Contribution of Self-Help Groups in Rural Economic Development

Abstract

Since the 19th-century cooperative societies to the 21st-century self-help groups (SHGs), the concept of self-reliance and mutual-help has continued to be a rather common strategy in the development-intervention. The current research is a serious attempt to analyze the many-sided association between the doctrine of self-help and social capital formation as a development driver of the underdeveloped areas. The study, in particular, aims at evaluating the role of SHG participation and the pre-membership socio-economic status in the amassing of social capital among the members of the SHGs in three representative development blocks, i.e. Ratlam, Jaora, and Sailana. The paper, further, examines the two-way connection between the creation of social capital and the efficacy of SHGs in the realization of economic and social empowerment of their members. The research finds that increased involvement in SHG activity and positive pre-membership socio-economic status are important determinants of increased social capital formation in the members of SHG..