Performance of samatha self help groups in the empowerment of rural women in Ulloor panchayat

Abstract

The study was carried out in Ulloor panchayat of Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala among four major Samatha production units identified. Twelve groups were selected based on probability proportionate to size from among the four major production units. The study aimed to' analyse the performance of characteristics and profile characteristics of members, to study the structure and functions of Samatha groups, perception of officials (including people's representatives) about Samatha groups, constraints faced by members and officials and suggestions for improvement. The respondents consisted of 120 members selected from the 12 production units, out of the four major units identified. The second category of respondents included officials and people's representatives associated with the working of Samatha groups. Two control groups consisting of 15 respondents from Samatha banks and 15 respondents of rural women who are not members of any group. The dependent variables for the study were the dimensions of . empowerment namely leadership propensity, self confidence, employment

generation, income generation

and

decision

making. The group

characteristics were also studied. The independent variables included the profile characteristics of members .• .:', ,c" t!orrelation analysis was done to find out the relationship between the dependent variables and the independent and group characteristics.

Group characteristics score of the Samatha production units was found out for each of the groups. Group 2 and Group 1 had the highest scores respectively and the Group 7 had the lowest score. Empowerment index of the Samatha production unit respondents were found out and the respondent were classified into three group namely Low, Medium and High. Majority of the respondents were found to have high Empowerment Index values. Comparison of Samatha production units and rural women without group activities was done with percentage analysis which showed that respondents of production units were In the high group with respect to the dimensions of empowerment whereas the rural women without group activities were in the low group. To compare Samatha production units and Samatha Banks, analysis of variance was done, which revealed that there is no significant difference between the production units with respect to or most of the variables and all of the dimensions of empowerment (dependent variables). The analysis of perception of officials about Samatha groups revealed that all of them had fairly high perception about Samatha groups. The major constraint felt by both members and officials was difficulty in marketing of products.