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| February 3, 2010 |
Exposure Visit to Medak District, Andhra Pradesh
Members of the Project Implementation Monitoring Committee (PIMC) Mr D.P. Misra, CGM, NABARD, RO, UP, Mr T. Vijay Kumar, IAS, CEO, SERP, Hydrabad (Andhra Pradesh), Mr B.V. Chaubal, CGM, SBI, Lucknow, Mr N.K. Jain, DGM, BOB, Mr Dinesh Sharma , Chairman, BUPGB, Raebareli , Mr B.L. Gupta, DGM, PNB, Mr B.K. Srivastava, Chairman, LKGB, Mr S.K. Upadhyay, RM, Sarv UP Gramin Bank, Mr V.C. Saini, GM, TKGB and Mr P. Sampath Kumar, CEO, RGMVP went on an exposure visit to Sadasivet Mandel of Medak district, Andhra Pradesh, to observe the best practices of SHG institutional model and the community based sustainable agriculture initiatives taken up through the SHGs promoted by the SERP. |
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| February 2, 2010 |
International Programme on Financial Inclusion
National Bank Staff College (NBSC), Lucknow,
conducted an International Programme on
Financial Inclusion for APRACA and CENTRAB
APRACA from February 1 to 5, 2010. The programme
was attended by 10 participants from different
countries: the Philippines (four), Lao PDR
(two), Nepal (two) and Cambodia (two).
As part of the programme, the participants were
taken to Agra and Raebareli on a field level
exposure to the different practices being
followed for the realisation of financial
Inclusion. The exposure visits were highly
appreciated by the participants.
A panel discussion on initiatives taken for
financial inclusion by different organisations
was also organised towards the end of the
programme. The panel included Mr A. K.
Srivastava, CGM, NABARD, HO, Mumbai, Mr N. K.
Mehra, General Manager, Punjab National Bank,
New Delhi, Mr Pushkar Sahay, Deputy General
Manager, State Bank of India, Lucknow and Dr. C.
P. Joshi, Assistant General Manager, Reserve
Bank of India. The discussions elicited a very
good response from all the participants.
The programme received a high overall rating of
92.44 percent which was indicative of the
professional way in which the exposure visit was
organised. |
|
| October 29-30, 2009 |
DFID Team Visit
Mr Panjak Jain, Ms Meenakshi Nag and Mr Chris Chalms from UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) visited Kaziyana village of Jagatpur block, Tomar Ka Purwa village of Bahadurpur block and Nidhan Singh Ka Purwa of Shahgarh block and also interacted with the members of Astha Mahila Block Sangathan, Shahgarh. |
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| August 14, 2009 |
Mr Rahul Gandhi Attends RGMVP
Meeting
Mr Rahul Gandhi attended a meeting in the
Mission area, held to formulate pro-poor
environment and CRP strategies to empower the
rural poorest of poor, and to facilitate social
mobilisation and community participation.
Members of the SHGs presented case studies of
the SHGs’ influence in their lives, and the change and opportunities presented to them.In his speech Mr Gandhi explained his vision for
the development in UP, with women playing an
instrumental role in it. Seeing SHGs as the key
to empowering women, he stressed that it was
time to bring women into the mainstream of
development. Viewing the SHG movement as an
exciting change, and with the success it
achieved in Andhra Pradesh, he expressed his
confidence of similar success in UP. He pointed
to the already improved conditions of women in
Rai Bareli and Sultanpur, and hoped all of UP
would follow their example.
In response to all the encouragement that they
received from Mr Gandhi, the women promised to
spread the SHG movement to the entire nation and
pledged: “We can and we will!” |
|
|
| August 11, 2009 |
Mrs Sonia Gandhi
Visits Mission Area
Mrs Sonia Gandhi took time off from her hectic
schedule to pay a visit to village Tala Gopalpur,
Rahi Block, of the Mission area. The SHG women
welcomed Mrs Gandhi and during an interaction
with her, related the stories of their lives
before and after the advent of RGMVP and its
empowerment and poverty alleviation initiatives
into their lives. The SHG women also put up a
little skit, depicting the hardships of women in
rural India. Mrs Gandhi listed to them with
great interest.The SHG women expressed profuse gravitated to
Mrs Gandhi for setting an example of leadership
and empowerment, and the inspiration she
provides each one of them. They also thanked her
for the very idea of the RGMVP, and for the
‘hand holding support’ which has empowered them
to take action both in their own lives and the
life of the village. |
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| July 13 and 14, 2009 |
Senior NDDB Official Visits Deeh
Mr N.V. Belavadi, Senior General Manager, NDDB, visited village Dilaawrpur in district Deeh and met with the dairy and agriculture CRPs to observe the impact of the training carried out under the Khorana programme by University of Wisconsin experts. He also held discussions on further convergence in dairy and agriculture.
