Case Study

What is Aadhar?

Aadhar is a Nepali word meaning "Support". It is established in 2002. It is a concept taken from Micro-credit program. Aadhar aims at provides financial support (loan) for single women who want to establish their own business without the worry of high interests. Aadhar is for all women, by women, and to women. It provides loan to all women, married, unmarried or single women (widows). But the first priority will be given to the single women (widows).

Who is Aadhar for?

Aadhar is basically for women in Nepal registered as members of WHR district groups or central office. It involves women at districts and Kathmandu city saving on a monthly basis, the saving is then transformed into credit which is made available for needy women to use for income generation activities. It is an easy and uncomplicated Savings/Credit scheme. WHR provides various Skill Development Training and Income Generating Activities to the single women (widows) who are in turn helped by Aadhar to set up their micro enterprise.

What role does Aadhar play in the empowerment of single women?

Aadhar plays a vital role in the empowerment of single women entrepreneurs by acting as a backbone for their small businesses. WHR provides skill development training and various Income Generating Activities (IGA) to the single women who are in turn helped by Aadhar to set up their micro-enterprises.

What are the objectives of Aadhar?

  • To provide problem free loans without any collateral (group guarantee) to single women who are setting up small businesses.
  • To enable women to save even the smallest amount in an organized and profitable way.
  • The Aadhar members are not allowed to retrieve the amount before a fixed period of time. However, interest for the saving is added every month.

GET INVOLVED WITH AADHAR!

In order to do saving firstly one has to be the member of WHR and then can become the member of saving program. Initially this saving program is for 3 years and it is mandatory to complete 3 years. If any depositor wants to stop their saving account in between 3 years package then 10% from their saving will be deducted and remaining amount will be provided with interest till date.

To open the account first the depositor has to pay Rs. 300/-

  • Rs. 100 for WHR as the membership fee
  • Rs. 100/- to open the account of Aadhar saving
  • Rs. 100/- as saving of the month

Rules:

  • Every depositor has to renew their membership fee of WHR every year.
  • Depositor has to save Rs. 100 every month.
  • You can save your saving in 4 ways
    1. Monthly saving – Rs. 100/-
    2. Quarterly saving – Rs. 300/-
    3. Bi-annual saving – Rs. 600/-
    4. Yearly saving – Rs. 1200/-

Members of Aadhar for at least a year are eligible to take loan without any restriction. Its main aim is to empower single women (widows) and enable them to become financially independent. Before applying for the loan, the applicant has to justify her needs and plans. This could be either accepted or denied.

We have few of our members who have borrowed money and have been successful and now able to stand up on their own feet. They have earned a lot of profit and have returned their loan interest and cleared all their debts.

By becoming a member of Aadhar, we can help the single women (widows) to become independent and financially strong to help her. We can also provide scholarship to those unprivileged children of single women (widows). It would be grateful if each one of us would help those single women (widows) who have been abandoned by their in-laws or husbands. We believe that your contribution will help strengthen our commitments towards the empowerment of single women (widows).