Model Self-Help Group By-laws

The name of the group shall be

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
2
.
The ------------------------------------------------------------- (name of the group) shall be located
invillage(Area) ---------------------------------, Janseva Branch -----------------------,District
-----------------------State ----------------------------Address of the group is
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pin code: ----------------------------3
.
The objectives of the ----------------------------------------------------- (name of the group) are:

To promote saving habit on a regular basis amongst the members;

To get rid of interest based saving and loan and avail grant and Interest Free Loan
.

To make available cash credit on easy terms primarily to expand/start IGAs and secondarily
tomeet urgent domestic needs;

To form a group which would be eligible for receiving benefits from other
Governmentprograms;

To provide a forum through which womens awareness related to Income Generating

Activities(IGAs) such as group & money management, skills, IGA management, record
keeping andmanufacturing, and Marketing skill can be increased and other womens
development activitiescan be pursued; and

To build leadership skills of the members so that they can manage the group in rotation
.
4
.
Membership

Persons between
18
and 55 years of age at the time of joining, who are:

C
apable of physical labor required for an IGA (Income generating activities)
.
o
Desirous of saving her/his money with --------------------------------------------- (name of the group)
.
o
W
illing to take Interest free loan from the ------------------------------------ (name of the group)
forIGA (Income generating activities)
.
o
And willing to start or expand an IGA with ----------------------------------------- (name of the group)
.
o
N
ot listed as defaulters in any of the co-operative society and other financial institution etc
.
)

O
nly a permanent resident* of the village (Area) shall be eligible to become a member
.

N
ot more that 2 members of a family shall be allowed to join a group
.

The total numbers of the member neither less nor exceeds

1
5
.

O
nly Marred/widow women which have desire to generate income for increasing family
statusof living
.
*
In case of women group daughters-in-law should be preferred over daughters of the village
.\

5
.
Savings

E
very member shall save Rs
.
--------------- per month on ------------------------ (date), on which allmembers will deposit their
individual savings to the treasurer
.

The -------------------------------------- (name of the group) members shall decide the savings
amounton a regular basis from time to time
.

If a member does not pay her/his monthly saving money on decided date, s/he will be fined
withRs
.
-------------- per ---------------- (e
.
g
.
per month/ week/day etc
.
)
(optional)
6
.
Management of the GroupThere shall be a management committee consisting of three
persons, viz
.
President, Secretaryand Treasurer, who shall be elected by all the members and amongst the
members for a periodof --------- year/s*
.
The three committee members must be from three different families
.
Twomembers of the same family should not get elected in the management committee
.
N
ewcommittee members shall be elected unanimously
.
The committee as a whole shall be responsible for strategic as well as day-to-day
managementof the group
.
It is preferable that Secretary and Treasurer can read and write
.

In groups wherenone of the members can read and write, it is expected that field
coordinator (only for training)will help the group in maintaining the records
.
Individual responsibilities of the office bearers shall be the following:
President
i) Preside over the regular meetings and any other meetings of
-------------------------------------------------- (name of the group);ii) Sign to approve the decisions
and resolutions of the meetings;iii)
C
all or postpone any special meeting;iv) Solve any complaint with the help of other office
bearers and members, if required;v)
C
heck and co-ordinate the activities of Secretary, Treasurer and other members;vi)Maintain
liaison within and outside the ---------------------------------------------- (name of thegroup)
especially with Janseva, AI
C
M
EU
S and other sources of help
.
vii)
C
oordinate with Field
C
oordinator of Janseva for resolved any financial issue
.
vi) Keep a close watch on
C
ollection amount received by field coordinator with signature
.
viii) Informed immediately to Project coordinator about any fraud (If found)
.
*
O
ne or two years
Secretary
i)
C
all meetings with prior permission of the President and prepare agenda for every meeting;ii)
Maintain a record of the proceedings of all regular and special meetings and read them out
atthe next meeting;iii)
W
rite resolutions made at each meeting and read them out at the same meeting;iv) The
Secretary will maintain the following registers: Membership details and individual Account
register Minutes of meeting of every meeting
.
v)
C
onduct all meetings and chair a meeting if the president is absent;vii) Keep a close watch on
activities of President and Field
C
o-coordinator related to
C

ollection andamount received by field coordinator with signature

.
vi) Verify the books and accounts of the ------------------------------------------------- (name of the
group)regularly and report to the members in regular meetings
.
Treasurer
i) Preserve important papers and documents related to financial matters;ii) Maintain all
accounts of the ----------------------------------------- (name of the group), i
.
e
.

