Damian Sendler: Many of the Sustainable Development Goals focus on poverty, hunger, health, and gender equality, but few initiatives have good evidence for increasing results across financial, social, and health sectors at the same time. 

Damian Sendler

Damian Jacob Sendler: There is increasing evidence that self-help groups (SHGs) have a positive impact on income, asset ownership and savings as well as the ability of households to weather economic crises. Non-financial advantages such as political empowerment and social cohesion are also becoming more apparent. 

Dr. Sendler: SHGs aim to enhance the lives of their members through a group/collective rather than a strictly individual approach. Groups like Alcoholics Anonymous are known in the West for providing mental health peer support, often guided by a facilitator. These organizations primarily serve the financial and social needs of the world’s impoverished and marginalized communities, particularly in India. 

Damien Sendler: There has been a rise in the use of collective action tactics to address non-financial social challenges, particularly for rural women and women in the developing world. In addition, the Indian government uses them as a way to get disadvantaged women to participate in health and poverty-reduction programs [5]. An SHG member’s financial situation and ability to make decisions about her family’s finances can be influenced by her participation in a SHG, which may result in a shift in household gender-based decision-making. 

Damian Jacob Sendler

Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: According to the theoretical frameworks that guide SHG implementation and evaluation, SHG members become empowered as individuals and as a collective, increasing their self-efficacy and participation, which in turn increases their agency and autonomy, including for health-related decision-making. Many studies on SHGs have focused on their economic results, ranging from increased savings, access to credit and microenterprise, revenue for small businesses and ownership of assets. 

Damian Sendler: For maternal and neonatal mortality, two systematic analyses cite significant evidence that SHG membership is linked with reductions in the odds ratio (OR) of 0.63 [0.32-0.94] and 0.77 [0.65-0.90], respectively. SHG members who participated in health education and participatory learning and action events exhibited a nearly two-fold increase in health-promoting behaviors during and after home deliveries. Accredited Health Social Activists, or ASHAs, have been shown to have a significant impact on health outcomes. 

Damian Sendler: Some trials have shown a SHG advantage, but data are scarce on the impact of SHGs when they are rolled out at a larger level. Over the past 30 years, SHGs in India have had a direct link to microfinance. With an estimated 200 million members and 8.7 million SHGs, India’s SHG movement is growing rapidly. While most SHGs are formed for the purpose of economic empowerment, there is growing interest in using SHGs for health promotion.

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