On fixed dates, the cadre goes out to the village and conducts meetings. These meetings allow the members to deposit their savings, give in applications for loans and obtain emergency loans (upto Rs. 2,000) on the spot after a discussion with the group and the cadre. Larger loans (upto Rs. 10,000) are provided after the directors of the Society meet and approve the loan.

Various welfare services are provided by the Societies to their members in addition to the financial services. They include :

• Death Relief Fund If a member dies, the family of the deceased does not automatically get indebted to the society. The society keeps apart a separate Death Relief Fund to cover such expenses. The savings of the deceased member then passes on to her nominee.
• Surgery Expenses If a member of a Society needs to go through a surgery, the Society covers half the expenses incurred by the member on the surgery.
• Legal Counseling Cell Various problems facing women such as dowry cases, problems with husbands, in-laws leading to divorce, eviction or even murder, exist in the villages today. In order to help the women deal with such situations, a Legal Counseling Cell has been set up by each of the 3 Societies. The cells functions from the mandal headquarters of all the three mandals where the Societies operate and provides services to over 5000 women in these mandals. The legal advisor provides various services such as counseling with the husbands, in-laws, registers cases with the police, etc. The women come to the centre every Tuesday and Thursday to obtain these legal aid services.

A savings activity was initiated in 1992 when small groups of approximately 20 to 30 women got together in 10 villages and started monthly saving of Rs. 10 each. The inspiration for this was the chit funds that have been in vogue in some villages for many years.

After a couple of years, an analysis of this experience found that the chit fund model was unsustainable as it was conducted for short durations and for specific purposes. It was also found to be very exploitative as it was based on high and competitive interest rates.

A search for alternatives followed. This resulted in the thrift & credit programme, which started in 1994. The activity began to spread to other villages as well. In 1995 the activity was initiated in the villages of neighbouring Roddam mandal and in 1999 in Ramagiri mandal.

In 1997, on further analysis of the experience, the need for building "sustainable alternative economic institutions for women" emerged. This resulted in the federation of the existing thrift groups in Chennekothapalli mandal. The first alternative bank was registered as the Adisakthi Mutually Aided Thrift Cooperative Society Ltd., in January 1998, under the Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act of A.P. In the following years similar banks were registered as MATC Societies in the Roddam and Ramagiri mandals.

Currently there are over 5000 women who are part of the 3 MATC Societies. All of them are both members of their respective village level thrift groups as well as the related MATC Society. Loan requirements within Rs 2000/- are met with immediately at the thrift meetings that are conducted on a monthly basis. The remaining money is pooled together in the respective MATC Society bank account. Loan applications come to the respective MATC Society office through the thrift cadres. The directors of the MATC Societies meet on a monthly basis and take decisions regarding sanction of loans. All the 3 MATC Societies have also initiated legal aid & counseling centers and participate in other district networks as well.

The members are used to the idea of taking loans and initiating economic activities. All the beneficiaries have been taking smaller loans over the past couple of years. Given below is a list of economic activities that have been taken up by members of the Banks.
Silk Weaving
Subsidiary activities in silk weaving
Husbanding Milch animals
Trading in milk
Trading in Flowers
Floriculture - growing flowers
Leasing land and growing Vegetables
Vending vegetables
Basket making
Trading in Rice
Brick making
Petty shops

While these are common activities certain trainings will be required.

These MATC Societies have been steadily moving towards achieving economic sustainability. The Adisakti MATC Society is already financially sustainable. The Societies have already contributed a lot to the economic self-reliance of its members in terms of creation of assets, credit worthiness and generation of employment.

The Societies also did some amount of work in taking up eco-restoration, learning different aspects of land development, accessing government programmes and schemes, increasing accessibility of primary education for girl children, and participating in programmes like pulse polio.

While the work on creating Alternative Banks for and by Women was going on it was also becoming apparent that the women needed counseling support, in the context of increasing violence on women. The MATC Societies did take up a few issues, but they need a lot more support and capacity building.

In many instances, it is apparent that women facing harassment do not have the opportunity to voice their grievances and seek alternatives. This is largely because once married, as per the current social norms, she is supposed to cope with whatever treatment is meted out to her. She is constantly advised to "try more" and "be patient". This, coupled with economic dependence leads to a "no way out" situation and many, many instances of suicide. For the oppressor, the situation of "nobody to question me" or "my wife is my property" encourages further violence. In many cases, involved individuals or the entire families will need a hearing. The counseling centre will be a platform for women and families.

It is expected that the proposed counseling centres will work in collaboration with the counseling centre run by the Mahila Aikya Vedika (a district level federation of womens organisations) in Anantapur. The MATC Societies of CK Palli, Ramagiri and Roddam are also members of the Vedika.

The Collective understands that taking up issues of atrocities on women is very important and at the same time needs very sensitive and tactful handling. This programme will need a tremendous amount of support and good will. The following are the expected areas of support:

• Directors of the MATC Societies
• Village Level Thrift Groups/Sanghas
• Timbaktu Panchayati, the 50 full time members of the Collective
• Steering Committee of the Collective
• Mahila Aikya Vedika, Anantapur
• Press, Government Official, and District Level Officials à Other Women's Counseling Centres
• Youth Groups/Forest Protection Committees/Dalit Groups
• Village Elders
• Government Legal machinery (Court, Magistrate)