Performance assessment of the self-help groups in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand

Self-help groups (SHGs) provide platform for financial inclusion of poor and marginalized sections of the society. These informal credit management groups are formed and supported by self-help promoting institutions which are generally NGOs or government agencies. SHGs confer economic and social benefits to their beneficiaries by linking financial institutions and other stakeholders to rural development programmes. It is essential for the developmental agencies to keep an account of performance of existing SHGs. The present research study was conducted with the objective of assessing the performance of SHGs in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand state. The study was undertaken in Gadarpur block of the district. All operational SHGs in five villages under Madnapur Panchayatof Gadarpur block wereselected for the study. Atotal of11 SHGs and 139 SHG members were included in the study. Results revealed that majority of the SHGs were less than five years old, comprised only women members and had 15–20 members (54.54%). The promoter agency of most of the SHGs was local NGO (45.45%) and had primary objective of promoting savings. The members of SHGs belonged to the age group of 25 to 45 years and 46 to 65 years (44.60% each), were mostly illiterate (82.73%), mostly were schedule tribes (64.03%), all were Hindus, belonged to nuclear families (63.30%) and had 5 to 7 members (48.92%) in the family. In most cases head of the family was husband (78.42%); members were associated with SHGs for 1 to 3 years (43.16%) and they utilized SHG credit for family expenditure (48.20%). The overall score of critical rating index which was based on 14 performance attributes revealed that majority of SHGs (45.45%) were performing well.