Rotating Savings and Credit Associations: An Important Space for Social Work Practice

Abstract

The Self Help Group movement has received great attention from practitioners,
policy makers and academicians. However, similar self-generated informal credit
institutions that have the potential to empower women and alleviate poverty have
been overlooked. Rotating savings and credit associations is one such institutional
model that is widely used across countries but not acknowledged. This article ex-
amines the organisational potential of marup, a savings and credit institution, initi-
ated by the Meiteis in Manipur. Data collected through in-depth interviews and oral
histories provided the information on the evolution of the marup. The article exam-
ines the process of women empowerment using the operationalised definition of
empowerment and identifies marup as an important space for social work practice.
The relevance of social group work is explained by looking at each stage of group
development.