Washington:
A programme that has improved the lives of around 5.7
million women in Andgra Pradesh since its inception in
2003, the Andhra Pradesh rural poverty reduction project,
has received an additional funding of $65 million from
the World Bank.
The
project aims to enable the rural poor improve their livelihoods
and quality of life. The Bank says that it has mobilised
around 5.7 million poor women, or 80 per cent of the poor
in the project districts, into nearly 470,000 self-help
groups.
In
a statement, the Bank said, the fresh funding would finance
critical investments in institution and capacity building
which will allow community institutions of poor women
become sustainable and self-reliant. It will also support
investments in livelihood-based institutions like business
franchises and producer companies.
Isabel
Guerrero, World Bank country director for India, said,
"This project has been critical in developing self-help
managed institutions for the poor."
Such
institutions run by the poor have collective savings of
$226.7 million, and leveraged commercial bank linkages
of $883 million since 2003.
"The
groups have used seed money to pool resources and make
small loans to each other help pay for education, medical
treatment, food, and other small but important needs.
The self-help groups have formed federations, leveraging
their finances and influence, and even began to deliver
insurance, ambulance, extension, commercial and government
services," the Bank said.
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