Rural Women Enterprise: SHG Institutions Have Vital Role in Food Production to Improve Health & Nutrition

Abstract

Women need opportunity not sympathy - they want freedom to change the face of health & nutrition condition in developing countries. Women based Self-Help-Groups (SHGs) in south Asia; India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal etc. are actively participating in development arena especially in health & nutrition related interventions. SHGs based women institution primary or secondary level institutions have played vital role to make health and nutritional awareness helping local government providing support in access of health facilities & day-to-day nutritional requirement to all. SHGs and women organizations for the poor, where they promote collective action do so not by enforcing a commonality of tastes, but by reducing uncertainty surrounding cooperation. Community institutions reduce the cost of health facilities and improve effectiveness. These institutions are better in social monitoring as well as implementation in most vulnerable. Community participation is a social process in which specific groups with shared needs living defined geographical area actively pursue identification of their needs and take decision and establish mechanism to meet the require need of common man. SHG institutions has potential to produce fortified food production in rural to fulfill the nutritional requirement in developing countries. In developing countries like India second highest population in the world where to provide health & nutrition facilities down to the line is challenging to make reach to the actual beneficiaries. Women institutions can make realistic judgments about how changes can be achieved to acquire equity, effectiveness and efficiency in especially most backward and remote villages where hardly any government services can penetrate easily. SHG institution to play vital role in production of fortified food from locally available raw materials (Rice, Maize, Wheat, Pulses) improve the industrial development as well as reduce the post harvest losses in rural areas.

Keywords: SHG, women Enterprise, BRLPS(JEEVIKA), Food Processing, Decentralised Production