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| June
6, 2009 |
Executive Director, mCID, NABARD, Visits Project
Area
Mr Prakash Bakshi, Executive Director, mCID
NABARD visited Shahgarh Block in Sultanpur
District to observe RGMVP’s thrift and credit
activity. He held discussions on the social
mobilisation process, and its efficacy in
building institutions in which the poor and
participate fully to eradicate their own
poverty. He also took stock of activities such
as the Dabholkar method that has been introduced
by RGMVP to increase agricultural yields by
improving soil quality. He also discussed the
goal of SHGs as effective agents of change and
spoke about how SHGs serve as platforms to
establish banking amongst the poor which is
reliable, accountable and a profitable business. |
|
|
| |
| June
3, 2009 |
mCID, NABARD, Officials Visit Project
Area
A team of the 20 NABARD officials from Micro
Credit Innovations Department (mCID), Mumbai
visited the project area to understand the
strategies utilised By RGMVP to expand and
strengthen the SHG movement as well as to build
institutions of the poor and their capacities.
The team visited the Sultanpur and Rae Bareli
districts as well as the operational area of the
project in Mahemau village in Jagdispur Block at
and Para village in Harchandpur Block. They
interact with SHG members on the dimensions of
the poverty, poverty alleviation through
institution building, and transformation of
their lives through the SHG-bank linkage process
(TFI). The NABARD team was very impressed with
the improvements in the poor’s lives, especially
in the areas of education, health and livelihood
enhancement. |
|
|
|
| June 1 to 13, 2009 |
Team from University of Wisconsin Visits
RGMVP
A team of experts from the University of
Wisconsin (UW), which is implementing an
extension programme in India under the Khorana
programme, visited the project area. RGCT,
RGMVP’s parent organisation, is UW’s knowledge
partner in this programme, under which USAID and
RGCT are sponsoring the training of CRPs. The
team provided training and inputs to improve
milk yields and enhance productivity of
agricultural crops with a special focus on
vegetable production. Community best
practitioners for dairy and agriculture – SHG
women who are willing to share this knowledge on
a voluntary basis with SHGs – were the
participants in these training sessions. The UW
team also visited several villages to observe
the current practices in dairy and agriculture
being followed by RGMVP SHGs and their
federations. |
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|
|
| April 16-18, 2009 |
Unicef Official Visits Project Area
Communications in charge, Unicef, Uttar Pradesh,
Ms Rachna Sharma visited two villages in
Raibareli and Sultanpur districts as well as the
Jais Training Centre to experience first-hand
the work being done by RGMVP. She also held
discussions with CEO, RGMVP, on the possibility
of collaboration between Unicef and RGMVP in the
field of education. |
|
|
|
| January 15-16,
2009 |
British Foreign Secretary Visits Amethi.
David Miliband, British Foreign Secretary, was
invited by Mr Rahul Gandhi to visit the RGMVP
project area to observe the work being done by
the Mission. Mr Miliband got a real taste of
rural Indian life - a thatched house, village
fare and a rope cot to sleep on - when he spent
last night in the house of a Dalit family in
Semra village in Bhetua block.
Mr Miliband also interacted with the SHG women
and learnt about their problems as well how
RGMVP was helping them overcome these. He
visited a number of villages, saw RGMVP’s
literacy programme in action, observed dairy
development activities and also interacted with
the media at Indira Gandhi Eye Hospital. On the
second day, he visited the Jais Training Centre
and saw training being provided to women and
girls on various income generation activities.
Mr Miliband expressed his deep appreciation of
RGMVP’s work, ands said that he was moved and
inspired by the stories of women who, using
microfinance, had transformed their own lives
and those of their children. |
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|
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| December 22, 2008 |
| SHG Meet and Mega
Credit Camp Organised RGMVP, in association with
NABARD, organised a SHG Meet, Training &
Awareness Programme and Credit Camp to create
awareness among SHGs on credit linkages. The
programme saw the participation of Mrs Sonia
Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) and
Member of Parliament (MP), Raebareli; Mr Rahul
Gandhi, MP, Amethi; Mr U.C. Sarangi, Chairman,
NABARD; Joint Secretary Mrs Kiran Chaddha; Mr T.
Vijay Kumar, IAS, CEO SERP; and 12,000 SHG
women. |
|
| September 26,
2008 |
| Interaction and
Credit Camp Held at Unchahat RGMVP organised
an interaction programme between Mrs Sonia
Gandhi, Chairperson, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable
Trust (RGCT) and Member of Parliament (MP),
Raebareli and SHG women at Unchahat. Over 3,000
SHG women participated and their Block Level
Associations made a power-point presentation
about their progress and future action plans.
