Sampada Trust

Sampada organises women into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and federates them into Apex Bodies (also called joint Women’s Committees or SMS for short) at the village level. These SHGs and their federations are organised around savings and credit operations to begin with, and graduate to undertaking various social developmental activities that impact, in particular, the area of health, sanitation and hygiene of children, individuals, families and the community.

These activities are organised in a manner that also facilitates the mainstreaming of women in the decision-making process in the village. We provide rural women an access to credit through small loans for entrepreneurial livelihood and consumption purposes through their SHGs and SMS. These loans are used and managed by the SHGs themselves. A part of the service charge is given to the SMS so that gradually a fund, at the village level under the control of the women themselves, is built up. 

The SHG members and the rural youth are provided training, guidance and escort services for undertaking of various income generating and livelihood activities. They are also helped to access the formal financial network and also provided the forward and backward linkages along with market-related information. Sampada Trust has provided a retail urban outlet, Amhi Leki Ahilechya, for the sale of the products of rural SHGs and artisans at Ahmednagar.