Agartala, June 19 (TIWN): Jana Unnayan Samity Tripura (JUST), a social development wing of the Catholic Diocese of Agartala is making several efforts to create a sustainable Self Help Group (SHG) model in Tripura, said Executive Director of JUST- Fr. Jeevan Kennady in a press conference at Agartala Press Club, here this evening.

About 1000 members under 100 Self Help Groups are presently working in Tripura for women empowerment, he said. “We have sent a 20-member team at Tamilnadu few days back with an endeavour to gain experiences. Since then we have been noticing a huge change in the SHGs. If the SHGs become stronger then a remarkable development will be seen in the village areas for the women empowerment”, he said.

As a concrete step towards this effort it has entered into a networking with Integrated Village Development Project (IVDP) of Krishnagiri of Tamil Nadu. The founder chairman of IVDP- Kulandai Francis is the latest recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in the year 2012.

While speaking to the media, Francis appealed to JUST for sustainable development concept sharing on holistic women empowerment through SHGs. “Holistic empowerment approach includes health, social status and economic wellbeing. I do not believe in subsides to SHGs”, he added. According to him, subsides are the stumbling block to the sustainable SHG model.

By explaining the difference between the successful and unsuccessful SHGs, he said the successful group never depends on the other people. Always they do something with their own initiative. That is the reason behind the successful SHGs.

Kulandai Francis visited the Jana Unnayan Samity Tripura (JUST) and encouraged the people to govern themselves.