Experts Gather to Share Research on Financial Services for the Poor
On 27 and 28 October 2010, the Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC) hosted a Savings Groups Learning Workshop at the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat. The workshop aimed to share learning on the facilitation of Savings Groups, to better understand how they respond to the poor’s needs for financial services and the value they add to the lives of their members.
The workshop was attended by 50 savings groups specialists, including representatives from donor agencies, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academics and the broader Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).
The workshop was part of the Savings Groups Learning Initiative funded by The MasterCard Foundation and AKFC.
Savings groups (SG) are self-managed community-based groups that respond directly to the unmet financial services needs of the remote and rural poor by providing: i) a secure place to save; ii) the opportunity to borrow in small amounts and on flexible terms; and iii) affordable basic insurance services.
Reeta Roy, President and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation, and Khalil Z. Shariff, CEO of AKFC, opened the workshop on 27 October. Keynote speakers Brigit Helms (former CEO of Unitus) and Susan Johnson (University of Bath) shared thought-provoking presentations to situate savings groups within the broader financial services system and outline future opportunities for this global trend.
The workshop provided a platform for debate and discussion of savings groups on their own and SGs combined with other development activities in diverse geographical and programmatic contexts. Participants from leading NGOs, including CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Freedom from Hunger, and Oxfam America, as well as Aga Khan Foundation, presented research and learning from their unique experiences implementing SGs in communities around the world. Through collegial debate and panel discussions, the SG workshop provided participants an opportunity to gain and exchange knowledge on a promising tool for the economic empowerment of vulnerable populations worldwide.
Under the Learning Initiative, Aga Khan Foundation and The MasterCard Foundation have published a series of briefs based on research case studies:
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Community-Based Savings Groups (PDF)
Savings Groups and Self-Help Groups in India (PDF)
The Permanence and Value of Savings Groups in Kenya’s COSAMO Programme (PDF)
Worth Nepal: Assessing the Value Added and Sustainability of a Women’s Empowerment Programme (PDF)
Marketing Solar Lamps: Emerging Lessons from Uganda (PDF)
CARE International in Zimbabwe: Improving Small-Holder Farmers’ Access to Basic Financial Services and Agricultural Input and Output Markets (PDF)
A Study of Chars the Livelihood Programme in Northern Bangladesh (PDF)
Combining Savings Groups with Agricultural Marketing in Tanzania (PDF)
The Role of Savings Groups in a CRS Agriculture Project in Central America (PDF) -
