PERFORMANCE OF STHREE SHAKTI GROUPS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF ITS MEMBERS OF DHARWAD DISTRICT OF NORTH KARNATAKA, INDIA.

The present paper attempted to study the performance of the Sthree Shakti Groups (SSG) in Dharwad district of north Karnataka. Twelve SSGs were identified from four taluks of Dharwad district in consultation with Child Development Project (CDP) Officers. The primary data about the groups were collected from group representatives and respected group members by using the schedule developed for the study. The results indicated that the majority (69.17%) of the respondents belonged to middle age, 37.50 per cent were illiterate and more than one third (35.00%) were practicing Agriculture + Dairy as their family occupation. More than two-fifth (42.50%) had medium annual income, 63.33 per cent had medium social participation. More than two-fifth (41.66%) of the SSGs belonged to the low organizational capacity category. More than twofifth (41.67%) of the SSGs were medium saving and credit category. Half of the group (50.00%) SSGs were found in the medium financial management category, followed by 50.00 per cent of SSGs were found in the medium microenterprise development category and 50.00 per cent were in high category of network and linkage. The majority (83.34%) of the SSGs were categorized into the high empowerment and influence category. More than 50.00 per cent (58.33%) of the SSGs belonged to the medium performance category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]