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Sound Investment
Women in India’s slum communities are saving money, thanks to self help groups. The ladies can use the group savings for their family’s needs, to pay their way out of debt or to start small businesses. And at the monthly meetings, members get to know one another better, sharing their problems and offering advice.
Vocal, sari-clad women cram into the downstairs room of the Oasis India building in Dyaneshwar Nagar, one of Mumbai’s many slum areas. As the afternoon heats up, even more ladies come and find themselves a space on the floor.
They are all federation leaders. Consisting solely of women, the federation is made up of 35 self help groups. Each member must pay in 100 rupees every month to the group account and after six months, she is allowed to apply for a loan at a low rate of interest. The other group members need to approve her request.
This afternoon’s meeting is also attended by Saahasee, self help group specialists and one of Oasis India's partner organizations. As the women discuss their worries they begin to come up with their own solutions. And they are encouraged to see how much they have managed to save, beginning to dream about how they could invest their money.
Earning respect
Pooja has been a member of a self help group for two and a half years. ‘I feel good when I am saving money,’ she says. ‘Big people keep money in the bank, so now we also feel like we have something. I feel very good because I can take some responsibility.’
Pooja has already taken out three loans: for health care when she was pregnant; to get a water connection in her home and to pay off the debt she owed a money lender. She runs a small tea stall and uses some of her profit to pay into the group account.
People come to the city in search of work, but are not always used to saving and so have no money when they need it for things like medicine. Intimidated by banks, many in slum communities borrow from money lenders. They cannot pay back the extortionate interest charged by the lenders, and get caught in a debt trap.
Now women have money to use when they need it for their families. Archana belongs to one of the self help groups in Netaji Nagar in Chembur, Mumbai. Oasis India began the groups here only a year ago but they are making good progress. Archana’s husband is a painter and she saves some of the money he gives her. When her baby was born, mother and child both needed operations. Archana paid for these, as well as for medicine, with a loan from her group account.
Yashoda is the federation president. She moved to Dyaneshwar Nagar four years ago to open a shop. ‘If you want to earn money, this place is good,’ she smiles. She lives here with her husband and three children.
She joined a self help group in 2005 and has taken out two loans so far, one for jewelry for her mother in law and another to help out her sister. She was elected president by the other federation members seven months ago. ‘I enjoy it,’ she says, ‘It is a responsibility but not too big.’
Learning To Trust
Meena works for the federation. She used to be paid by Oasis India, but now her wages come directly from federation savings. Meena motivates women to join the self help groups and does accounts. She says, ‘In the beginning it was very difficult because they never used to trust us. But since Oasis India has done good work, they trust us now. A lot of groups are forming. I enjoy telling the women about saving, that it is good for their future, I love that.’ Meena came to Bombay seven years ago when she got married. She lives with her husband here in the slum with their two children.
Chandrakala has been working with Oasis India for four years. She says, ‘Now when the ladies come to deposit savings it is not all about money, but they share their lives. We become part of their lives actually,’ she enthuses.
Chandrakala is training ladies from the Dyaneshwar Nagar federation to do the accounts for themselves. She says of the afternoon’s meeting, ‘The Saahasee group made them (the self help group leaders) understand that this is not our work we are doing, this is their own work. That is what we make them understand, that they have to take responsibility.’
Moving On
Uncertainty is hanging over the Bandra community because there are plans to redevelop the land. Some families have already been given notice that their homes will be demolished to make way for a road. They will be given new homes in specially built high rise apartments, but these flats are on the outskirts of Mumbai where finding work will be difficult.
The federation wants to continue the self help groups wherever they end up, and they want Oasis to go along with them, to oversee the projects and offer advice and support. And in Chembur, women are being encouraged to take more responsibility for their groups.
Investing time in relationships, empowering communities to fulfill their potential and take control of their lives is the focus of our work in the slum areas of India’s cities. For more information about our community development work in Bangalore, Mumbai and
Chennai, click here.
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