Self-Help Groups as Pathways to Sustainable Rural Livelihoods and Women’s Economic Empowerment
Alka Kumari, Amritesh Kumar Amar, Nibedita Mishra and Ajay Kumar Prusty
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Abstract:
Self-help groups (SHGs) have transformed from a savings-and-credit association to a financial-inclusion platform, a collective-action platform, a livelihood-promotion platform, and a public-service delivery platform. This review has been prepared by bringing together 50 peer-reviewed studies to consider the role of SHGs in promoting sustainable rural livelihoods and women’s economic empowerment and why results are mixed. There is evidence that savings, credit and social networks can enhance financial access, information, mobility, household decision making, enterprise participation and resilience. But membership and credit are insufficient to secure lasting empowerment, however. Enhanced results occur when finance is integrated with skills, market linkages, accountable group governance, digital inclusion, gender-responsive extension, and institutional convergence. Small loans, limited market access, unpaid care burdens, and restrictive norms and unequal participation continue to limit the impacts. Through an integrated pathway, the group formation process creates social capital, financial and human skills facilitate diversified livelihoods, market and institutional linkages allow for accumulation of assets and collective agency increases women’s control, voice and resilience.
Keywords:
DAY-NRLM; Entrepreneurship; Financial Inclusion; Rural Development; Self-Help Groups; Social Capital; Sustainable Livelihoods; Women’s Economic Empowerment.
Citation: Alka Kumari, Amritesh Kumar Amar, Nibedita Mishra and Ajay Kumar Prusty (2026). Self-Help Groups as Pathways to Sustainable Rural Livelihoods and Women’s Economic Empowerment. Horizon J. Hum. Soc. Sci. Res. 8 (S), 31–40. https://doi.org/10.37534/bp.jhssr.2026.v8.nS.id1392.p31
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