Mrs Gandhi shared her views with the SHG women
and inaugurated the bio-metric Smart Card system
for the SHGs at the village level. |
|
| August 2008 |
| Senior Adviser,
Rural Development, Planning Commission Visits
Mission Area Mr Santosh Mehrotra, Senior
Adviser, Rural Development, Planning Commission,
visited the Jagdishpur Block in Sultanpur
District to get a first hand view of the SHG
movement in the Block. He visited SHGs run by
the Swamjayanti Gram Swa-Rozgar Yojna (SGSY) and
those operating under RGMVP. He pointed to the
fact that while hand-holding support, so crucial
for the success of the SHG movement, was
available in the latter project, it was missing
from the former. However, he was exhilarated by
the personal stories he heard from women about
increase in income and self-confidence and the
sense of solidarity they gained through SHGs. |
|
| August 1-5, 2008 |
RGCT and RGMVP Trustees Visit Bangladesh
As part of its continuous learning approach,
RGCT Trustees Mr Rahul Gandhi and Mr Suman Dubey,
and RGMVP CEO Mr Sampath Kumar, visited the best
known community development organisations in
Bangladesh – BRAC and Grameen. The extremely
fruitful visit included discussions with BRAC
Founder and Chairperson, Mr Fazle Hasan Abed, as
well field visits to BRAC project areas to
observe the best practices being used by BRAC in
the areas of education and livelihood
enhancement. The two-day visit to Grameen
included very productive interaction with the
Grameen founder Professor Muhammad Yunus, as
well observation of the work being done by
Grameen in the areas of supporting the poorest
of poor, the education loans schemes, day
schools, community managed health care, etc.
Both organisations showed a keen interest in
sharing ideas with and forming associations with
RGMVP. |
|
|
|
| July 14-16, 2008 |
| Mr Shoaib
Sultan Khan Visits RGMVP Mr Shoaib Sultan
Khan, development guru with over five decades of
experience behind him, visited the project area.
During his two-day visit, Mr Khan visited Teri
Village in Mr Rahul Gandhi’s company. All
households in Teri have been organised into a
VO. He addressed the SHG women, giving examples
from his experience of working with a million
people of Northern Areas of Pakistan and
thereafter especially from Andhra Pradesh, where
100,000 families organised by SAPAP initiated by
UNDP have now blossomed in over 9 million
organised households and how they have improved
their economic and social status beyond
recognition. |
|
| July 6-7, 2008 |
|
DGM,
mCID, NABARD, Mumbai Makes a Visit Ms Anne
Kosh, Deputy General Manager (DGM), Micro Credit
Innovations Department (mCID), NABARD, Mumbai,
visited RGMVP’s project area in Raebareli and
Sultanpur. She spent two days in the project
area, interacting with the Mission staff and
travelling in the villages to meet women at SHGs,
VOs and BOs. She provided some valuable inputs
and suggestions on how to strengthen the SHGs
and their federations. She specially focused on
the credit linkages and inter-loaning among all
SHG women. She also made some suggestions
regarding VOs and BOs. |
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| May 16, 2008 |
|
Inauguration of Mobile Micro Credit Unit
Mr Rahul Gandhi, MP, Amethi, inaugurated the
Mobile Micro Credit Unit established by Baroda
UP Grameen Bank at Kohar Village of Shahgarh
Block, to facilitate the SHG-Bank Linkage
process. |
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|
|
| April 22, 2008 |
| CGM, NABARD,
Regional Office, Lucknow, Visits Mission Area
Mr Sukhbir Singh, Chief General Manager (CGM),
NABARD, Regional Office, Lucknow, visited Sarai
Khema village in Amethi Block of Sultanpur
District. A total of 19 SHGs have been formed in
that village under RGMVP and have been federated
as a VO. Mr Singh appreciated the active
participation and enthusiasm of SHG women. |
|
| March 24-26, 2008 |
| Professionals
from University of Wisconsin Pay a Visit
Three senior professional from University of
Wisconsin, USA, visited the project area and
offered technical assistance and guidance to the
Mission in developing a team of
paraprofessionals/extensive worker from amongst
SHG members. |
|
| March 15, 2008 |
| Issuance of
Comprehensive Circular on SHG-Bank Linkage by
Baroda Eastern UP Grameen Bank The Baroda
Eastern UP Grameen Bank has issued a
comprehensive circular to all its branches on
the SGH-Bank Linkage process with relation to
RGMVP. Bank of Baroda too has issued a detailed
circular to its all branches of Sultanpur and
Raebareli Districts. These circulars serve as a
guide to the branch managers and have boosted
RGMVP’s SHG-Bank Linkage programme. |
|
| March 1, 2008 |
| Delegation from
Bangladesh Appreciates RGMVP’s Work A team
from Bangladesh visited the project area in the
first week of March 2008. The best practices
implemented by SHGs under RGMVP were appreciated
by the team. |
|
| February 20, 2008 |
Mega Credit Camp on Microfinance Organised
Bank of Baroda celebrated its Gramotsav
Centenary Function with the SHG members of
Raebareli. The bank’s management approached
RGMVP for handholding support and expressed its
willingness to extend credit links to SHGs
promoted by RGMVP. A mega credit camp was
organised on the occasion during which RGMVP
field staff guided and facilitated the
preparation of SHG-Bank Linkage loan
applications, and assisting the Bank in field
surveys and the documentation process while
participating actively in the SHG-Linkage
Gramotsava function. SHG women too participated
proactively in the function. Some highlights of
the mega credit camp were:
- Bank of Baroda and its Regional Rural
Bank, Baroda Eastern UP Grameen Bank, linked
1,181 SHGs promoted by RGMVP with a credit
limit of Rs 620 million.
