Palmyra Women Development Trust

Palmyra acts as a responsible organization by promoting the SHG’s for promoting the habit of thrift in its members , making them self reliant for the financial needs thereby  relieving them from the clutches of money lenders and their usurious rates of interest. It has envisaged the following:

• To facilitate the self-employment projects for unemployed / under employed rural women, thereby making them self–reliant.

• To promote family / group based enterprises

• To facilitate backward and forward linkages to them.

• Networking the strong and cohesive SHG’s  by building self-confidence, financial discipline, proper accounting thereby enabling them to handle larger business and agricultural ventures.

• Practicing financial discipline and shouldering higher responsibilities through training and exposure .

• Train them through EDP’s and enabling them to set up income generating enterprises by facilitating marketing tie-ups as well as forward and backward linkages.

• Increase the asset base of women in the community and secure  their income through access to inexpensive and timely credit.

• Create an awareness and improving their social security specifically in the field of health and family welfare.

• Increasing their business acumen through spot training.

• Educating them in the field of Health, General and Life insurance, and arranging of such welfare schemes.

• Building leadership among the members for the social cause.

• Creating awareness on legal rights and legal aid access through networking and training.

• Exploring the possibilities for formation of new SHGs in the new areas.

• Apart from women SHG’s  men SHG’s could also be formed. They could then be linked to the main stream along with women groups.

Institutional strengthening is most important in order to address the above issues and to implement the same. The access to the inexpensive and timely credit for the economic activities as micro- finance is necessary in addition to availing services from banks etc. Providing technical skill / capacity building is also an essential component in the institutional building. 

 Though they can handle their activities on their own,  expertise is needed in every field like financial management, entrepreneur development and technical and other governmental support for their further progress.  Palmyra  as a NGO,  supported and nurtured the groups so far and helped them in the formation of a federation.  By the enthusiasm and the zeal shown by the group it is felt that a larger level institution is required.

Hence, Palmyra as their mentor, envisaged the formation of a Mutual Trust by inducting persons from  various fields to help and guide the members, as Honorary trustees apart from the elected trustees, and the Director of Palmyra as the Managing Trustee. 

The role of the Honorary Trustees will be to utilize their expertise in their respective fields such as technical-oriented , business, auditing, legal matters, banking, community development services etc. Their role will mainly be of advisory nature while they are  also co-opted to the board.

The Palmyra Women Development Trust  (PWDT)

Scope

The Palmyra Women Development Trust beneficiaries will be the women organised in the SHG’s and registered with the Federations.

Presently, Amirdhakalasam Federation is working in the Marakkanam and Vanur blocks of the Villupuram District. The PWDT will assume the supervisory role and co-ordinate with the Federation in all financial matters and social empowerment of women and the community at large.

Federation continues to perform all their operations as before.   The Trust will be shouldering the federation in guide the members to the greatest possible extent .

Time frame and phasing of activities

It is envisaged that the PWDT will take some 3  years to reach the ultimate goal of realizing a bank-like unit which is run and sustained by the beneficiaries themselves. The first stage of the PWDT will be called  “Design phase”. The Design phase will be completed when conditions are met to establish the banks office, start  the actual banking activities on a pilot level and issue the first loans to SHGs.

In the Inception phase a pilot scheme will be running to gain experience and to assess the pro’s and contra’s of the designed system. The inception phase will last approximately one year. In the Implementation phase the Bank will run at full capacity, and commence with the health and welfare programs which are important objectives of the Project. The activities of each phase are further elaborated below.

Activities in Design phase (research & development), 1 year

The Design phase is meant to move into a favourable position for initiation of    a pilot scheme of banking:

• Decision making about the best institutional form of the bank (Trust, Public Limited ‘Nidhi’Company?), with consultation of financial expertise and proper documentation of eventual exposure visits.

• Decision making on location of Bank office (is the Federation building safe enough?) (Palmyra?)

