The Self Help Group Approach in Afghanistan
A report by People in Need describes the SHG approach in urban Afghanistan, focusing on three main components: social development, economic development and institutional stability. The SHG approach leads to the social empowerment of its members through building communities of interdependence and mutual trust, which develops a social safety network that supports the economic ventures of its members. Members experience economic empowerment in the medium to long term. Institutional stability can be achieved through the SHG approach, though it takes time. It generally takes three years to establish strong, independent SHGs, and takes longer to establish broader support structures such as Clusters Level Associations (CLAs) and Federal Level Associations (FLAs), which make the SHGs sustainable through their embedding into a wider regional and structural network.