Clik here to view.
“Before, women were not considered credit-worthy but this process has helped.” Hiri Dangi with her buffalo.
Hiri Dangi of the Uthalamata Self-Help Group, Sahyog
Could you transform you life with a few hundred dollars? Educate your children, provide durable housing and balanced nutrition year round plus develop the tools to continue enriching your life? Meet Hiri Dangi and her family.
Initially, her husband was opposed. But now he is supportive and even helps her with the buffalo.
Hiri Dangi is 29, married with 2 children aged 10 and 7. Together they live in Rajasthan, India. Unchecked commercial logging and mineral extraction over the last few decades have created a host of environmental problems in the area. Land is often too degraded for productive use and securing enough water for the year can make or break a family.
Hiri knows these challenges only too well, and decided she needed to do something to help her family.
A Tool Box to Advance Her Goals
Hiri joined the Uthalamata Self-Help Group in her village in 2000. A Self-Help Group is a type of women’s group that saves collectively and makes loans to each other based on the capital they have built.
IDEX partners like Sahyog Sansthan, who start Self-Help Groups like the one in which Hiri is a member, take an integrated approach to problem solving and understand the complex challenges poor communities face. They provide technical support, women’s leadership training, skills building, business planning, bookkeeping, training to improve soil and yields, and access to existing banking institutions. Together with small loans, women have a toolbox to advance their goals.
Hiri saves 50 cents each month. As an active member with a solid savings record, Hiri was able to take multiple loans to help her family. One year she borrowed $600 to purchase two buffalo. After repaying the loan, she took another for $125 to improve the soil on her land, and a third loan of $40 after that for animal feed.
Today Hiri owns 2 buffalo and a sewing machine, plus good grazing land and productive soil. She earns money by selling buffalo milk as well as the dung for fuel. With all her loans repaid, this past year she profited $375.
An Equal in the Family
Just as importantly, Hiri now shares family decision making with her husband. Initially, her husband was opposed to her participation in the SHG, but over time she convinced him that the whole family would benefit. Now her husband is supportive and even helps her with the buffalo. Her confidence has grown and Hiri now has many dreams for the future.
She will use her new sewing machine to start a clothing business. Her family will renovate their well, continue to improve their nutrition, and enroll the children in school. Before too long, she would like to install a motor to irrigate their crops. With her own perseverance and planning, Hiri and her family are well on their way to an increasingly prosperous future.
