From Savings to Enterprise? A Field-Work Case Study of Three Sanjeevini (NRLM) Women's SHGs in Ramanagara

From Savings to Enterprise? is a BSW field-work project that studies three women's self-help groups (SHGs) formed under Sanjeevini – Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (KSRLPS), the state arm of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), in a village of Ramanagara district. It is designed to be completed during concurrent field work (two days a week) and written up as a case-study report for field-work evaluation.

The project follows a simple but real question that every SHG field visit raises: do these groups move women beyond thrift into bank credit and livelihoods, and does that change who takes decisions at home and in the village? Three groups at different stages are compared — a new group (under two years), a group with its first bank loan, and a mature group running a small enterprise (for example, a ragi-malt or leaf-plate unit).

Data are collected using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools with group members — social map, Venn (chapati) diagram of institutions, seasonal calendar of income and expenditure, and wealth ranking — plus semi-structured interviews with 12 members, one focus group discussion per group, a key-informant interview with the community resource person, and a review of SHG registers (minutes, savings, internal loans, repayment). Simple tables and charts are prepared in Excel.

The bundle provides the field plan, tool guides, ethics protocol, report structure, a 12-slide presentation and a viva bank. Group names used here — Belaku, Chiguru and Sneha — are fictional.

Abstract

Self-help groups are the backbone of India's rural livelihood programmes. In Karnataka, Sanjeevini (KSRLPS) mobilises poor rural women into SHGs, federates them into village and cluster federations, and links them to banks for credit and to livelihood support. This field-work case study examines three SHGs in a Ramanagara district village to understand how savings, internal lending, bank linkage and enterprise have developed, and what changes members report in income, confidence and decision-making. PRA exercises, interviews, FGDs and record reviews are used, and findings are presented as three case profiles and a cross-case comparison.

Introduction

An SHG is typically a group of 10–20 women from similar socio-economic backgrounds who save regularly, lend to each other, keep records and meet weekly. Under NRLM, groups receive a Revolving Fund and Community Investment Fund through their federations and are linked to banks for loans. For a social work student, SHGs are the most visible example of community organisation and group work in practice.

Existing understanding and gap

Official reports track SHG numbers, savings and loan disbursement. What field-level reports often miss is how groups progress from savings to enterprise, what blocks progress (irregular meetings, loan diversion to consumption, dominance by a few members), and whether women's voice in household and village decisions actually changes. A small, careful case study can document this in a way that aggregated figures cannot.

Objectives in brief

To profile three SHGs, trace their savings–credit–enterprise journey, understand members' perceptions of change, and identify barriers and suggestions for the agency.

Method in brief

Qualitative case-study design; purposive selection of three groups at different stages; PRA tools, interviews, FGDs, key-informant interview and record review; thematic analysis and simple descriptive tables.

Feasibility

The field-work agency (an NGO or the taluk Sanjeevini office) provides access and introductions. All tools are paper-based and need only chart paper, markers and a notebook. The study fits within six weeks of concurrent field work with fortnightly supervisor conferences.

SHGs in rural Karnataka are expected to do far more than save: they are meant to access bank credit, start livelihoods and give women a stronger voice at home and in the gram panchayat. In practice, field workers observe groups that meet irregularly, loans that go mainly to health and household needs, and enterprises that stall after the first order. At the same time, some groups clearly do grow — running small units, sending members to gram sabhas and supporting each other through crises.

Agencies rarely have simple, documented accounts of why groups in the same village follow such different paths. This field-work project addresses that gap by studying three Sanjeevini SHGs at different stages in one Ramanagara village, using participatory tools, interviews and group records, to describe their journey from savings to credit to enterprise, members' perceived changes in income and decision-making, and the barriers they face, and to suggest practical steps for the agency and the village organisation.

In scope

• Three SHGs in one village of Ramanagara district promoted under Sanjeevini (KSRLPS).
• Participatory tools, 12 member interviews, three FGDs, one key-informant interview and review of group registers.
• Qualitative description and simple quantitative tables (savings, loans, repayment).
• Recommendations for the field-work agency and village organisation.

Out of scope

• Impact evaluation with a control group or statistical inference.
• Individual household income surveys or bank-account data.
• Evaluation of the NRLM programme as a whole.
• Any collection of Aadhaar, bank account or phone numbers.

Research design

A qualitative, multiple-case-study design (three cases) using participatory and interview methods, carried out during concurrent field work.

Selection of cases

Purposive selection with the help of the agency and the community resource person (CRP):

Tools

• Social map — households of members, water sources, school, anganwadi, bank or BC point, panchayat office.
• Venn (chapati) diagram — institutions sized by importance and placed by closeness to the group.
• Seasonal calendar — months of agricultural work, festivals, school fees, illness, borrowing.
• Wealth ranking — members' own categories of well-off, managing and struggling households (names removed before reporting).
• Interview guide — 12 members (four per group): joining, savings, loans, use of loans, enterprise, decisions, meetings, gram sabha participation.
• FGD guide — group history, rules, conflicts, leadership rotation, future plans.
• Key-informant interview — CRP or cluster coordinator.
• Record review — minutes book, savings and loan registers, bank passbook entries of the group (not individuals).

Analysis

Transcribe notes the same evening in the field diary. Code interview and FGD notes by themes (savings discipline, loan use, enterprise, decision-making, barriers). Enter group-level figures in Excel to produce tables and simple bar charts. Write each case as a profile, then compare across cases.

Timeline (6 weeks, 2 field days a week)