IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/soudev/v2y2007i1p107-124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Rationale of Self-help in Development Interventions

Author

Listed:
  • Tanya Jakimow

    (Tanya Jakimow, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.)

Abstract

Self-help is often perceived as a valuable, if not essential, element to development programmes. At the same time, as a concept it has generally escaped scrutiny. Two types of claims are made about the benefits of selfhelp programmes. First, it is suggested that self-help empowers its participants more so than other externally directed or implemented programmes. The second less vocal claim is the compatibility of self-help with cost-reduction strategies: both in terms of material costs and costs to the prevailing social and economic structure. This article explores these two claims through a case study of a self-help group (SHG) programme in Tamil Nadu, India. It argues that although empowering outcomes are stated as the rationale for self-help, these are often neglected in favour of achieving cost-reduction ones. This is an outcome of the concept of self-help being absorbed into the practices and discourses of the dominant development paradigm. Self-help has thus been divorced from its role in enabling self-direction, and has become the rationale for pressuring the marginalised to take responsibility for improving their own condition within a non-negotiable economic and social structure.

Suggested Citation

  • Tanya Jakimow, 2007. "The Rationale of Self-help in Development Interventions," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 2(1), pages 107-124, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soudev:v:2:y:2007:i:1:p:107-124
    DOI: 10.1177/097317410600200105
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/097317410600200105
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/097317410600200105?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sarah Mosedale, 2005. "Assessing women's empowerment: towards a conceptual framework," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 243-257.
    2. Ngau, Peter M, 1987. "Tensions in Empowerment: The Experience of the Harambee (Self-Help) Movement in Kenya," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(3), pages 523-538, April.
    3. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    4. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1990. "Peer Monitoring and Credit Markets," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 4(3), pages 351-366, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Helen M. Haugh & Alka Talwar, 2016. "Linking Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change: The Mediating Role of Empowerment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 643-658, February.
    2. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    3. Arab Naz & Waseem Khan & Mamoon Khan Khattak & Umar Daraz & Irum Mughal & Muhammad Asghar Khan, 2013. "State of Women’s Empowerment and Community Perception in Rural Pakistan (A Case Study of Malakand Division)," Asian Journal of Empirical Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 3(3), pages 351-362, March.
    4. Zhu, Yu-Qian & Alamsyah, Nurwahyu, 2022. "Citizen empowerment and satisfaction with smart city app: Findings from Jakarta," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    5. Yasmin, Nazia & Grundmann, Philipp, 2020. "Home-cooked energy transitions: Women empowerment and biogas-based cooking technology in Pakistan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    6. Anderson, C. Leigh & Reynolds, Travis W. & Gugerty, Mary Kay, 2017. "Husband and Wife Perspectives on Farm Household Decision-making Authority and Evidence on Intra-household Accord in Rural Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 169-183.
    7. Robin A. Richardson, 2018. "Measuring Women’s Empowerment: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Researchers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 539-557, June.
    8. Nusrat Fatema, 2019. "Women Empowerment or Gender Equality: Which One Should Come First for Augmenting Satisfaction and Performance of Female Employees: A study on the Ready-made Garment Sector of Bangladesh," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 9(1), pages 08-21, January.
    9. Jiao Wang & Lima Zhao & Arnd Huchzermeier, 2021. "Operations‐Finance Interface in Risk Management: Research Evolution and Opportunities," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(2), pages 355-389, February.
    10. Rao, Nitya, 2017. "Assets, Agency and Legitimacy: Towards a Relational Understanding of Gender Equality Policy and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 43-54.
    11. DeJaeghere, Joan & Pellowski Wiger, Nancy & Le, Hue & Luong, Phuong & Ngo, Nga Thi Hang & Vu, Thanh Thi & Lee, Jongwook, 2022. "Why do aspirations matter for empowerment?: Discrepancies between the A-WEAI domains and aspirations of ethnic minority women in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    12. Simon Cornée, 2014. "Soft Information and Default Prediction in Cooperative and Social Banks," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 3(1), pages 89-103, June.
    13. K. Gayathri Reddy & Varsha, P. S. & L. N. Sudheendra Rao & Amit Kumar, 2019. "Exploring dimension, perceived individual tension and capacity building measure of women empowerment in India," Asian Journal of Empirical Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(5), pages 111-131, May.
    14. Carpenter, Jeffrey P. & Bowles, Samuel & Gintis, Herbert, 2006. "Mutual Monitoring in Teams: Theory and Experimental Evidence on the Importance of Reciprocity," IZA Discussion Papers 2106, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. van Rijn, Jordan, 2018. "The Effect of Membership Expansion on Credit Union Risk and Returns," Staff Paper Series 588, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    16. Alice W Clark & T V Sekher, 2007. "Can Career-Minded Young Women Reverse Gender Discrimination?," Working Papers 179, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.
    17. Li Gan & Manuel A. Hernandez & Yanyan Liu, 2018. "Group Lending With Heterogeneous Types," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 895-913, April.
    18. Richard Disney & Eleonora Fischera & Trudy Owens, 2010. "Has the Introduction of Microfinance Crowded-out Informal Loans in Malawi?," Discussion Papers 10/08, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    19. Aga, B.K. & Tesfay, G.B., 2018. "How Should Rural Financial Cooperatives Be Best Organized? Evidence from Ethiopia," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277735, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. chatterjee, susmita, 2017. "Empowerment translated to transition," MPRA Paper 80067, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:soudev:v:2:y:2007:i:1:p:107-124. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.