Role of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in Women’s Empowerment in Uttar Pradesh: Pathways, Evidence, and Policy Directions

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are a central pillar of India’s community-driven development architecture and a critical instrument for women’s socio-economic empowerment. This paper examines the role of SHGs in Uttar Pradesh (UP)—India’s most populous state—by synthesizing secondary evidence, analyzing recent programmatic data from national and state rural livelihoods missions, and drawing on illustrative case examples of financial inclusion, livelihoods diversification, and social transformation. We map the empowerment pathways (financial, human, social, and political capitals), assess outcomes and constraints, and offer policy recommendations to deepen and sustain empowerment gains. Findings indicate substantial progress in SHG penetration, savings-credit linkages, entrepreneurship promotion, and local governance participation; these gains, however, remain uneven across districts and are constrained by credit ceilings, market linkages, and capacity variations. The paper concludes with a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen SHG ecosystems in UP over the next five years.