The SHG Women with KS-NRO Mentors

Keirao Khunou village, located in Keirao Bitra Sub Division of Imphal East district, lies a cluster of 24 households of Meitei community. The cluster is located in the interiors of the village and the families have been living there for the past 10 years. Since last one year, the people have been facing problems due to unpaved roads and street lights that weren’t functioning. During heavy rains, it was a challenge for the locals to walk through the eroded road without proper lighting. In spite of repeated requests to the Panchayat and even placing the demand in the Gram Sabha, the issue was not taken up.

To put an end to this problem, one of the SHGs in the village decided to intervene. Among the SHG women, there were three Local Resource Group (LRG) members who were selected and trained to be part of the PRI-CBO Convergence Project in the village. The LRGs were instrumental in bringing up the issue and the need to address it urgently for the common good of the village. After consulting with the mentors of Kudumbashree National Resource Organisation (KS-NRO), the SHG women including the LRGs decided to approach the electricity department through a common contact working as a line worker. On March 2018 the efforts of these women were rewarded when 18 street lights were repaired and a meter was installed. The expenses were met from the SHG savings of the members. As the next step, women mobilised other village members for paying the monthly electricity bill collectively which comes around Rs.1000 for two and half months.

The ten women of the SHG group have lighten the streets of their village and have set an example that women have the capability of working towards the solution of any problem. As an SHG group they were strengthened to identify local issues affecting them and found a way to address it. The women now feel driven to work towards other development activities of the village. Their next aim is to resolve the problem of water scarcity.
They say “We want our village to have all the basic facilities and we will work hard to make it happen”.