Roles and Responsibilities of Office-Bearers in Self-Help Groups (SHGs)

Behind every successful Self-Help Group (SHG) is a small team of elected leaders quietly keeping things running – collecting savings, managing records, calling meetings, and speaking up for the group when it matters. These are the office-bearers, and their role is far more significant than most people realize. In SHGs across South Asia, particularly in India where over 2.2 million groups operate under NABARD’s linkage programme, the quality of leadership at this level directly determines whether a group thrives or falls apart.

Who are office-bearers in an SHG? 🔗

An SHG typically elects three core office-bearers: a President (or Chairperson), a Secretary, and a Treasurer (sometimes called a Bookkeeper). In larger or federated groups, additional positions such as a Joint Secretary or Vice President may also be created. These individuals are not outsiders brought in to manage the group – they are members of the group itself, elected by their peers to take on additional responsibilities in service of the collective.

This internal leadership structure is what makes SHGs fundamentally different from externally managed financial programmes. The group governs itself. The office-bearers are accountable not to a bank or an NGO, but directly to their fellow members. As community-based rehabilitation research on self-help groups highlights, shared responsibility – where each member has a clear role and contributes to the group – is one of the defining features of a well-functioning SHG.

Selection and tenure: how office-bearers are chosen 🔗

The selection process for office-bearers is not a formal ballot in the way most people imagine elections. In practice, it is usually done by consensus – members come together, discuss who is best suited, and agree collectively. This consensus-based approach is deliberate. It ensures that the people chosen genuinely have the trust and confidence of the group, rather than winning on popularity alone. It also reduces the risk of factionalism or one dominant personality hijacking group decisions.

Literacy and experience as key criteria 🔗

SHGs are encouraged to prioritise members who are literate and have some prior experience in managing group affairs when selecting office-bearers. This is especially important for the Secretary and Treasurer roles, since both involve maintaining written records. The bookkeeper or treasurer, in particular, must be able to maintain several registers: a member passbook, a savings ledger, a cashbook, a loan book, and minutes of each meeting. As documented in research on how SHGs function, the bookkeeper is often specifically selected because they are literate – sometimes even chosen from outside the group if no literate member is available, though this is less ideal.

Rotation of leadership 🔗

One of the most important structural features of SHG governance is the regular rotation of office-bearers. Tenures are usually fixed at one to two years, after which a new set of leaders is elected. This rotation serves several practical purposes. It prevents the concentration of power in the hands of one or two individuals over a long period. It builds leadership capacity across the group, giving more members the experience of managing finances and facilitating meetings. And it brings fresh perspectives that keep the group dynamic rather than stagnant. Community group governance guidelines consistently recommend rotation of roles as a mechanism to ensure fairness and distributed ownership within the group.

Key responsibilities of each office-bearer 🔗

Each position carries a distinct set of duties, though in smaller groups there is often some overlap. Understanding these roles clearly is essential – both for the office-bearers themselves and for the broader membership who need to hold them accountable.

The President 🔗

The President is the public face of the SHG and the person responsible for keeping the group organised and focused. Their primary duties include presiding over meetings, ensuring that discussions remain productive, and making sure that decisions taken at meetings are actually carried out. As outlined in standard office-bearer guidelines, the chairperson must have a clear understanding of the group’s objectives, ensure everyone gets a fair say, and step in to resolve procedural disputes. The President also serves as the group’s main representative when interacting with external bodies – banks, government agencies, NGOs, or other SHG federations. Effective external representation requires communication skills, knowledge of the group’s goals, and the ability to advocate confidently for its members.

The Secretary 🔗

The Secretary is the group’s record-keeper and communications manager. They are responsible for preparing meeting agendas, recording minutes of every meeting, maintaining membership details, and ensuring that communications between the group and external organisations are properly handled. The Secretary also monitors whether decisions made in meetings are followed through. This role is critical for maintaining institutional memory – in a group where oral communication is common, having a written record of what was discussed and decided protects members from disputes and ensures continuity when leadership changes.

The Treasurer (Bookkeeper) 🔗

The Treasurer carries perhaps the heaviest responsibility of all three positions: managing the group’s money. This includes collecting regular savings contributions from members at each meeting, maintaining accurate cash records, disbursing approved internal loans, tracking repayments, and managing the group’s relationship with its bank account. Under NABARD’s SHG-Bank Linkage Programme, the group’s bank account must be operated by at least two office-bearers jointly – meaning any transaction requires dual authorisation. This built-in check reduces the risk of misappropriation and ensures that no single person can access group funds unilaterally. The Treasurer maintains a full set of financial registers and presents reports at each meeting so that all members remain informed about the group’s financial position.

Attendance and meeting management 🔗

One of the most basic but non-negotiable duties shared by all office-bearers is regular and consistent attendance at group meetings. Meetings are the lifeblood of an SHG – they are where savings are collected, loans are discussed, problems are raised, and decisions are made. An office-bearer who is frequently absent weakens the group’s functioning in a direct and measurable way. The President must facilitate meetings, the Secretary must record them, and the Treasurer must collect and account for contributions – none of these things can happen effectively if even one person is absent without a valid reason.

Beyond attendance, office-bearers are expected to prepare adequately for meetings. This means the President should have an agenda ready, the Secretary should have previous minutes available for review, and the Treasurer should have an up-to-date cash statement prepared. Meeting management best practices for community groups emphasise that a well-prepared chairperson introduces each agenda item clearly, encourages participation, prevents dominant voices from overshadowing others, and ensures the meeting closes with clear, agreed-upon next steps.

