The Activists for Social Alternatives (ASA) is a not-for-profit
non-governmental organisation (NGO) registered as a public charitable
trust, working for the development of poor in the drought prone,
poverty ridden area of central Tamilnadu (TN). ASA started its operations
in 1986 in Marungapuri block with the objective of addressing the
rights of the downtrodden and the exploited, most of whom belonging
to the Dalit community. ASA formed Sanghas and/or societies of such
people and built sustainable institutions out of such groups through
education, conscientisation, skill based training and capacity building
and lobbying and advocacy. Watershed was the entry point activity
during the initial years. During the developmental efforts ASA has
undertaken and implemented several relief activities including drought
relief and flood relief activities. Through the 20 years of close
association with the community at grassroots ASA has acquired competence
in building sustainable Community Based Institutions, owned and
managed by the people for their benefit.
During the late eighties, ASA found that rights and issues based
formation of groups might not ensure sustainability of the groups.
It was found that once the issue at hand is solved the group tended
to disintegrate. There was also the growing realisation that economic
empowerment could be the strongest base for social, cultural and
political empowerment of the poor. The search for a strategic tool
which would help in achieving the multiple objectives of ensuring
sustainability of the groups, provide economic progress and a platform
for political, social and cultural empowerment, so that the multifaceted
poverty is addressed holistically, ended with the exposure of ASA
to the microfinance. The early nineties found the Visionary behind
the institution, Mr. Devaraj and his colleagues visiting Bangladesh
studying the Grameen Model of MF and host of other NGO/MFI projects
for learning the principles of MF and designing an MF programme
to suit the needs of ASA. These efforts culminated in the adoption
of MF as entry point activity for ASA in 1992 and the birth of the
child NGO- the “Grama Vidiyal” (GV).
The microfinance programme started in 1992 was registered as a separate
entity, the Grama Vidiyal Trust in 1997 due to the need for a separate
organisational structure and systems to meet the demands of the
programme. GV operates with the mission of improving the standard
of living of members and provides the structure for delivery of
MF-plus services of ASA aimed at political and social empowerment.
GV, after ten years of experience of managing an integrated MF programme
GV has developed competence to run an MF programme
The overall strategy of ASA-GV is based on these competences developed,
integrating them for addressing the multi-dimensional poverty. ASA
promotes groups and creates people’s structure to which GV
provides microfinance services for economic progress. ASA provides
a wide range of microfinance-plus services through various programmes
to the members held together by the MF programme for their social
and political progress.
Today GV is one of the largest microfinance institutions in the
India reaching out to about numerous poor families with an annual
growth rate of over 100 percent.
1986-90
ASA, registered as a public charitable trust, begins operations
in the drought-prone Marungapuri block of Tiruchirapalli district,
Tamil Nadu
ASA begins to organize the poor into common interest groups called
‘sanghas’, for watershed and wasteland development
ASA forms ‘sanghas’ of women, for wasteland development
through nursery raising ASA institutionalizes PRA into its strategy,
after receiving training from Robert Chambers, the world-renowned
expert on participatory approaches to development
1991-95
The members of the women sanghas start saving small amounts of money
regularly Members start lending to other members in need and to
outsiders, but face problems of default
Members decide to start their own bank, with the name ‘Vidiyal’
(meaning ‘Dawn’), formed with 23 sanghas in March 1993
The Chairman of ASA visits Grameen Bank, Bangladesh and Prof. Mohammad
Younus, Founder Chairman of Grameen Bank suggests that microfinance
can be the ‘glue’ to hold together the women’s
groups
1996-2000
ASA changes its strategy - microfinance becomes the entry point,
and community organization is done later
‘Grama Vidiyal’ emerges from ‘Vidiyal’ as
a much more systems-focused organization, based on the Grameen model
of microfinance
Grama Vidiyal is registered as a separate public charitable trust
in April 1997
2001-2005
ASA Community College (ACC) is established to provide training to
other NGOs ASA starts Child Labour Schools under the CHEERS Project
Vidiyal Matriculation School is established in a rural area of Tiruchirapalli
town, to provide high-class education to children of the rural poor
Grama Vidiyal becomes one of the largest microfinance institutions
in India
The Vidiyal Information Service Provider project is initiated, with
the collaboration of Grameen Technology Centre, USA to take the
benefits of IT to the rural areas
ASA-GV participates actively in Tsunami relief activities in Nagapattinam
& Cuddalore areas of Tamil Nadu and started pilot branches.
ASA’s Grama Vidiyal microfinance programme crosses the Rs.
