The Hindu Business Line : Change in attitudes vital to make micro-credit work

Social mobilisation
Credit by itself cannot overcome patriarchal systems of control at household and community levels, concedes Burra in the preface. "Micro-credit works when other empowerment strategies are included as part of social mobilisation."

Chennai , Dec. 19

It may be tempting to believe that micro-credit can reduce poverty, and that poverty reduction leads to greater empowerment of women. Alas, there is no linear link among the three, says `Micro-Credit, Poverty and Empowerment: Linking the Triad,' edited by Neera Burra, Joy Deshmukh-Ranadive and Ranjani K. Murthy, from Sage (www.indiasage.com) .

The book brings together six case studies, viz., ASA (Activists for Social Action), SML (Share Micro-finance Ltd), and SAPAP (South Asia Poverty Alleviation Project) in Andhra Pradesh; DHAN (Development of Humane Action) Foundation in Tamil Nadu; SSP (Swayam Sikshan Prayog) in Maharashtra; and Lokadrusti in Orissa. "ICICI Bank's Social Initiatives Group and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) commissioned these studies with a view to understanding the impact of micro-credit interventions," informs the bank's foreword.

Credit by itself cannot overcome patriarchal systems of control at household and community levels, concedes Burra in the preface. "Micro-credit works when other empowerment strategies are included as part of social mobilisation." Such as? "Assisting women to have increased control over their incomes and resources, helping women to define their own priorities, and ensuring their participation in decision-making at various levels."

The book's editors acknowledge that mental spaces of both women and men need to expand to make the triad effective. The editors see a few positive signs, however, among women members of micro-credit programme. For example: "They now travel greater distances without male accompaniment and at hours prohibited before... When the loan is for their own purposes, women exercise control over the income generated." Also, women who have been provided with `capacity-building inputs' from intermediary organisations have entered `local self-governance institutions'.

But the positives come with many qualifiers, the editors hasten to add. These include: `poverty and gender sensitivity' of the strategies; limits in reaching `the ultra-poor'; and variations in `household headship, caste and religion'.

The book wraps with a final qualifier that queerly reads thus: "A strong presence of the state - which is eroding in the context of privatisation, liberalisation, and globalisation - is required to regulate the private sector and to sustain the benefits of social service provision."

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Change in attitudes vital to make micro-credit work