Maintaining group cohesion 🔗

Beyond their administrative duties, office-bearers play a crucial informal role in holding the group together socially. Conflicts between members are inevitable in any long-term group – disagreements about loan access, repayment schedules, or meeting attendance are common. Office-bearers, particularly the President, are expected to address these conflicts early and fairly, ensuring that no member feels sidelined or treated unfairly. When office-bearers model respectful, transparent behaviour, it sets the tone for the entire group. When they fail to do so, trust erodes quickly and membership participation drops.

SHG research consistently shows that groups with strong, trusted leadership resolve conflicts through collective discussion rather than external intervention – which is precisely what makes them self-sufficient and sustainable over time.

Accountability: keeping office-bearers answerable 🔗

The consensus-based election system alone is not enough to ensure good governance. SHGs need active accountability mechanisms to ensure that office-bearers actually perform their duties. The most basic of these is the requirement that all financial transactions are recorded and presented to the group at every meeting. Members should be able to see exactly how much money has been collected, how much has been lent out, and how much remains in cash or in the bank. Transparency in financial matters is the single most important factor in preventing misuse of group funds.

Beyond financial transparency, accountability also means that office-bearers must answer for poor attendance, failure to maintain records, or failure to represent the group’s interests in external meetings. Groups that handle accountability well typically establish this expectation from the very beginning – embedding it in the group’s own rules (which each SHG frames for itself) rather than waiting for problems to arise. Community group frameworks recommend establishing clear, fair, and transparent rules for sharing benefits and fulfilling responsibilities as a foundational step in group formation.

The rotation system also functions as an indirect accountability mechanism. When members know that their own turn at leadership will come, they tend to be more attentive and constructive observers of current office-bearers’ performance – because they understand the challenges firsthand or anticipate them.

Training: building the capacity to lead 🔗

Electing an office-bearer is only the beginning. Without proper training, even the most committed and literate member may struggle with the practical demands of maintaining financial records, facilitating meetings, or navigating the group’s relationship with a bank. This is why ongoing training and capacity building for office-bearers is considered essential in the SHG model.

Training programmes for SHG office-bearers typically cover bookkeeping and record maintenance, conducting effective meetings, financial literacy and loan management, communication skills for external representation, and conflict resolution techniques. NABARD’s training handbooks for the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme outline structured training for both group members and the bank staff who work with them – recognising that capacity building must happen on both sides for the linkage to work effectively.

Support for training often comes from the NGO or government agency that helped form the group, from Panchayat Level Federations (PLFs), or from NABARD-linked banking partners. Research on Panchayat Level Federations in Tamil Nadu found that PLF functionaries – themselves drawn from member SHGs – play a direct role in capacity building, information sharing, and arranging credit rating and grading activities that support individual SHGs. This layered support structure means that office-bearer training is not a one-time event but an ongoing process as the group matures and takes on new challenges.

Why training matters beyond skills 🔗

Training does more than teach bookkeeping or meeting facilitation. It builds the confidence of office-bearers – many of whom are women from rural backgrounds who have had limited prior experience in formal leadership roles. When a woman who has never spoken in front of a government official learns how to present her group’s case clearly and confidently, that is a transformation that extends well beyond the SHG itself. Punjab National Bank’s SHG documentation notes that SHGs have demonstrated a multiplier effect on women’s participation in gram sabha meetings and local elections – a direct outcome of the leadership skills developed through group roles.

The bigger picture: why strong office-bearers matter 🔗

It is easy to underestimate the significance of these roles. A President, Secretary, and Treasurer in a rural SHG may be managing a relatively small corpus of funds – but they are doing so with real consequences for real families who depend on that money for healthcare, education, and livelihood. When office-bearers perform well, the group builds a strong financial track record that enables it to access formal bank credit. When they fail – through poor record-keeping, absenteeism, or mismanagement – the group loses credibility with financial institutions and, more importantly, loses the trust of its own members.

The entire model of the SHG – its capacity to serve as a vehicle for financial inclusion and women’s empowerment – rests on the quality of internal leadership. Selecting the right people, rotating that leadership regularly, training office-bearers continuously, and holding them accountable are not bureaucratic formalities. They are the mechanisms by which a group of women, pooling small amounts of money each week, can collectively build something far larger than any of them could achieve alone.

What do you think? If you were a member of an SHG, what qualities would matter most to you when choosing a President or Treasurer – and how would your group ensure that office-bearers stayed accountable to the members who elected them? Does the rotation system genuinely democratise leadership, or does it risk disrupting continuity just as a good leader hits their stride?

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-help_group_(finance)
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310972/
3. https://medium.com/91-labs/how-do-self-help-groups-function-e3c0b02423e7
4. https://mn.gov/mnddc/partnersinpolicymaking/class32_materials/Office-Bearers-Roles-Responsibilities.pdf
5. https://www.nabard.org/auth/writereaddata/tender/0409173705HANDBOOK_ON_TRAINING_REVISED_2013_14.pdf
6. https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/Paper2/self-help-groups-shgs
7. https://www.homesciencejournal.com/archives/2020/vol6issue1/PartE/6-1-32-133.pdf
8. https://slbcchandigarh.pnb.in/shg.aspx