Positive Outcomes of the SHG - Bank Linkage Programme

♤ Financial Inclusion and thus the empowerment of Poor Women

♤ Loan Repayments - very high on-time recovery

♤ Reduced the incidence of poverty through increase in income, and also enabled the poor to build assets and thereby reduce their vulnerability.

♤ Enabled households that have access to it to spend more on education than non- client households

♤ Reduced child mortality, improved maternal health and the ability of the poor to combat disease through better nutrition, housing and health - especially among women and children.

♤ Contributed to a reduced dependency on informal money lenders and other non- institutional sources.

♤ It has offered space for different stakeholders to innovate, learn and replicate. As a result, some NGOs have added micro-insurance products to their portfolios, a couple of SHG federations have experimented with undertaking livelihood activities and grain banks have been successfully built into the SHG model in the Eastern Region.