Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP), picked up the Gold award at the 2012 Ashden awards, for demonstrating the key role a microfinance organization can play in meeting the poor’s energy needs. It has been awarded a prize of £40,000 to expand its work further.

Judges of 2012 Ashden Awards lauded SKDRDP efforts and said, “SKDRDP is fantastic example of how ethically managed microfinance can deliver sustainable energy to the poor, demonstrating that providing consumer loans for energy makes sound social, environmental and economic sense. We were bowled over by the scale SKDRDP has achieved so far, along with the responsibility it takes for lending to the poor, nurturing users to take out effective loans. SKDRDP has huge potential to expand its work even further, and to inspire many others to follow its lead.”

SKDRDP’s self-help group pragathibandhu effectively promotes union among small farmers and allows easier access to loans for its members. As a result farmers are provided financial assistance at a rate of 40 times as much as their savings. By providing comfortable interest rate charged at 15 percent, it is considered best in the sector. This innovative scheme looks at the daily income of farmers and encourages them to take up mixed farming that increases their income source. This smoothes out the process of repayment that is comfortable for the borrower.

Article by M.J. Prabu in The Hindu “Financing small farmers through an innovative scheme”,  http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/agriculture/article2087932.ece

Mr. Jagadish Shettar, Hon. Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and district in-charge, formally inaugurated the houses at the relocation site, 1.5 km from the village and symbolically handed over the keys to a few beneficiaries. Addressing the gathering, Mr. Shettar said that of the 1,816 Aasare houses planned in the district, 1,680 had been constructed. The remaining houses would be ready soon.

SKDRDP which is the pioneer organization in the field of self employment generation programs in the district, has intended to form 2,142 Pragathi Bandhu groups and add 20,206 members to the groups for the year 2011-12, informed Vishwanath Shetty,  Director of SKDRDP Human Resource Development Department.

Developed by SKDRDP, "Pragathi Bhandu" groups are unique models of self-help groups that center around the cultivation of waste lands through labour sharing. Such groups organize and empower small and marginal farmers and laborers through the transference of governance to the village level. By promoting compulsory labor sharing for performing individual and community tasks, each village member works for the other members for one day in a week. This has helped thousands of small farmers to achieve important farm works.

SKDRDP has been awarded the prestigious Microfinance India Award 2010 by the Hongkong based HSBC Bank and Access Development Services in a glittering function organized at Hotel Ashoka, New Delhi on November 15, 2010 on the occasion of the two-day All India Micro Credit Summit.

SKDRDP has been recognized for its low operational costs, efficient administration, rapid scaling up, social services provided by the institution and its concern for poverty alleviation through micro credit.

At present the organization is active in nine districts of Karnataka with client outreach of 12,00,000 families and a Self Help Groups (SHGs) base of 1,17,000. The organization is the sixth largest micro finance institution in India and the biggest in the NGO sector globally.