Nalikeradhishtitha vyavasaya samrambhangalil koodi Sthree saaktheekaranam (Malayalam)

Abstract

The question of empowerment has been thrown to a very complex, integrated situation where the access to resources, institution, decision making process and information are the pertinent questions in making the women empowered, confident, and accorded to the mainstream social processes. Empowering the poor women through group-based approach like formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs) not only enables the poor to accumulate capital by way of small savings but also helps them to get access to formal credit facilities. In such a setting the present study we attempt a scenario analysis of women self help groups in Kerala dealing with the coconut based micro-enterprises and examine the impact of such groups on women empowerment in terms of employment and income generation. Furthermore we also present four case studies of successfully running women self help groups dealing with the value added coconut products.