• Inventory of additionally required knowledge about banking procedures, necessary documentation and the speed with which the savings accounts of SHGs can be transferred to the new Bank (in other words: how fast can the Bank generate enough money to implement health and social welfare programs)

• Appointment of a Board of Directors and Promoters

• Collection of an initial amount of starting capital

• Process of bank registration

• Assessment of functional requirements for envisaged bank personnel

• Determination on the form and extent of capacity building for personnel, in accordance with 5.

• Definition of rules and banking procedures,

• Selection and try-out of suitable banking software

• Design of rules and regulations and relations with commercial banks

• Preliminary design of programs on health and social welfare (1st priority programs)

• Dissemination to SHGs of a proposal regarding the scope of the bank, buying shares, loan procedures, available programs, daily banking routines and obtaining approval of the Federation for all of the same.

• Hiring staff

All these activities are required to be able to have a smooth start with a pilot scheme of banking.

Activities in the Inception phase, (pilot banking scheme) 2^nd  year

The inception phase would have a clear start (to my opinion) with sending an invitation to SHG’s to buy shares.

The following activities should be carried out in the inception phase:

• Capacity building of staff

• Collection of share capital in the field

• Office establishment and initial purchases

• Start with collection of savings deposits from SHG’s

• Preparation of loan programs,  and starting a pilot scheme of banking activities

• Further development of health and social welfare programs

At the end of the inception phase, a start can be made with

• Appointment of a medical doctor/nurse, and social workers

• Evaluation of inception phase activities and results, procedures followed and proposal for final improvements.

Activities in Implementation phase (smooth running, fulfillment of objectives, 3^rd year onwards)

In this phase the Bank will be running with minimal intervention and minimal funding from third parties.

• Enough savings deposits have been collected to start the issue of  sanga loans

• Preparation of health and social welfare programs is well underway -

• provided that the benefits of banking have grown enough, the programs may actually start at some point in the third year of Bank operation

Parties involved and their roles

There are three main parties involved in creation of the Palmyra Women Development Trust:

The Federation of SHG’s, formally the main implementing agency of the PWDT at present  is Amirdhakalasam.  The SHG’s are represented by the 13-member Executive Committee, responding to the 159-member General Board, whose members are women delegated by the SHG’s and registered with the Federation. The individual women will be the depositors of savings money and buyers of  shares in the principal capital of the AWB.

The NGO Palmyra, initiator of  the Federation and the SHGs taking part in it, is still playing an  important role in day to day guidance of the Federation’s Executive Committee and addressing of  their administrative problems.

Palmyra will also be receiver of the foreign money transfers meant for the AWBP; the Avalokita Foundation, liaising with sponsors abroad, takes care of foreign funds transferred to  Palmyra and provides technical support services with regard to AWB project management; Of course there will be more parties involved, especially during the first year of the project. Examples are:

Resource persons or institutions providing financial expertise, like a Chartered Accountant, a Government officer or the SEWA institution; SHG’s and WPG’s interested (and qualified) to join the Federation in the near future.

Having conceived the idea for development of the community as a wholesome development,  Palmyra formed a Trust for the welfare of the existing and future Federations to be established. It will have the main objects as given below:

i.      To form SHG’s in the necessary / needy villages.

ii.     To extent support to SHG’s in their activities.

iii.    To help SHG’s in obtaining grants and other financial assistance from the Government and other funding agencies.

iv.    To promote the economic interest of the members of SHG’s by arranging funds

v.     To inculcate the habit culture of thrift amongst the members of the SHG’s

vi.    To help the members of the SHG’s in the redemption of agricultural lands and other properties

vii.   To help the members of the SHG’s in the development of their agricultural lands and methods of cultivation

viii.  To work for the welfare of the women and empowerment.

ix.    To promote health and hygiene consciousness among the members

x.     To engage in general education of the poor for their development in life.

xi.    To help in the involvement and education of children and youth in activities related to their development

xii.   To initiate and encourage the education of women regarding their rights and privileges

xiii.  To help in the education and rehabilitation of handicapped persons.

xiv.  To stimulate people’s involvement and organize action programmes in the fields of social, economic and cultural development.

xv.   To establish, promote, support, maintain, help and run medical and / or educational institutions and other establishments
for giving medical relief to the public.

