Mobilisation of the Poor – a means to Poverty Reduction? - Sida

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Case 5: A CAP Small Group that Became less Active over the Years
C Group in Weli Oya is one of the small groups formed under the PRDP in the North Central Province. PRDP
was a special project supported by Sida where a version of the CAP methodology has been used. One of the
special features of this project was the large-scale and rapid recruitment and training of mobilisers who were
paid a special monthly allowance. C Group was formed in 1994 with eight members – three men and five
women. By 2001 the group contained four women only. Interestingly, the reduced small group contained a
married woman named Sagarika (who was the leader of the group), her sister, her mother, and her motherin-law.
The four members lived in four separate households but were in close contact with each other. Even
among the remaining four members one was reported to be less active as of May 2001. Before the break
up of the group that occurred in March 2001, the group fund amounted to Rs.9000. As of May 2001 it had
shrunk to a mere Rs.1000, kept by Sagarika. According to her, some of the male members of the group left
when they got jobs outside of the village. Also, some members found it difficult to contribute the agreed
weekly or fortnightly payment for the group savings scheme because of their poverty and lack of regular
income. Further, the mobilisers responsible for local group formation left the project when their allowances
was terminated and responsibility for maintaining the group process had now been shifted to the newly
formed PO. This was seen as another factor contributing to the weakening of small groups in the area.
The CAP small groups in the area had been quite active in 1995–96. At that time, in addition to regular
meetings, group savings and credit operations, labour sharing among members, as well as bulk purchasing
of commodities, were a common occurrence. Sagarika emphasised that even though the group had become
smaller it continued with regular meetings and savings and credit operations and participated in village-wide
activities like shramadana work which was organised collectively by all the remaining small groups in the
area. She also noted that the current activities presented no special problems as the remaining members
were all part of the same family. Even though the number and scale of operations had obviously decreased
with the decrease in size of the group, some rudimentary activities like fortnightly savings and lending
continued among this core of relatives. While the group process has obviously become weaker because of
internal and external pressures, the ability of the groups to survive in a rudimentary manner indicates a
degree of resilience in the group process.
Third, in view of the centrally administered and supervised nature of the Samurdhi programme,
financial systems tended to be better organised and more in keeping with a standardised system.
Finally, the Samurdhi organisations were widely used as part of the state delivery mechanism for
the distribution of resources to the rural poor. This, in turn, had implications for creating or
enhancing dependency. In contrast, the emphasis on self-reliance was much more pronounced in
CAP, even though this tendency has been somewhat weakened by the increased importance of
access to credit as an incentive for joining.
MOBILISATION OF THE POOR – A MEANS TO POVERTY REDUCTION – Sida EVALUATION 02/08