“A lot people still consider SHGs as only being about group savings and access to credit,” Pris said, “but our research shows the potential of these groups when members take ownership of the group and define their own priorities.” Pris presented evidence of two collectives of SHGs doing just that. In the first collective, strong leadership helped to produce a group identity and sense of solidarity through which all members begun to recognize themselves as integral parts of the group. Women leveraged the sense of trust and interdependence that this created to tackle an important community priority: lack of consistent grain supply year-round. Employing a skill that the women already had, they established a village grain bank, which helped eliminate dependence on moneylenders, reduce outmigration, and mitigate food insecurity. The success of the grain bank helped establish the SHGs as legitimate community institutions, which the women then leveraged to tackle alcohol consumption: a considerably more controversial goal that required behavioral change on the part of men. Women did this by recognizing the need for support and cooperation of other SHGs in surrounding villages. The SHGs did all of this without any external support.

In the second collective, SHGs worked together to create a mango orchard and then had their access to it revoked by the landlord when the trees began to bear fruit. Pris described the mechanisms that enabled the groups to fight for their access to the land and the impacts this in turn made for the solidification of group identity, solidarity, and unity. The second case study is important, however, because it demonstrates the structural barriers women are still liable to face, even when they are united, have a strong sense of solidarity, and have institutional support behind them. These women faced considerable opposition to their attempt to generate an income stream of their own, and a lot of that had to do with the challenge to established power asymmetries based on caste, class, and gender that this project effectively posed. Pris concluded her presentation by commenting on a number of ways in which SHGs could be better supported to enable such processes of change, while simultaneously outlining the limits to interventions and the dangers of over-expecting from them. 

By presenting her research at the World Bank, Pris sought to expand understanding of the potential of the SHG among individuals in positions to effect change. “Development is full of faddism,” Pris said, “and my concern is now that everyone is disillusioned with microfinance and moving on to designing other poverty alleviation mechanisms, we forget or even reject SHGs in the process. There exists some 8 million SHGs in India alone – they are by far the most common form of women-only, village-level group here and possibly in other parts of the world as well. This for me represents a network with tremendous potential as to how we can reach women and support them to take active roles in decision-making processes regarding the issues of concern to them. While lots of NGOs focus their service delivery through SHGs, a lot of that remains rather top-down. We are not really creating opportunities for women to develop their problem solving, project management, and leadership skills, such that they are in a position to adopt positions of authority in their communities.”

Pris’ research shows that when SHGs work on self-identified projects for collective benefit, it can lead to changes in norms regarding women’s roles by shifting perceptions in women’s capabilities. While structural barriers continue to pose limits to project outcomes, women’s legitimacy as community decision makers can nonetheless be directly established when group members work together on a collectively-identified problem. The status of the SHG as a legitimate decision-making entity can then be leveraged into challenging the cultural norms and social structures that limit women.

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Congratulations to Naomi, Prakriti, and Priscilla!

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Please join us in welcoming our incoming graduates for Fall 2022!

Back row: Millie Spenser, Priscilla (Pris) Corbett, Drolma Gadou, Briana Prado, Emma Barrett, Denise Mondragon, Mia Murray, Taylor O’Brien, Nathan Korinek, Ethan Carr; Middle row: Alaric Kothapally, Michele Lissoni, Aja Procita, Nic Tarasewicz, Patrick (Pat) Saylor, Isaiah Lyons-Galante; Front row: Sam Fixler, Jiacheng (Raymond) Zhou; Insert: Jill Adler Grano

Featured Updates

Isaiah Lyons-Galante

Originally from Boston, I went to Yale for a bachelor's degree in physics and mechanical engineering. With an interest in sustainable development internationally, I found my way to Kenya where I worked for 6 years with a start-up developing renewable energy projects in rural, off-grid areas. There, I learned about the power of remote sensing, GIS, and machine learning to study remote areas and make data-driven decisions. This brought me to CU in the Geography department to dive into geospatial data science, working with Morteza Karimzadeh in his GeoHuman AI Lab. I am interested in finding ways to apply statistics and deep learning models to remotely-sensed data to study remote regions of the world and to understand which factors lead to economic growth and well-being in harmony with the environment. 

Nic Tarasewicz

I was raised in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, which started my interest in alpine environments. I completed my undergraduate degree in Geography from the University of Denver, and my Master’s in Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science at Lund University, Sweden. While there, I developed a novel composite indicator representing the impact of modeled forest management practices on ecosystem services. My research interests center around understanding climate and anthropogenic impacts on mountain ecosystem services through combining empirical measurements and modeling. I am working with Peter Blanken on INSTAAR’s Ecosystem Resilience Project, led by Keith Musselman, aiming to define and project climate-change refugia in the Colorado Front Range. My hobbies include spending time outdoors, performance art, and playing board games with friends.

Ethan Carr

Growing up my greatest memories we’re visiting national parks with my family and learning about plants, animals, and the environment. As I grew up I never lost that passion and knew I wanted to make a career around being outdoors and learning. 

I received my Bachelors of Science in Physical Geography from the United States Military Academy, where I was a four year varsity athlete. Upon graduation I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry. I recently changed career paths and knew that I wanted to make a difference in the world. I decided to combine my passion for nature, especially the Arctic, and my goals to make change and pursue a career in the natural sciences. The CU Geography department seemed like the perfect place to begin this journey. 

I hope to focus in Glaciology and Climate change specifically in Greenland. Upon finishing my masters I wish to pursue a PhD in a similar field.

Briana Prado

My name is Briana Prado, I am from San Diego, California, and studied Chemistry and Earth Science at UC Santa Cruz. I will be studying geochemistry and chemical weathering in the McMurdo Dry Valleys under Dr. Melissa Diaz. I am super stoked to be in Boulder, CO, and spend time outside hiking and biking and experiencing a true winter. 

This past summer I sharpened my U.S geography skills while cycling across the country from  Baltimore MD to San Francisco, CA with a group of 23 cyclists to raise funds for a cancer charity. The tour took us through 11 different states and 7 national parks over 70 days. We transverse mountain ranges such as the Appalachians, Rockies, and Sierra Nevada Mountains, and crossed the Mississippi, Missouri, and Colorado Rivers. 

Fun Fact: I visited ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ for the first time during the bike ride when we had a rest day in Boulder. This was the day before biked before heading into Estes Park through highway 34 and then biking into Rocky Mountain National Park and climbing trail ridge! 

I had so much fun that I would 100% do it again. These days you’ll probably catch me riding my red single-speed bike called Tessie around campus.

Photos from Briana's Cross-country Cycling Trip

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