Kshama Metre - The self-help movement in rural India and CORD's experience

Twenty-five years ago, Dr Kshama Metre left a flourishing paediatric practice in New Delhi to work as a doctor in rural primary healthcare services. In this new setting, she found the health system marginalized the communities it was meant to serve. Dr Metre refocused her efforts on community development initiatives, and become an early pioneer of India's highly successful self-help movement. In just two decades, such small decentralized groups -- made up of mostly women -- have extended access to financial credit to almost 100 million people, and in other ways also empowered the poor.

In an IDRC public lecture, Dr Metre explores why the self-help model is so successful in India.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• India
• Kshama Metre
• Chinmaya Prayas
• Kangra
• microfinance
• self help groups