- About 15,000 SHG women members
participated in this programme and were
exposed to horizontal and vertical learning
on poverty reduction and women’s
empowerment.
- Chief General Manager, NABARD Regional
Office, Lucknow, and District Development
Manager (DDM), Sultanpur and Raebareli
Districts, attended the Gramotsav and DDM,
Raebareli, explained the guidelines on SHG
formation and linkage to the SHG members.
- Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, RGCT, and
Member of Parliament (MP), Raebareli, was
the Chief Guest and addressed the SHG
members on the strengths of SHGs and their
role in poverty reduction and women’s
empowerment.
- Mr P. Chidambaram, Union Finance Minister,
was the Special Guest and showed keen
interest on Total Financial Inclusion (TFI)
through the Micro Credit Plan (MCP) approach
of SHG members. He urged all banks to adopt
the TFI model based on MCP.
- Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of State for
Finance, Government of India, addressed the
SHG members and encouraged all poor women to
join SHGs to shed poverty.
- Mr Rahul Gandhi, MP, Amethi, said in his
speech that women’s SHGs had shown a strong
socio-economic development potential which
should be replicated in all parts of the
country. He appreciated the efforts of SHG
members and assured them of the
reinforcement of the women’s empowerment
process through the SHG model.
- Mr Anil Kumar Khandelwal, Chairman, Bank of
Baroda, assured the SHG members of a liberal
approach on lending though SHGs. He said
that the Bank would provide doorstep
documentation and credit delivery services
to SHG women and no women would be required
to visit the Bank branch for this purpose.
He also announced the setting up of a Micro
Loan Factory for RGMVP affiliated SHG
members to upscale SHG financing by the
Bank. Mr Khandelwal also launched the Baroda
Swarojgar Vikas Sansthan at Raebareli to
assist active SHG leaders/members in
capacity building.
- The stalls set up by SHG members were
visited by the Chief Guest and the Special
Guests who showed keen interest and asked
questions to which the SHG women responded
appropriately.
|
|
|
|
| February 20, 2008 |
| Establishment
of Micro Credit Unit by Participating Banks in
the Project Area According to decision taken
at the Project Implementation and Monitoring
Committee (PIMC), each participating bank having
more than two or three branches in Sultanpur and
Raebareli Districts was requested to open its
Micro Credit Unit, either at Amethi or at
Raebareli. Bank of Baroda and State Bank of
India have already established their Micro
Credit Units, and other banks are expected to
follow soon. |
|
| February 20, 2008 |
| Interest Rate
Concession by Bank of Baroda on SHG Lendings
Bank of Baroda, the Lead Bank of Sultanpur and
Raebareli Districts and also the convenor of the
State Level Bankers Committee meeting, has
approved a concessional rate of interest @ 4.25
percent below public lending rate (PLR), that
is, @ 9 percent per annum for the SHGs promoted
under RGMVP. Similarly, Baroda Eastern UP
Grameen Bank, the Regional Rural Bank of Bank of
Baroda with a network in Raebareli and Sultanpur
Districts, has decided to extend the SHG-Bank
Linkage facility at a concessional 9 percent
interest rate to those SHGs which have secured
85 percent marks in the grading of the group. |
|
| November 28, 2007 |
|
Banker’s Sensitisation Programme Organised
At the initial stages of the implementation of
RGMVP’s programmes, National Commercial Banks
and Regional Rural Banks were hesitant to lend
complete support due to lack of knowledge about
the SHG process and the power of micro-finance.
Branch Managers, Lead District Managers and Area
Managers of Grameen Bank were deputed to Andhra
Pradesh for three days’ exposure visit on the
UNDP model of micro-finance lending. The visit
was organised with support from NABARD and
controlling offices of the bank. After the
exposure visit, the participants’ perceptions
changed and now they are advocates of the
micro-finance linked SHG model for the
eradication of poverty. |
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