The document discusses strategies for empowering communities through self-help groups (SHGs). It explains that SHGs organize women into savings groups to build economic self-reliance and decision making power. SHGs are clustered into higher levels to take on larger issues. Partners reported that SHGs improved food security, education, health and social cohesion for thousands of households in South Africa. Challenges included high turnover of community facilitators and limited funding, which partners are working to address.

1. VOICES: Oxfam learning event
“There is no I in TEAM”
Community groups are becoming increasingly involved in how, what and
when change happens at a local level. Supporting community groups to
articulate their own needs and desires and giving them the confidence to
influence decisions that affect their own lives is an important influencing
strategy: collective action is much more powerful than individual action.
Managing the dynamics in these groups and keeping the group together
and focused on the issue can be challenging however. In this session
partners will share their community mobilisation strategies, the processes
and methods they have developed to work with groups and the successes
and challenges they have had to overcome to create and sustain change
at a local level.

2. Planned Outcomes of the session
• Partners share and learn some of the successful ways in
which community groups have been involved in change in
their communities.
• Partners identify dynamics and issues that need to be
addressed in community groups and some strategies that
can be used to address them.

3. The Self-Help Group (SHG) approach
Promoted by

4. Vision: Socially and economically empowered
women within households made vulnerable by
poverty, the impact of HIV and AIDS, gender
inequalities and other societal injustices.
Mission: Sinamandla assists, capacitates and
supports local South African non-profit and
community-based organisations to promote self-
reliance in the communities they serve.
See www.sinamandla.org.za

5. Mobilising women for change
- The SHG approach focuses on the poorest and most
vulnerable sections of the community, organising women into
strong affinity groups (called SHGs) so that they are no longer
voiceless and powerless individuals.
- Second, it helps women realize their potential as individuals
through initiating a savings and loan system whereby the
members in the group save from their own meager resources
and administer their own fund.
-Third, it improves capacity and builds competence through a
series of training modules provided by a local implementing
organisation that can support the processes which increase
self-confidence, develop self-reliance, and help SHG
members to set their own agenda.

6. Mobilising women for change
-The final component is building the model through clustering
six to ten SHGs into a Cluster Level Association (CLA) to
work on the things that cannot be done by SHGs themselves
effectively, such as linkages and coordinating larger
community projects.
- Eventually eight or more CLAs can be clustered together
into a formalized network called a Federation (operating at
district level).

7. A Self-help Group (SHG) is usually made up of 15-20 members from
among women identified as the poorest in the community. SHG members
have a common objective of working together for their economic and social
development and also for their overall village development
● Each SHG meets weekly, has group leadership on rotational basis, has a
book-writer to keep records and develops own rules and regulations.
● SHG members take small loans form their group’s savings for urgent consumption
needs , developmental needs of their children and for micro business.
● Interest is charged and is added to the group income.

8. A Cluster Level Association (CLA) is usually made up of 6-10 SHGs from a
specific geographic area. Each SHG elects 2-3 representatives to the CLA.
A CLA is not a superior body to the SHG but rather a representative body
that carries out specific tasks on behalf of its SHGs.
● CLAs takes up the social, economic and political issues that are beyond the
scope of the individual SHGs and it works on building a People’s institution
towards empowerment .
● CLAs have own objectives and activities that are different to SHGs.
● Each CLA implements its activities and projects through sub-committees.

9. A Federation (or Network of CLAs)
involves setting up a super-ordinate
association in which each CLA is
represented by 2-3 members.
Forming a Federation is an important step in
taking over the administration tasks from the
supporting NGO partner, which now steadily
withdraws from the SHG process over a
period of two years. Strong SHGs and CLAs
are needed before a Federation can be
formed.
Main tasks of the Federation are:
● advocacy and lobbying;
● fundraising and financial management of the wider system;
● concentration on the problems and issues which are important
for the whole geographic area that it covers.

10. SINAMANDLA PARTNERS
Specific data on Sinamandla partners In Sinamandla
and their SHGs in 2012 partners
Number of functional SHGs/CLAs 400/30
Number of SHG members 6 100
Total Amount of Savings of all SHGs R1,600,000
Total Amount of Loans of all SHGs R4,200,000
Total number of loans given by all SHGS 30 000
Household members of all SHG members 35 000
Number of initiated SHG projects 600+

11. Success in the SHG approach
 Sufficient food – no one goes hungry
 Meeting school expenses – uniform,
transport, stationary
 Home building/renovations
 Breaking loan shark interest cycle
 Saving (in various ways)
 Investing in income-generating activities
 Using SHG small loans effectively

12. More success…
 Major social and psychological benefits
 Improved community relations and social
cohesion
 Greater civic activities – assisting others
and mobilising around human rights
 Improved health – as a consequence of
access to services and in health education
 Improved women’s status at home and in
the community

13. What are the benefits to SHG members, their
families and communities?
1. Poor women who are isolated and powerless, soon
realise that they are no longer alone.
2. Each member becomes empowered as they feel a
sense of ownership and belonging.
3. As they share their problems and start solving them,
they gain a sense of pride.
4. Consequently they are recognized and respected by
their families, stake-holders and the community.

14. Mobilising around GBV & HIV/AIDS
Women facilitated into SHGs gain recognition and are respected
by their families, stake-holders and the community as they:
- share their problems and start solving them,
- they put own efforts in campaigns that uplift community life.
- begin initiatives /projects that address social concerns
Sinamandla partners assist in the building of capacity (GBV
&HIV/AIDS) that strengthens the efforts of women in SHGs in
their response to HIV/AIDS in the community and enables
gender-based violence to be addressed more directly.

15. Lessons learnt
● Savings and loan in SHGs enables household
level economic needs to be met and quality of life
is being further enhanced as a result of IGAs
● Women report a greater sense of well-being and
reduction of stress as a result of social support
shared in the group.
● At a community level, the SHGs are increasing
commercial availability of resources and by
working together.

16. Lessons learnt
 Members are creating structures to address
problems that are most pressing at a community
level.
 The positive socioeconomic impacts of social
grant receipt are significantly magnified through
participation in SHGs.

17. Challenges/Opportunities
 At SHG level – the performance and
retention of stipendiary CFs
Better remuneration to retain CFs
Better care, support & capacity building
 Limited ownership and support by the
organisational leadership in some cases.
SHG vision leading to integration with other
internal programs
Learning exposure between partners
Reinforce understanding of concept

18. Challenges/opportunities
 Need to identify broader product range,
retail outlets and marketing possibilities for
SHG members
Work with SHG members, partners and
experts to assist SHGs to develop a
market-oriented approach to income
generation thereby enabling an accurate
market analysis before embarking on the
production of saleable items.

19. Challenges/Solutions
 Funding – finding donors who see long term
partnerships
Promotion of SHG concept in SA context
Engagement with government – help them
understand that SHG is not a quick fix
Potential replication of programme

20. Challenges/Solutions
 Role of culture and a patriarchal system
Engagement of men in dialogue
Better understanding of culture and tradition