Self-Help Groups begin with savings. They rarely end there — they become the platform from which women negotiate with banks, schools and the Panchayat.
A Self-Help Group starts with something modest: a small, regular saving pooled by a handful of women who already know each other. Within a year, that same group is negotiating a bank linkage. Within three, its members are speaking at Gram Sabha meetings.
From savings to leadership
RODS supports SHG promotion alongside financial literacy and leadership development because the sequence matters. Confidence with money precedes confidence in public. Women who manage a group ledger are the women who later question a school’s attendance record or a health sub-centre’s opening hours.
- Self-Help Group formation and strengthening across our operational blocks
- Financial literacy so that credit is used productively, not defensively
- Leadership development preparing women for roles in local institutions
- Support for women-led income generating activities and enterprise
Gender equity as a working principle
Gender equality is one of the core values that guides every RODS programme, not a separate vertical. It shows up in who is consulted during a village survey, who is trained to maintain a water point, and who represents the community when a funding partner visits.
The tribal and rural communities we serve have never lacked capable women. What they have lacked is a structure that puts those women in the room. The SHG is that structure.
