Advancing the inclusion of millions of people around the world into pro-poor, sustainable financial services.
Savings Groups 2013 Conference
The Savings Groups 2013 Conference took place March 4 and 5, 2013, outside Washington, DC . The conference was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxfam America, and others active in the Savings Group sector.
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
The MasterCard Foundation
http://mastercardfdn.org/
The MasterCard Foundation advances microfinance and youth learning to promote financial inclusion and prosperity. Through collaboration with committed partners in 48 countries, The MasterCard Foundation is helping people living in poverty to access opportunities to learn and prosper. An independent, private foundation based in Toronto, Canada, it was established through the generosity of MasterCard Worldwide at the time of the company’s initial public offering in 2006.
Resource Library
The document library collects operational studies, program impact assessments, and training manuals relevant to the savings-led field. Member organizations can contribute their documents to this database and make them easily accessible to savings-led practitioners and the wider NGO community, thus increasing the visibility of savings-led methodologies. To contribute your publications, please contact Eloisa Devietti at edevietti@oxfamamerica.org.
Browse 195 Products/Tools/Training Materials You Selected:
Featured Resources
by Care
Download PDF (7.6 MB)Savings groups are not a panacea. Many poor people remain desperate for a safe place to store their money and for larger, affordable loans that only financial institutions can provide. To help respond to this need, CARE has tested eight innovative models for linking informal savings groups with financial companies in five African countries, with exciting results that could help connect the developing world’s remaining “unbanked” populations with the formal global economy.… Read More ›
by Savings-Led Financial Services Working Group
Savings Groups at the Frontier explores the issues that will shape the future of Savings Groups. What are the costs, required inputs, and anticipated outreach of these groups? How does replication take place? How sustainable are the groups? Is it feasible to integrate financial and non-financial services? Are linkages to the formal system desirable? What is the impact of groups on members and their households? How can performance be managed? Not surprisingly, these issues mirror the preoccupation of the pioneers of microcredit. However, this book addresses them, not from the perspective of the financial institution, but in support of group members and savers who are managing their own financial services.… Read More ›
by Oxfam America
Download PDF (1.5 MB)Oxfam America and Freedom from Hunger designed a rigorous mixed-methods research program to evaluate SfC’s impacts, successes, and challenges. The most extensive study is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Mali conducted by economists from Innovations for Poverty Action combined with a qualitative longitudinal study conducted by anthropologists from the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona.
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by Oxfam America
Download PDF (365 KB)Oxfam America and Freedom from Hunger designed a rigorous mixed-methods research program to evaluate SfC’s impacts, successes, and challenges. The most extensive study is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Mali conducted by economists from Innovations for Poverty Action combined with a qualitative longitudinal study conducted by anthropologists from the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona. This is a summary of the results.… Read More ›
by Freedom From Hunger, Oxfam America
Download PDF (1 MB)Esta guía explica cómo formar Grupos de Ahorro 'Savings for Change' en América Latina. Se puede usar en conjunto con las guías: Formación de Grupos de Ahorro en América Latina, Guía para Facilitadores y Formación de Grupos de Ahorro en Guatemala: Guía Pictográfica Anotada.… Read More ›
by Freedom from Hunger, Oxfam America
Download PDF (1.2 MB)Esta guía explica cómo formar Grupos de Ahorro 'Savings for Change' en América Latina. Se puede usar en conjunto con la guía: Formación de Grupos de Ahorro en América Latina, Guía para Facilitadores. … Read More ›
by Freedom From Hunger, Oxfam America
Download PDF (1 MB)First guide in the series of guides used for replication of SFC savings groups in West Africa. Used by the animator along with the SfC Formation of Savings Groups Annotated Pictorial Guide to train and coach replicators on how to use the Pictorial Guide. … Read More ›
by Freedom From Hunger, Oxfam America
Download PDF (644 KB)Second in a series of guides for replication of SfC savings groups in West Africa. Guides the animator through the meaning of the pictures in the SfC Replication of Savings Groups in West Africa, Replicator’s pictorial guide. … Read More ›
by Freedom From Hunger, Oxfam America
Download PDF (874 KB)Third and final guide in the series of guides to be used for the replication of SFC savings Groups in West Africa. Illiterate replicators use the Pictorial Guide to form and train new groups.… Read More ›
by CARE USA
Download PDF (1 MB)In 2009 CARE’s Save Up program launched three pilot projects to provide non-financial linkages in the
three Save Up countries: bank accounts in Malawi, mobile phone banking in Tanzania and funeral
insurance in Uganda. This publication describes the process of linking VSLA members in Malawi
with savings and credit from a major micro-finance bank. Lessons learned that will inform the next phase of the pilot include:
1. VSLAs need financial education and training to use bank linkage effectively.
2. The bank and the IPOs must be properly trained on the product offerings and on the VSLA methodology if they are to pass this information on to communities.
3. The linkage process should be given enough time and should not run parallel to group formation and training.
4. Wholesale bank loans do not interfere with the performance of VSLAs within their home groups.
5. To stimulate competition, it would be beneficial to offer linkages with more than one bank.
6. Banks being linked should be more transparent and accountable to the VSLAs to inspire the groups’ confidence.
7. Banks should explore more effective means of getting access points closer to the groups, especially those that are far from bank outlets and main roads.
8. VSLAs need access to account statements on a regular basis. OIBM is currently establishing a special account code to ease tracking.
… Read More ›
three Save Up countries: bank accounts in Malawi, mobile phone banking in Tanzania and funeral
insurance in Uganda. This publication describes the process of linking VSLA members in Malawi
with savings and credit from a major micro-finance bank. Lessons learned that will inform the next phase of the pilot include:
1. VSLAs need financial education and training to use bank linkage effectively.
2. The bank and the IPOs must be properly trained on the product offerings and on the VSLA methodology if they are to pass this information on to communities.
3. The linkage process should be given enough time and should not run parallel to group formation and training.
4. Wholesale bank loans do not interfere with the performance of VSLAs within their home groups.
5. To stimulate competition, it would be beneficial to offer linkages with more than one bank.
6. Banks being linked should be more transparent and accountable to the VSLAs to inspire the groups’ confidence.
7. Banks should explore more effective means of getting access points closer to the groups, especially those that are far from bank outlets and main roads.
8. VSLAs need access to account statements on a regular basis. OIBM is currently establishing a special account code to ease tracking.
… Read More ›
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