Self-help Groups as community development institutions and the Sustainable Development Goals: A policy-centered analysis of rural Haryana

Abstract

Self-help groups (SHGs) are among the most widespread community development institutions in rural India: village-based, all-women collectives pursuing community change through savings, credit, and federation. Their alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is rarely examined at the sub-state level where deprivation concentrates. This paper presents a structured evidence synthesis and SDG-localization diagnosis built on a policy-centered SDG crosswalk: a matrix linking each documented SHG function to an SDG target and, where available, an official indicator or proxy, using only public data for Haryana and its aspirational district, Nuh (Mewat). It yields an auditable, fieldwork-free instrument and evidence of a district-level monitoring gap, since NFHS-5 district fact sheets omit women’s economic-empowerment indicators. Haryana is under-credit-linked (24.8% of savings-linked SHGs versus 53.7% nationally); Nuh shows low-base progress but persistent deficits in women’s literacy (41.9%) and child marriage (28.7%). A district-actionable agenda for community development follows.