INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES,
ENGINEERING & PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES

Dr. Pournima Dhume & Ms Raveena Gaonkar

GOA UNIVERSITY

Self-help group is a group of 10-20 local members comprising of women working together to earn their livelihood. It provides a platform to the women to exchange ideas and experiences in the group. The members of self-help group regularly contribute their small savings over a few months so that there is enough capital in the group to start lending to its members. The motive behind forming SHGs is to empower women and improve the lives of poor people. The member of self-help group meet regularly in order to discuss their common issues, and also to find solution for those problems. Most of the self-help group in Goa are headed by women. Women empowerment makes the women aware of their various rights. The aim of SHG is basically to empower the women so that they will contribute towards society development. SHG contributes in the overall development of women. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the socio-economic profile of the self-help groups, the activities pursued and the training provided to its members, further we try to evaluate the performance of SHG in terms of the livelihood opportunities provided to its members. For this purpose 100 respondents have been selected from various SHG’s present in the Salcete taluka of South Goa. We also investigate the impact of socio-economic status on the rural poor women in Salcete taluka in South Goa.