The Self Help Development Group for Community Development
The Self Help Development Groups (SHDG) or the Guardian Parent Associations (GPA) are communities of struggling individuals, including Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs) who identify themselves in groups with the aim of improving their livelihoods, economic wellbeing and the situation of the children in their care.
This group model in enhancing financial access and inclusion, gains supremacy over other financial access models due to its strong direct community involvement, as a structure created by the people, owned by the people, controled and managed by them in keeping with their local realities, internal rules, values, traditions and customs.
The group model also draws inspiration from the local indigenous development and social group models, in Cameroon and Africa in general, built on the spirit of UNBUNTU (I AM BECAUSE WE ARE).
Thus, it is through such local group structures, that most members in the informal sector of the economy, save and access credit. These groups form the fabric and life wire of the local economy and the foundation for Community and Economic Development.
With the putting in place of the SHDG model, many minority communities like the IDPs, the physically challenged, widows, single mothers, the unemployed, will be reached. And will enable them to access financial services and rebuild their lost sources of subsistence and livelihoods.