28 Oct Women’s Empowerment
Self-help Groups (SHGs) are self-governed, peer controlled, informal groups of people with the same socio-economic background and have a desire to collectively perform a common goal. Through Woodstock’s Community Engagement program, a group of our students are working alongside a group of 54 women who share the desire to micro-bank. This is where people from lower socio-economic backgrounds voluntarily come together to save whatever amount they conveniently can out of their earnings. They mutually agree to contribute to a common fund and over time, as interest builds, they will use these savings to take out loans and initiate start-ups of their own. During last year’s Activity Week a number of our Woodstock team were trained under SEWA Bharat, the largest women’s self-help NGO in the world. Our team are now able to lead the women in our group, teaching them how to do all the paperwork required for starting a bank account and making deposits once a month. In addition to this our students suggest ideas for educational sessions to be held in our monthly meetings, covering topics such as female hygiene and general health.
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