wOMEN eMPOWERMENT

The major initiative taken by SERD with regard to the empowerment of women are the formation of various Self-Help Groups (SHG’s) and the financial services of the formal banking system have traditionally remained inaccessible to a majority of the poorer sections of the rural population, especially women, an initiative was made by SERD to initiate a women's cooperative on the principle of mutual help. However, its success was limited as the operational area was in selected pockets only due to limited resources. Against this background, to meet the credit needs of rural women from the operational areas,SERD initiated the creation of Self-Help Groups.

The following are the core principles that apply to all SERD's micro-finance programs

•    Serve the poorest clients, with a focus on women
•    Promote solidarity and group guarantees
•    Savings Mobilization
•    Support capacity building/training
•    Increase productive assets
•    Ensure a child-focused perspective
•    Promote culturally appropriate program approaches
•    Plan for sustainability.