id: kudumbashree-neighbourhood-group
title: Kudumbashree Neighbourhood Group
description: >-
  A Kerala (India) women's neighbourhood group (NHG) practice, the smallest
  unit of the Kudumbashree community network, where 10 to 20 women meet
  weekly to micro-save, assess needs, and make collective decisions.
  Kudumbashree is one of the largest women's community networks in the
  world, established by the Government of Kerala.
source: Kudumbashree Mission, Government of Kerala
source_url: https://www.kudumbashree.org/
tags: [kerala, kudumbashree, women, microfinance, india, community]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Form the NHG
    description: >-
      Ten to twenty women from the same neighbourhood form a Neighbourhood
      Group, meeting weekly. Each contributes a small saving to a common
      fund.
  - headline: Weekly meeting
    description: >-
      The NHG meets weekly: savings are collected, needs are discussed,
      microloans are considered and approved by the group, not by an
      external officer.
  - headline: Assess and grade
    description: >-
      The NHG regularly assesses the needs of each member household and
      grades the family's risk, so that support is targeted to those most
      in need.
  - headline: Take up collective enterprises
    description: >-
      NHGs may form collective enterprises — catering, farming, crafts —
      with group members as co-owners, supported by the wider Kudumbashree
      network.
  - headline: Feed up to ADS and CDS
    description: >-
      NHG decisions and needs are fed up to the Area Development Society
      and Community Development Society, the federated structure that
      engages local government.
outcome: >-
  Women in the same neighbourhood pool savings, decide on loans, assess
  each other's needs, and run enterprises, with a federated voice into
  local government.
practice: >-
  The weekly meeting is the form. If meetings lapse, the NHG dies. The
  group, not an officer, decides on loans — this is what keeps it
  accountable to the women themselves.