A performance appraisal of Theeramythri Activity Groups in Kerala

Women empowerment is a process in which women challenge the existing norms and culture, to effectively promote their well-being. The Theeramythri programme of Society for assistance to Fisherwomen (SAF) facilitates and handholds fisherwomen to engage in gainful self-employment for their economic and social emancipation. The participation of fisher women in SAF activity groups has made a significant impact on their both in social and economic aspects. The SAF visions to initiate encourage and strengthen locally organized activity groups among fisherwomen, thereby providing assistance for expertising their business development skill, resource utilization and management, performance improvement, networking and marketing. This study addresses performance appraisal of SAF Theeramythri, activity groups of the Coastal districts of Kerala. The study identified that more than 300 million rupees has been provided as grant to these groups and these groups had been instrumental in empowering the fisherwomen in Kerala. The study focused on identifying the different aspects of the performance appraisal of the activity groups with an aim on analysing the present status SAF activity groups and its impact on the empowerment of the poor fisherwomen, Identifying the critical attributes determining the performance/non-performance of innovators and laggards, analyzing the performance/positive changes of the different categories of the activity groups after involving in the Theeramythri project. Average and percentage analysis was carried out to draw meaningful interpretation of the results. Garrette ranking technique, weighted average analysis, factor analysis and step wise regression methods have been implied to analyse various aspects of the performance level of the different activity groups of SAF. The study also established the pivotal role SAF plays in achieving the goals of empowering fisherwomen and developing sustainable and commercially viable business models. The results of the study revealed that the SAF have got huge impact on both economic and social aspects of the beneficiaries