Browse by Theme: Financial Inclusion

Women still have fewer economic rights, less access to economic opportunities and less control over economic resources than men due to a range of social, legal and political inequalities. Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) is one of four priority areas for CARE’s work, as set out in the CARE 2020 Programme Strategy. This report articulates why and how we work to drive women’s economic empowerment, our reach and impact to date and some lessons we have learned along the way.

Women on the Move is a CARE regional strategy to mobilise savings groups in West Africa, so that women and girls can assert their basic economic and social rights. Evidence has shown that women-led savings groups are a powerful platform for promoting women’s economic empowerment, women’s voices and gender equality. Our aim is that 8 million women and girls between the age of 15 and 64 will be economically and socially empowered through savings groups by 2020. This report examines our progress in reaching that goal and shares some lessons learned so far.

In recent years, governments across sub-Saharan Africa have deepened their engagement with savings groups, recognising the potential of the community-based microfinance model to contribute to national development agendas. This report, based on an extensive desk review and interviews with 46 government representatives from 22 countries, identifies and describes 74 government initiatives related to policies, regulation and programming in the savings group sector, across 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The impact of climate change is already having devastating effects on lives and livelihoods. Planning and programming to strengthen climate resilience is now commonplace in development interventions. As part of a set of disaster risk financing tools, insurance schemes are being championed as a way to finance the mitigation of negative effects that extreme weather events can have on individuals, households, communities, and countries.

CARE's written evidence to the IDC argues that DFID’s Economic Development Strategy has an inadequate focus on gender and therefore will not deliver outcomes for women, companies and economies.

For over 25 years CARE’s Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) have enabled women living in poverty to increase their financial skills, gain access to and control over resources, and generate economic opportunities and income. This report published in December 2017 provides an overview of the global reach of CARE’s VSLAs.

This report presents the results of research conducted in Niger on the political power of the Mata Masu Dubara (Village Savings and Loan Associations) in Niger.