A Dream became a Reality

📅 October 28, 2019 • 📍 Sahayini Wadala at Thasra taluka

‘WOMEN’S BANK’- Thasara Taluka Sahayak Women’s Saving and Credit Co-op. Ltd - A COOPERATIVE BANK registered under Gujarat Cooperative Societies.
I, Kusum Christi, joined Pushpanjali Institute in 2002 as a social worker and worked for SHG women. At that time, we realized the need of a BANK for our women, this was our dream. Sr. Lavita Vaz who was in charge of Social Ministry also dreamt of having a Bank with its main branch in Thasra and we started this Cooperative Bank in 2011 with the name - Sahayak Cooperative.
This Cooperative bank has 11 governing body members who meet every month for their planning and Sr. Elphina Rodrigues, in charge of Social Ministry in Pushpanjali, is one of the members of the advisory committee.
The main purpose, for which this Cooperative Bank began, was when the SHG women would approach the Banks for Loans, their documents were not accepted, thus they were getting disappointed. This Cooperative Bank is of great help for these women. The basic activity of the Women’s Co-operative Bank is to promote the habit of saving and providing credit that is loan to those of its members who need money. The capacity of the co-operative is to provide credit, depending on the total volume of savings deposited by its members and the amount received as repayment from the past borrowers. A good number of active and functional membership ensures that the turnover is financially sound and the cooperative handles its objectives effectively. This bank is functioning very well which has made our dream a reality. The Cooperative began with 650 members and now it has 1,100 members, functioning in 17 villages with its total turnover of Rs. 4,00,000.
The members are granted loan after collecting their Aadhar card and ration card along with two witnesses, and the loan has to be repaid in installments every month at the rate of 15% of the interest. Women take loan to begin a small business of their own like stitching garments, purchase of cattle, running a grocery shop, farming, etc. Different workshops, trainings and seminars are conducted on various topics like, gender equality, domestic violence, violence at workplace, child marriage, and leadership.