The poverty in India has a strong gender dimension. In order to develop and empower women, the government has been formulating policies and programmes, which have been operationalised through five year plans since independence. A review of the policies and programmes is undertaken during and at the end of each plan period while preparing plan documents. Such a constant review, based on evaluation and studies conducted on government initiated women development and empowerment programmes, and the successful programmes of civil society organisations within and outside the country. Micro finance programmes are expected to make a significant contribution to poverty alleviation and empower the members in economic, social and political spheres. These programmes are also expected to become increasingly self-reliant and independent of donor funds. With this background, the study seeks to examine the functioning of micro-finance programmes, and analyze economic benefits (improvement in livelihoods and access to resources) and social benefits (improvement in knowledge and participation) of the selected micro-finances on members in the specific context of NGO programmes in Mandya district.
Livelihood Security, Micro Finance, Self Help Groups