1 billion cumulative loan disbursement mark
ASA-GV enters into strategic partnerships with major national and
international funding agencies & financial institutions –Ford
Foundation, SIDBI, Grameen Foundation and Unitus
ASA
To work for socially and economically deprived sections of the rural
people.
To onlend/lend to Grama Vidiyal groups formed for activities undertaken
for the social, economic and political empowerment of its members
To work for the sustainable development of the society through community
organizing, capacity building by providing education, housing and
addressing local issues
To create employment opportunities through microcredit and enterprise
development
To involve in lobbying and advocacy for micro and macro issues
Grama Vidiyal
To provide microfinance services, in an efficient, effective and
sustainable manner to
100,000 poor women by 2005
500,000 poor women by 2008
1,000,000 poor women by 2015
Strategy
Modified Grameen Model
Over the years, ASA-Grama Vidiyal has adapted the Grameen Model
of micro-credit to suit the local conditions in India. ASA-GV provides
collateral-free credit to poor women organized in groups of five
women at the village level. These groups are federated into centres,
each centre constituting of about 20 members. The centres are further
federated into branches.
The group leaders decide which member is to receive loan, and collection
is made weekly by field staff who are employees of ASA-Grama Vidiyal,
in centre meetings. The social pressure of other members who attend
the weekly centres meeting acts as a social collateral, thus ensuring
almost 100% repayment.
Targeting to Identify the Poorest of the Poor
ASA-GV has the mandate to work for the welfare of the poor and true
to its mission, it lends to the poorest of the poor women in the
age group of 18 to 45 years. ASA-GV makes use of the Housing Index
to identify its target clientele. Housing Index is a tool used to
identify the poor in need of credit, based on the type and condition
of their house. Other than the Housing Index, ASA-GV also ensures
that those who join as members have wet land less than 0.5 acres
or dry land less than 1.5 acres, and an annual income less than
one US dollar a day.
Establishing Strong Community-based
Institutions through Networking and Federation
ASA-Grama Vidiyal aims at the social and political empowerment of
women with microfinance as the foundation for achieving the aim.
The village level groups of five women are federated into centres
having 20 members. These centres are further federated into clusters,
which are further federated into consortia of grassroots organizations,
at the district level. These grassroots organizations are owned
and managed from the village level to the top level by women from
the villages.
At the apex (state) level, there is a federation of the district
level consortia of grassroots organizations. The leaders at all
levels, from the village level to the apex level federation, are
democratically elected.
Integrated Approach to Poverty Alleviation
ASA-GV understands that there are several facets of poverty in India,
and the challenges of alleviating poverty cannot be overcome without
a holistic approach to poverty alleviation. ASA-GV’s products
and services are therefore, aimed at addressing all aspects of poverty,
in order to facilitate the economic, social as well as political
empowerment of poor women, and through them their families and the
society.
While Grama Vidiyal works for the economic empowerment of the poor,
the groups and federations created by networking the members of
the microfinance programme are used as a platform by ASA to provide
training and capacity building support to the poor. ASA also organizes
lobbying and advocacy campaigns through the federations, to encourage
the poor to fight for their rights.
ASA also provides other services such as a unique Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) initiative through Internet kiosks
in rural areas, natural resource management, business development
support, child labour schools and a matriculation school for children
from poor families, which are aimed at the social empowerment of
the poor.
Expansion through Strategic Linkages
In the next five to eight years, ASA-Grama Vidiyal aims to expand
to neighbouring regions of Tamil Nadu, through strategic linkages
with funding agencies and commercial banks having similar objectives
as those of ASA-GV.
Transformation into NBFC
Owing to several constraints to expansion under the present legal
structure of a Public Charitable Trust, ASA-GV is planning to transform
the microfinance operations to a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC).
A private limited company – Grama Vidiyal Microfinance Ltd.(GVMFL)
– has already been formed for this purpose. Presently, ASA-GV
is in the process of raising the mandatory Rs.2 crore initial capital
required for applying to the Reserve Bank of India for the NBFC
licence.
Transformation into NBFC is a step towards achieving ASA-GV’s
Vision of a community institution owned and managed by the community
members. A majority of the paid up share capital of the NBFC will
be owned by representatives of the members of Grama Vidiyal microfinance
programme.
Expanding to Entire Tamil Nadu
Once the microfinance operations are transformed into an NBFC, it
is planned to reach out to at least one million poor families, by
2015. From the present six districts now, the NBFC would have a
presence in almost all the districts of Tamil Nadu, offering products
suited to the geographical location and demographic features.
