Author: Liam Purcell

The SRG model is well tested – having foundations in the Self Help Group (SHG) movement in India which was founded in the 1970s, and is now a national movement where it is transforming rural and urban communities with thousands of active groups. The Times of India recently highlighted that

“The Social capital of SHGs could be an asset for solving various social issues in India e.g. gender based discrimination, dowry system, casteism etc.”

The SRG movement in the UK was sparked by a Church of Scotland initiative called Passage from India (now WEvolution) in 2011 when 13 women from across the UK visited established SHGs in India. The SHG model was then adapted to the UK, becoming SRGs. Over the last 5 years there has been some exciting growth of the SRG model throughout Scotland, and with partners in England, Wales and elsewhere (helped in part by funding from Nesta and DCMS). There are now 90 emerging and operational SRGs UK wide. The success of this growing movement has led to an interest in the way SRGs can be supported to address a range of social and economic issues.

Among the established SRGs there are some inspiring examples of people improving the economic circumstances of themselves and their communities such as:

• Trishy Gannon has started No. 26 – a high-end crafts and arts store on a high street in Gourock, Scotland.
• Karen Stevens has started her own Miss Fix It handywoman business.
• One of the SRGs in Wales recently worked in partnership with Cardiff Metropolitan University to produce 40 groundbreaking products designed for people living with dementia. The products were sent for extended trials prior to full manufacturing and the SRG members worked with the design team from the university and used their recently learnt sewing skills. This could be the start of small-scale, locally-based manufacturing through the Welsh groups – a completely innovative approach with SRGs at the forefront.

In addition to these examples, WEvolution have also established their own group of SRG members who are challenging the benefits system head-on, called the Stand Proud Forum. The Stand Proud Form – a collective of SRG members – have started putting their agenda of change and action together. Part of this will include mobilising similar collectives across other regions and partnerships, launching a campaign and interacting with policymakers around a ‘tiny but powerful change’ around SRGs and self-employment.

The main SRG partners in the UK are:

• WEvolution, a Scottish charity based in Glasgow who have pioneered the SRG approach in the UK and promote a way of working alongside communities that is based on trust, self-governance and collective endeavour towards entrepreneurship
• Purple Shoots, a microfinance charity who have set up a series of SRGs in Wales and the South West of England
• Church Action on Poverty, a charity dedicated to tackling the root causes of poverty who are currently expanding their work to create new SRGs in the Greater Manchester area.
• Trust Leeds, a micro-finance enterprise based in Leeds which works – and walks – alongside people helping them to change their lives by building financial independence, confidence and self-reliance
• Tannahill Community Centre, Scotland,  working in Ferguslie Park community – designated as the most deprived community in Scotland.
• Bethany Christian Trust, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

On the potential benefits of the SRGs, Niall Cooper, Director at Church Action on Poverty said:

“I would emphasise at least as strongly the fact that SRGs improve people’s social circumstances as well as economic ones. In sustainable livelihood terms, SRGs boost peoples own personal assets of self-confidence, capacity and agency, and significantly increase social assets/capital through the common bond of the SRG and the sense of being part of a wider movement. In anti-poverty terms, this can be hugely empowering and transformative.”