Grant from American Jewish World Service for Self-Help groups

In December 2002, Deepak Charitable Trust, Deeepak Foundation was awarded a small grant by the American Jewish World Service, a U.S. based funding organisation, to strengthen the existing Self Help Groups of poor women. Although a grant, it is of special significance since it is for the very first time that we have received funds for building the capacity of the members of the Self-Help Groups. The main activity covered by this grant is the training of the members of these groups in order to increase their awareness and strengthen the groups. As a result we have undertaken on a large scale the training of these members. Our aim is that each and every member of the existing 135 Self-Help Groups, nearly 2100 members, undergo the training this year. The training has been designed keeping in mind that the vast majority of these women are illiterate and so the methodology adopted is based on games, small plays etc. which can be understood by them. In the first two months of the year about 225 members from 15 groups have been trained. We are hopeful that the planned training activities help in making these groups self-reliant and that they are able to function without depending on Deepak Charitable Trust - this is our long-term goal.

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