These self help groups have

Kunden Jewellery production

around 12 women those are under poverty line and promote savings habit among them. The trained groups attach a business model to the group depending on the skill set and interests of the group and help themselves and also other groups of same nature in the production and marketing of the products. A pilot production is made to test the market for the products. This takes 10-15 days according to the products requirements. Production process takes about around 10 weeks according to the market of the product.Nurturing Self-Help Groups of rural poor women is SEVAI’s key tool in fulfilling its mission and goals. The Self-Help Groups work for the women in a number of ways: they provide guidance; they give support and assistance to women; and they identify and promote home-based enterprises among its members. These home-based enterprises, called “honeybee activities”, involve a many ventures. The SHG members take loans from the Nationalized and set out to begin an enterprise of their own.As a result of SEVAI’s intervention efforts, an increasing number of rural families – especially women – are engaging in independent livelihood activities. These activities serve as opportunities for diversifying and enhancing their incomes.SEVAI gives particular attention to women living below poverty line-Govin