Microfinance has developed over the past several years as an effective tool to combat poverty, especially in rural areas, and bring about development. Hundreds of organizations are working in this sector including the APMAS in Andhra Pradesh. Founded in 2001, APMAS is unique in its business model. It acts as a support organization to the self-help movement. Through its service offerings, it helps to strengthen the Self-help Groups (SHGs) by assessing their operations, and offering advice on capacity building. It also has a strong research and advocacy group that has facilitated several key workshops to foster innovation and collaboration in the self-help movement. APMAS has begun its operations towards promoting livelihood, taking advantage of its experience of quality assessment and enhancement. Some of their key implementation experiences and lessons learned, are highlighted in this article.

The self-help movement developed in Andhra Pradesh in the early 1990s with generous financial support from the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP). This movement is based on the concept of groups which are managed and owned by members, or self-help groups, which provide social and financial services to their members. Self-help Groups (SHGs) can effectively empower women and alleviate poverty. With the support of the GoAP, bankers and NGOs, the self-help movement has flourished. By 1999, it was estimated that there were more than 1, 80,000 SHGs in Andhra Pradesh alone, which had enabled over three million poor women to work together towards their social and economic empowerment.

Though the spread of SHGs was encouraging, it also indicated a need to support the development of strong SHGs that would be sustainable and effective. After consultations with well-established and experienced NGOs, the GoAP crystallized the idea of a technical support institution paving the way for the formation of APMAS-Andhra Pradesh Mahila Abhivruddhi Society. APMAS was established on July 1, 2001 as a state level technical support institution in order to provide capacity building, rating and research and advocacy services to the promoters of SHGs and others involved in the sector. The Department for International Development (DFID) from the United Kingdom, through CARE, provided the initial funding to APMAS. Since then, APMAS has received the generous financial support from the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and the Ford Foundation to help with its growth and development. APMAS also mobilizes significant resources from service fees from various organizations.

Management Research Journal, APMAS Experience, Quality Assessment, Self-help Groups, SHGs, Financial Services, International Development, DFID, Microfinance Sector, Quality Assessment, Quality Enhancement, Research and Advocacy, Financial Management, Management Information Systems, MIS, Training Methodology, Critical Analysis, Mutually-aided Cooperative Societies, MACS.