C
ollection and demand sheet (
C
DS) Individual Account SHG Account of Janseva Interest free loan accounts
.
iii) Provide cash to the Field
C
oordinator within a day of collection
.
iv) Pay loan to the member along with field
C
oordinator approved by the ----------------------------------- (name of the group) to members and
receive savings, repayment, etc;v)
C
onduct and preside over the meetings, if President and Secretary are absent);vi) Present all
financial reports of the group along with field coordinator, President and Secretary
.

7
.
Meetings

The group will meet ------------------ time/s every week/month

.
The dates of meeting/s are --------------------------------------------------------------.
The Secretary of the group is supposed to give ----------days notice to the members about
such meetings
.

All members shall have the right to attend and take part in discussions at periodic meetings
of the ------------------------ (name of the group) and Special Monthly/Quarterly/Annual Meetings
*
andoffer suggestions from time to time for better management of the
-----------------------------------------(name of the group)
.

To discuss an urgent and important issue the group will hold special meetings on a shorter
notice
.

If a member does not attend -------------------- consecutive periodic meetings without any
priorinformation, s/he will have to face penalty of Rs
.
--------------- per meeting (
O
ptional)
.
8.
Managing the Money

The loan limit for individual shall be decided by the Management

C
ommittee [President,Secretary and Treasurer] in consultation with the members of the group
as per the reason citedor nature of income generating activity
.
The amount will not exceed (decided by President,Secretary and Treasurer)Rs
.
____________/- at a time for productive purpose
.
N
o loan can beextended only for consumptive purpose
.
If a member wants loan for consumptive purpose s/hewill only received grant for it
.

The loan repayment procedure shall be decided by all members of the

---------------------------------------- (name of the group) in the light of Janseva Interest free loan
repayment policy
.
Therepayment schedule must be written in the applicant's saving and loan passbook and
thegroup's saving and loan register at the time when the loan is sanctioned
.

For a loan a written application addressed to the president of the -------------------------------(name of the group) will be considered during the periodic meetings of the
----------------------------- (name of the group)
.

A loan shall be granted provided that: The member has repaid any previous loan amount in
full, along with special repaymentpolicy
.
The proposed loan purpose/income generating activity is viable
.
The member is saving on a regular basis with the ------------------------------- (
N
ame of thegroup) for at least
O
ne year
.

A member applying for a loan worth more than her/his savings will have to produce
twowitnesses who have not taken any loan earlier from the group
.

The loan requests approved will be noted in the activity,

C
DS and Individual register
.
*
These Special Annual General Meetings are meant to review last years activities and
financial progress and plan the activities for forthcomingyear
.

9
.
All the income that accrues to the ------------------------------ (name of the group) from business
(if groupdecide to join a joint venture, profit divided in the ratio which is decided by the
------------------------------ (name of the group)
.
10.
W
ithdrawal of MembershipThe group members should discuss in detail the procedure and
terms of refund of money if amember proposes to leave the group
.
11.
Disqualification of a MemberA member may be disqualified immediately by the
-------------------------------- (name of the group)

.
The disqualification criteria* are:
1.
If s/he has found in any fraud
.
2
.
If s/he misuse of his/her right
.
3
.
Any other issue if group members found
.
1
2
.
Maintaining Various Records

E
very member will be given deposit card
.
It is the responsibility of the Treasurer to make allentries
.

Membership detail,
C
ollection Demand Sheet (
C
DS), Activity register will be kept with theSecretary after resolutions coming out of all
meetings
.

Janseva Pass book and loan record sheet with the Treasurer will facilitate up-to-date position
of all income and expenditure, as well as Interest free loan received and repaid
.
1
3
.
Managing the Janseva AccountThe --------------------------- (name of the group) account shall be
kept in the nearest JansevaBranch
.
Treasurer, President and Secretary (any two) shall have joint signatory power
.
Allwithdrawals shall be supported by a resolution of the
-----------------------------------------------------(name of the group)
.
1

4
.
C
hange in By-lawsThe rules of the ------------------------------------------- (name of the group) or any
part thereof can beamended by all the members present at a General Body Meeting
convened for the purpose
.
Tomake any change it would be preferable that this change is supported unanimously or by
atleast 2/3rd of the total members
.
Janseva has all right to change in the rules and regulation in the bylaws
.
*
Such as non participation in group meetings and activities, not saving regularly, not paying the loan received
from the group,not following the rules of the group etc
.

1
5
.
Dissolving the GroupIf at some point of time members with majority vote decide to dissolve
the group, the membersneed to discuss the formalities and terms of group money
distribution and group payables andreceivables amongst themselves before the group can
be dissolved
.
To dissolve the group itwould be preferable that this proposal is supported unanimously or
by at least 2/3rd of the totalmembers
.