Browse by Theme: Financial Inclusion

This review focuses on the potential for the savings-led microfinance (MF) movement in sub-Saharan Africa to close an important gap in MF so that all poor people can access the financial products and services.

The three sections include (1) taking stock of where the savings-group (SG) movement fits within the larger MF sector and what different facilitating agencies (FAs) are doing in SG programming and where; (2) assessing program integration, in which SGs are implemented with other development programs, and linkage, in which SGs can opt into the formal financial sector; and (3) urging advocacy for changes in financial regulatory systems.

Banking on Change is a partnership with Barclays, Plan and Care Internationa that focuses on savings-led community finance initiatives which are effective in meeting the needs of the poor – providing a way to manage their money and increase their ability to deal with life emergencies. The partnership has 3 main objectives inclusion; outreach and impact.

CARE has pioneered an approach that meets the need for microfinance at the very bottom rung of the world's economic ladder. CARE Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) empower women to pool their savings – with no outside capital – and then make loans to each other to start small businesses or pay for important life expenses. Read more about our VSLA approach, along with other best practices at work in Africa, in CARE's most recent report: "Microfinance in Africa: Bringing Financial Services to Africa's Poor."

CARE has pioneered an approach that meets the need for microfinance at the very bottom rung of the world's economic ladder. CARE Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) empower women to pool their savings – with no outside capital – and then make loans to each other to start small businesses or pay for important life expenses. Read more about our VSLA approach, along with other best practices at work in Africa, in CARE's most recent report: "Microfinance in Africa: Bringing Financial Services to Africa's Poor."