Microfinance activist Chetna receives Amodini Award of Godfrey Phillips

Chetna Gala-Sinha (Courtesy:www.manndeshi.org)

By Naagesh, N.

Microfinance Focus, Sept. 11, 2009: Chetna Gala-Sinha, founder and chairperson of Mann Deshi Women’s bank, was conferred on Friday the first Amodini Award, instituted under the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards category, for her extensive work in empowering women through microfinance in rural Maharashtra.
Chetna was presented the award along with other recipients of bravery awards at a function in New Delhi. The Amodni award comprises a cash award of INR 100,000 ($2,000) and a certificate.

An economist and activist, Chetna Gala-Sinha is the founder-president of the Mann Deshi Mahila Micro-enterprise Development Bank and Mann Vikas Samajik Sanstha, an NGO working with poor, illiterate rural women in the drought-affected areas of Satara to empower them through savings and lending, education, property rights’ awareness and social security initiatives.
Through the Bank and the NGO, Chetna has promoted a holistic approach to help rural women combining economic activity with the educational tools and health care. Chetna credits the rural women she is working with for her inspiration to expand the services and capabilities of the bank.
Chetna lives in Mhaswad, where Mann Deshi Mahila Bank’s headquarters is located. Born in Mumbai, she got her Masters degree in Commerce and Economics from Mumbai University in 1982. Chetna, who was part of the Jayaprakash Narayan movement in the 1970s fighting the emergency, also actively involved in the landless labor movement carried out by the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini in Bihar. Since 1996, she has been organizing women in rural areas of Maharashtra to fight for their property rights.
The Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank (Mann Deshi Women’s Co-operative Bank) was the first poor women’s bank in the country to get a licence from the Reserve Bank of India in 1997. Started by self-help groups (SHGs) across Mann Taluka, Satara district, off Western Maharashtra, most of the bank’s account holders live in drought-prone areas.
“I realised a movement was necessary to bring about a change in policy decisions at the macro level. To improve lives in the villages, what was required was activity at the grassroots level. The aim was to understand the problems faced by the villages and find solutions tapping the collective strength of the women,” she was once quoted as saying in an interview.
Chetna received the 2005 Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar award, a national award that honors a woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the welfare of rural women and children. She has also been awarded lifetime membership with Ashoka Innovators for the Public, and was a fellow of Yale University’s World Fellows program in 2002-03.
She has also participated in Harvard University’s 2003 Bridge Builders’ Conference. The Mann Deshi Mahila Bank has also recently won first prize in social sector of the international 2005 Ashoka Changemakers Innovation award, which promotes market-based strategies that benefit low-income communities.

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