S DevarajChairman & Managing Director

Working towards Peace & Prosperity

Voice from the Field

CHITRA SENTHILKUMARMember of GV since 2003 & a owner of a Bakery ShopSomarasampettai, Tiruchirappalli

Ms. CHITRA SENTHILKUMAR lives in Somerasampettai, a greeny and a pleasant village in the outskirts of Tiruchirapalli.

Unlike her village, her life was so distressful. Because her father was an alcoholic, her family faced extreme poverty with even their basic needs being unmet.

She was not educated properly and was forced to work as a child labour in a bakery where she earned Rs.1 per day.

She got married against her parents wishes and lost her loving husband because of cardiac illness at a very young age.

Along with her three children including two daughters, she faced complete social exclusion as she was totally abandoned by her family and society.

Being an isolated and abandoned women, she was hopeless and was at the verge of giving up her life in distress.

She was identified by GVMFL in 2003 for her poverty and distressful situation.

Capitalising on the only skill that she learnt since her childhood, the credit programs of GVMFL supported her to start a bakery of her own.

She also received series of empowerment and enterprises development trainings that helped her to move with absolute confidence against all odds.

She now earns Rs. 20 thousand per month which is four times of the per capita income for India

Her socio-economic growth not only brought the smiles back on her face but also peace and prosperity in her life as she was able to unit herself with the family and society that once abandoned her.

Poverty & Social Exclusion Peace & Prosperity

ASA-GVMFL ConglomerateAn integrated eapproach to holistic empowerment

The Activists for Social Alternatives(1986), popularly knows as ASA, is a not-for-profit NGO, focusing on the empowerment of women.

Grama Vidiyal (1993), not-for-profit NGO providing social security services to poor rural women.

Grama Vidiyal Microfinance Ltd (2007), a Non Banking Finance Company (NBFC-MFI) providing microfinance services to achieve financial inclusion of poorest women of the community.

All three institutions in this 26 year old Conglomerate work collaboratively to provide a

comprehensive and a holistic development program to empower poor women on

economic, social, cultural and political fronts.

Status of GVMFL Microfinance ProgramAs of March 15, 2012

HUMAN RESOURCE

Total Number of Staff 2,704

No of Credit Officer (Field Officer) 1,696

OUTREACH

Number of State* 4

Number of Districts 49

Number of Branches 327

Number of Villages 21,646

Number of Peer Groups 2,16,464

MEMBERS

Number of Members 10,82,319

PORTFOLIO

Number of Loan Disbursed 63,88,722

Amount of Loan Disbursed INR 42.5 Billion US$ 850 Million

Amount of Loan Repaid INR 37.05 Billion US$ 741 Million

Amount of Loan Outstanding INR 5.45 Billion US$ 109 Million

PERFORMANCE

Rate of Repayment 99.67%

Portfolio At Risk (PAR) 0.33%

PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN MEMBERS 100%

Social Security Programs

The conglomerate provides social security services (micro-insurance) to its women members since 2001 .

Presently the life of 8.21 lac women have been covered under this program.

During the FY 2011-12, about 1600 claims for a value of Rs. 3.2 Crs (USD 633 thousand) were successfully processed to benefit the families of the deceased women members.

Health Camps The conglomerate organises general and specialty

health camps to its women members and their families to ensure healthy living at regular intervals.

During the FY 2011-12, about 251 camps were organised all over its operational area that had benefited about 47 thousand individuals including the family members of GV’s women.

More than 5000 individuals were referred to specialty hospitals for higher level of investigations and specialised treatments at subsidized rates.

Education & Skills Development

The conglomerate runs four schools to support former child labours who were denied their rights to education.

It also runs one school for providing formal matriculation (English medium) education at an affordable cost.

This school caters to about 1400 children from the rural areas and majority of them are the children of GV’s women.

The conglomerate also provides computer literacy under its skills development programs to the children of its members that facilitates better employment opportunities for them.

As a part of this child development program, the Conglomerate also provides recreation facilities through cricket and other sports activities to uplift their physical and mental wellbeing.

Enterprises Development

The Conglomerate provides enterprises development training to its women members to help them maximise the productivity and profitability in their micro-enterprises.

The training also includes branding, labeling, basic accounting and business planning skills.

Utilising the clientele base, the Conglomerate also facilitates market linkages among the clients.

Annadhanam

Annadhanam, meaning “Food Donation” has been the most sacred program that the Conglomerate has in place.

Every day “Annadhanam” is being provided at the head quarters, branch offices, exclusive “Annadhanam” centres.

It also has a mobile team which takes these services on wheels to old-age homes, orphanages, hospices, temples and home for destitute.

Every day, about 5000 individuals are served under this program by providing free noon meals.

Relief Works

The Conglomerate is known for its ability to natural calamities in a timely and an appropriate manner.

Leveraging the financial, men and material resources from every institution of the Conglomerate, it had provided immediate reliefs during Tsunami (2004) and floods (2005 and 2006).

During the FY, it had also responded in the same manner to the Thane disaster (2011) by providing immediate relief materials to about 18,000 affected families in 150 villages.

More than 2000 families affected in various other floods and cyclones in Tamil Nadu were also served under this relief program for the year.

Microfinance, a proven tool for poverty alleviation, holds the potential to facilitate macro level difference in the community besides its poverty alleviation objectives.

Working beyond the economic boundaries, microfinance also contributes to peace and communal harmony

The economic empowerment of women through microfinance, optimises the participation of women in family and community level decision making.

On the whole, the microfinance based conglomerate has the ability to leverage its financial, men and material resources towards achieving peace, prosperity and holistic development of the community through women.

Thank You