Solutions Panorama

Saving at the Local
Level: Village Savings
and Loan Associations
Featuring:
CARE; Promundo
Where:
Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, and
Uganda
Time Frame:
1991 - Present
DESCRIPTION
The need for comprehensive, well-tailored financial services for
women starts at the local level. One innovative model that is well
suited to local women is a Village Savings and Loan Association
(VSLA), a group of people who save together and take small loans
from those savings. Care’s Village Savings and Loan Association
initiative in Niger targets women living in poor, often rural
communities with little or no access to financial institutions.
After years of engaging in weekly savings and loans meetings
and gaining financial literacy and confidence, the savings
initiative has started to integrate more formal institutional
engagement, such as official bank accounts and credit.
In Rwanda, the gender justice organization Promundo has
worked in partnership with CARE to make women’s use of
existing VSLAs more successful by engaging men in discussion
groups. Men’s participation in these groups helped them
to better accept their wives’ participation in the initiatives,
support their goal of economic empowerment, and share
more in household duties. The discussion-centered sessions
encouraged the men to reflect on rigid gender norms, examine
their personal attitudes and beliefs, and question traditional
ideas about household decision-making and division of labor,
childcare, and sharing household tasks.
A randomized evaluation found
that the savings of women in the
associations grew by US$14,
a 34% increase.
IMPACT
From 2008-2012, the research and policy non-profit Innovations
for Poverty Action (IPA) conducted a randomized evaluation
of the Village Savings and Loan Associations in Ghana, Malawi,
and Uganda, and found that the savings of women in the
associations grew by US$14, a 34 percent increase relative to
the comparison group. Households also accessed more credit
for a variety of investment purposes, including for agriculture,
health, and education; women’s decision making power in the
households improved; women were significantly more likely to
own a business; and women were more likely to take out a loan
for commerce.
The Village Savings and Loan Association model has
demonstrated consistent positive results increasing women’s
access to financial tools and income, as well as improving
individual and household welfare, such as nutrition, access to
health services, and quality of housing. As a result, both women
and men were happier and more economically successful.
LEARN MORE
“Impact Assessment of Savings Groups,” Innovations for Poverty Action
“The Evidence-Based Story of Savings Groups: A Synthesis of Seven
Randomized Control Trials,” Megan Gash and Kathleen Odell
“Engendering Men: A Collaborative Review of Evidence on Men and Boys
in Social Change and Gender Equality,” Jerker Edström, et al.
“Journeys of Transformation: A Training Manual for Engaging Men
as Allies in Women’s Economic Empowerment,” CARE International –
Rwanda and Promundo-US
About VSL Associates; vsla.net
Source: Boost Women’s Economic Empowerment policy brief
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