xvi.  To accept and raise funds required for the purpose of the Trust by way of gifts, donations, subsidies, aids and benefactions
in cash or in kind or in movable or immovable properties  from  all persons and institutions interested in the objects of the Trust.

xvii. To promote and market the products made by the Self Help organizations in India

xviii.To establish and maintain homes and orphanages for relief and give help to the poor, destitute, orphans and widows.

xix.  To engage in activities which promote research and development in the fields of Science, Arts, Social etc.

xx.   To do all such other activities as may be necessary for or incidental to or conductive to the Trust or allied thereto.

xxi.  The Trust may perform all such acts as may be considered  necessary  or  conducive  to the attainment of the aforesaid objects.

Principle Trustees:

The role of the auditor is  to audit the accounts periodically and participate in the board meetings. Give support to SHG members and create awareness about the accounting principles involved in their sphere of business and adhere to the best systems and procedures and follow the same without fail.

Legal advisor : Legal advisor will help in creating awareness in following the law of land and guide the members in the smooth functioning of the Trust. The Legal Advisor should also participate in board-meetings.

Banker:  Micro finance institutions are limited in their delivery – most are simply engaged in lending.  Micro finance is also about saving, insurance and investment. In most of the rural areas , people still borrow to meet their  daily consumption, not to fund an income generating enterprise. Microfinance is expanding beyond its roots in savings and business lending and now offers other forms of financial services, including most notably insurance and housing microfinance. Hence the Role of the banker is to address these issues and help the board to mobilize the resources both within and outside. Also to guide the groups in up- scaling their skill to manage their finance and capacity building of the group and its members in achieving  their ultimate goal of financial empowerment.

Mr. Padmanabhan,                                                         

 Presently Chief Manager,

Head Office – Rural Banking Department,

66, Rajaji Salai, Chennai 600 001.

Phone:  044 – 25262435

Indian Bank – Head Office,

Chennai. .

Shri Padmanabhan, who is former Chairman of Vallalar Grama Bank ( a Regional Rural Bank  sponsored by Indian Bank) played a major role in promoting SHG’s/ microfinance in Cuddalore and Villupuram Districts during his  tenure (1988 -2003).  

The very innovative / unique approach has been adopted by him in forming activity clusters in Kallakurichi and Auroville  - Artisans Clusters by mobilizing the support from Development Commissioner, Handicrafts, New Delhi,  NABARD and DRDA as joint stake holders. In fact he has been sent to Indonesia on a exposure  visit by NABARD to study Microfinance in the year 2000.  He is instrumental in guiding and credit linking the entire SHG’s of Palmyra and Water Users Association.  His rich experiences will be a boosting factor for the trust.

Main responsibilities and tasks

A possible division of main responsibilities and tasks could be:

Table 1        Main responsibilities and tasks

These SHGs presently would like to set up their own banking activities under the guidance of Palmyra  to continue their present fund management and access medium and long term loans for housing and agricultural production, Asset creation and other financially sustainable operations.  The Palmyra Women Development Trust hopes to achieve  that rural women's own banking activities will increase their financial management, well-being and subsequently a betterment of their life.  The experiences gained by  Palmyra so far have convinced us to pursue this  proposal and seek funds from AVALOKITA for the first phase and the establishment of this operation.

Objective

This project aims to set up a banking institution through participatory action by the rural Women themselves to improve their livelihood by improving financial managerial capacities. The project will be implemented by the Women which  already have established  and proved their capacity. Palmyra will basically act as a facilitator.  Women SHG’s also contribute to the project by way of deposits, interest on loan and managerial time.

Putting the Trust to Use 

The end users will be rural women SHG members who are involved in this project as well as those who see the benefit of this project.  Actions necessary are: Capacity building of women through training, mass awareness, financial transactions and disbursement of loan. Effective implementation, convincing the Women SHG members and provision of necessary guidance and support are necessary.  The end users are the implementers and the project implementing team acts only as facilitator.

For more details please see Palmyra Annual Report/Women's Bank

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