Self-Help Groups hold a historical significance in India’s informal workforce growth. They have been instrumental in bringing communities together to unlock financial inclusion and agency. However, the conversation today is shifting from them being just lending-management systems to structured pathways that enable women to participate effectively in the economy.
This transition has not happened organically. It has required access to skills, markets, financing, and institutional support. A growing set of organisations have enabled this intersection on the grassroots level, helping women’s collectives transition into income-generating, enterprise-led ecosystems that move beyond subsistence.
Here are five NGOs in India playing a key role in turning SHGs into engines of livelihood and growth.
1. Sambhav Foundation
At Sambhav Foundation, SHGs are viewed as levers to financial mobility. Women from underserved communities, like the waste pickers in Bengaluru, are counselled, trained, and imbibed into this institution of SHGs. They are assisted in opening bank accounts and formalising the process by being the bridge between participants and the National Urban Livelihoods Mission.
What sets the model apart is its focus on continuity and sustainability. Participants undergo capacity-building sessions and handholding through community resource persons, so that once an SHG has been incubated, they have the agency, tools, and literacy to carry forward operations by themselves, making them independent.
2. PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action)
PRADAN has been at the forefront of working with rural women’s collectives for decades, focusing on long-term economic resilience rather than short-term income gains. Its model integrates institution building with livelihood development, enabling SHG members to move into farm-based livelihoods, producer collectives, and micro-enterprises. By strengthening both the collective and the individual’s earning capacity, PRADAN ensures that SHGs evolve into stable, income-generating units embedded within local economies.
3. Mann Deshi Foundation
The Mann Deshi Foundation offers one of the most evolved examples of how SHGs can transform into full-fledged entrepreneurial ecosystems. What began with a women’s cooperative bank has expanded into a network that includes business schools, chambers of commerce, and market access platforms for rural women entrepreneurs. The foundation focuses on financial literacy, enterprise training, and direct market linkage, enabling women to scale beyond micro-activities into structured businesses.
4. SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association)
SEWA has built one of the largest and most influential models for collective economic empowerment of informal women workers in India. Through a combination of unionisation, cooperative development, financial services, and skill-building, SEWA enables women to build and sustain their own livelihoods. Its work goes beyond income generation to include social protection, market access, and policy advocacy, ensuring that SHG members are not just earning, but also gaining agency and security.
5. CORD India
CORD India has been instrumental in advancing SHG models in northern India, particularly through its early partnerships with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. Its approach moves beyond savings by equipping women with bookkeeping skills, improving access to credit, and supporting entrepreneurship development. By focusing on strong community institutions and financial discipline, CORD enables SHGs to transition into structured, credit-linked, and enterprise-oriented groups.
