To reach villages cut off from government schemes, Kadamba built the concept of Self Help Groups into its approach — creating 2,000 SHGs that were constantly monitored and guided by dedicated volunteers.
Background
Numerous villages in the dense vegetation of the Western Ghats remained out of reach of government schemes. People in these remote areas of Uttara Kannada had limited access to productive assets, financial resources and social services — compounded by illiteracy, poor healthcare and vulnerability to natural disasters.
The SHG network in turn acted as the point of contact for all of Kadamba’s community outreach programmes, reaching pockets nobody had reached before.
Self Help Groups created
Activities
- Training and awareness camps for all SHGs, many sponsored by NABARD
- Skill development and financial inclusion — micro finance, micro credit and rural insurance
- Health referral services carried out through the groups
- Agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, poultry and goat rearing, bee-keeping and fisheries introduced with government agencies
