Smita Premchander and Simona Lanzioni Milan, September 2015 Gender and Microfinance Lessons from Sampark Pangea Project in Koppal, India Smita Premchander and Simona Lanzioni Milan, September 2015

Women are the Foundations of The Whole Microfinance Industry The industry size in India: There are 7.2 million women’s groups in India More than 80 million women take loans in India, from banks and private microfinance organisations Women save about 5 billion Euro in SHGs Women take loans of about 10 billion Euro from banks and private microfinance institutions

The Pangea and Sampark Partnership: The A ten year partnership What is special about the partnership? The industry makes profits from women Our model empowers women They make the savings, loans and profits They make the decisions, they lead Our role: build their capacities to run a microfinance organisation A cooperative banking institution

A Women’s Self Help Group A group of 10 to 20 women They meet together Once a week, Once in two weeks, or Once in a month They save small amounts of money They pool in the money and lend to one another They keep accounts They share the profits and losses of the lending operation

Small Businesses Started

Dairying: An Important Income Generating Activity

Small Ruminants: Appropriate for Koppal Goat rearing

Enterprise: Brick making

Skill Training: Tailoring

Skill training: scrubber unit

Building SHGs into Women Cooperatives Cooperative (200-300SHGs) SHG …………………….Members…………………….. Share capital contribution by each member for Cooperative Administrative Committee Micro credit Committee Education Committee Health Committee IGP C L U S T E R A F Social Agenda prioritised alongside economic agenda

Steady Growth in Numbers (As on March 31, 2015)

Cooperative Banking Services

Capacity Building Open spaces to meet were needed Games and innovative learning methods were devised

Group Cash Transactions Whole- sale purchase of products needed regularly: Soap, cereals, lentils

Cooperative Board Meeting Now using modern equipment and powerpoint programme

Leadership and Management Trainings

Member to Member Trainings

Financial Impacts Improved household consumption Health and education Investment in agriculture, animals, small businesses Land on lease for cultivation

Social and Empowerment Impacts Social Impacts: Supporting Education of Children Social and Empowerment Impacts

Better Nutrition Higher expenditure on food Increased purchase of on meat, eggs, butter, oil, milk and fruits Sufficient quantity of food

Empowering Impacts Individual: Community level Increased knowledge Increased confidence Leadership in groups, cooperatives, village panchayats Social support from peers Reduced domestic violence Community level Stopped devadasi practice, child marriage Removed liquor shops from villages

Social Development Services (March 2015) Children supported for education Government schemes accessed for villagers Got roads and bus routes sanctioned

Political Empowerment Moving liquor shops out of villages, Asking for roads, new bus routes

Empowering Microfinance Women need ownership and control over resources Sharing of care work with family and state Women owning land, and power over community resources, political engagement Invest in Women The Sampark – Pangea project has provided inputs for organisation building, leadership, management, systems development, and social support. For real empowerment 7 to 10 years partnership on the ground is needed.

Thank You

Social Impacts: Children’s Education

Institutional imperatives Financial Sustainability, Good Governance, Transparency, Collective Learning Institutional imperatives

Gender and Microfinance Women repay loans Women use money productively Women take as much as they can repay. Women's groups and cooperatives provide social spaces for them to share knowledge, experiences and give each other mutual support. HOw women's empowerment occurs: --first take control of cash =They begin to participate in household decisions - They protest again violence - Women educate their children, especially girls - Devadasi women, with economic empowerment, stop dedicating their girls as devadasis. And finally, we can say that women's own SHGs and cooperatives helps to keep the financial benefits with them, rather than give to an external organisation, and with this they get financial, economic and social empowerment.  Also political, as they become important at the community level. I can give examples of all this from Koppal cooperatives.

Conclusions When extreme poor, give her grants, not loans When remote, tribal and non monetised areas, give food in kind, not in cash When in monetised areas where income opportunities exist, commercial microfinance can still be exploitative, like a moneylender. The best options are “empowering microfinance” which provide venues for economic and social empowerment.

Efficiency and Sustainability of the Cooperatives (As on November 30, 2014) Performance Indicators Eshwara Sadhana Gavi-siddeshwara Bhumika Portfolio Quality   Gross Portfolio Outstanding ($. > 1 million) 400,000 230,000 220,000 On Time Repayment Rate (%) 99 98 100 82 Portfolio At Risk (PAR) - >30 Days (%) 1 2 18 Efficiency Total Administrative Cost Ratio (%) 7 6 10 Operating Cost Ratio (OCR) (%) 19 20 15 23 Sustainability Operational Self Sufficiency (OSS) (%) 139 125 115 121 Note: Analysis till March 2015 is available for 1st 3 coop in the excel file as the auditing not completed for Bhumika at the time of analysis

Why form Women’s Groups? Women can introduce one another They have trust among them They take loans together from external agency They promise to pay for their group member, if she cannot pay

Accelerated Recent Growth in Capital (As on March 31, 2015)

Loan Disbursed and its Repayment (As on March 31, 2015)

Collective empowerment and voice