Sudha Kothari

Chaitanya

Chaitanya is a nonprofit trust headquartered in Khed, Pune, that has promoted women's community-based microfinance institutions since 1993, beginning with 14 self-help groups near Chas village. It went on to facilitate Grameen Mahila Swayamsiddha Sangha, Maharashtra's first SHG federation, and has since helped build more than 40 federations of self-help groups reaching over 100,000 rural women across Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Chaitanya reports the following, on its own site:

• 8,500+ self-help groups organized into 40 federations owned and governed by women members