Joint Liability Group (JLG) Project

Ensuring Livelihood Security of Fisherwomen

Society for Assistance to Fisherwomen (SAF) implements the JLG project with an aim to wipe away the exploitation of private money lenders and financial insecurity among the fisher women doing fish/allied works.

As part of the project, 350 Joint Liability Groups are formed covering 1750 fisherwomen beneficiaries in Trivandrum, Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts. A grant amount of Rs. 50,000/JLG (10,000/member) as interest free working capital revolving fund is given to these JLGs and based on the repayment the amount will revolve in the JLGs itself.

The JLGs will be linked to Kerala Bank and they will be providing grant support as working capital assistance of Rs. 50,000 per JLG as revolving fund. The facilitators will manage and coordinate the entire JLG activities at field level and will ensure the timely repayment of loan.

Working Capital Revolving Fund (WCRF) is the financial assistance from SAF to the activity groups for the development of business activities without interest. WCRF is administered through Theeramythri councils (TMC).

Through WCRF a group will get maximum amount of RS. 75000/- and community provision store, Sea food kitchen& Super markets of Rs. 1,00,000/- as revolving fund. The group will repay the amount with 20 equal instalments. The total cost of the project is Rs. 239 lakhs.

The project helps to revolve the grant amount in regular intervals which in turn ensures a working capital support for a long period of time which is also be considered as repeated doses of grant assistance. Along with this, JLGs will be assisted with term loan and KCC facilities which enables them to access institutional credit.

Objectives:

• To enhance the access to bank credit and financial services for fisherwomen and thus ensuring their financial inclusion.
• To establish a suitable mechanism so that the fisherwomen will be able to access institutional credit and prevent the exploitations by private money lenders
• To enhance financial discipline among fisherwomen.
• To help the fisherwomen to efficiently manage the loan amount for income generation activities, thus ensuring employment and better livelihood opportunities.