|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With an outreach of over 300,000 members across 11 states, SKS
Microfinance has been successfully providing financial services to
the poor throughout India since 1998. Despite this achievement, SKS
recognizes that traditional microfinance has often not been able to
reach the poorest of the poor across the world. These poorest of the
poor do not fit within the current structure of microfinance because
potential members lack stable incomes; they have no job prospects,
suffer from health-related issues, are uneducated, and/or are
starving and in need of a reliable food supply.
SKS Assist* is a new program aimed at empowering the destitute --
the segment of society that has traditionally been left out of the
microfinance sphere. SKS Assist aims to combine livelihood support
and financial services to enable the poorest of the poor to create
and foster businesses that will enable them to become traditional
SKS Microfinance members � and create sustainable change in their
lives. The program involves three phases: meeting basic needs,
skills training and starting an income-generating activity.
|
|
Phase I:
Meeting Basic Needs |
SKS Assist members will be provided
food grains and other support services free-of-cost for the
entire duration of the program. Providing basic livelihood
support allows women to be free from the burden of feeding their
family, which gives them the opportunity to concentrate on the
next two phases of the program, skills training and starting a
business. |
|
|
|
Phase II: Skills Training
Members will undergo skills training for a period of up to 6
months. Training programs will be tailored to the needs of each
member, and may include animal rearing, shop-keeping and/or
financial literacy training.
|
|
|
|
Phase III: Starting an Income
Generating Activity
At the end of the training period, members will be granted a
loan to start an income-generating-activity of their choosing.
For the next fifty weeks, a trained SKS staff member will guide
members in the process of starting and maintaining a business.
Credit discipline will also be inculcated so members repay their
loans, thereby ensuring members truly own their businesses. At
the end of the loan period, the Assist member will be encouraged
to �graduate� from the program and become a traditional SKS
Microfinance member. |
|
|
|
* SKS Assist is modeled on the
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) Income Generation
for Vulnerable Groups Development (IGVGD) program.
www.brac.net
If interested in learning more, please contact SKS Assist
Program Manager, Suma Reddy, at
[email protected]
Wish to donate?
If you are based in the USA, please send checks to SKS
Foundation, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation, at:
SKS Foundation
11 Valleywood Dr
Scotia, NY 12302
USA |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Enter your email address to receive our
newsletter. |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|