Sep 9, 2020 | by Emily Janoch, CARE
Photo Credit: Peter Caton/CARE 2017
How about we went into a project saying, “women are powerful, let’s treat them that way?” If we wish to impact lives beyond the life of one project, and beyond a narrow range of outcomes, we have to think bigger than a log frame. We must think about how women can build tools and networks that let them transform their own lives.
That’s where Savings Groups come in. Savings Groups are exceptionally powerful since they are one of the few tools in international development programming that both focus primarily on women and treat them as economic actors. In CARE’s programming, 81% of Savings Groups members are women. Since 1991, women around the world have used these savings to expand their skills, build social networks, and establish businesses, with remarkable results.
You can tell we’re fans. At CARE, we think that Savings Groups make a huge difference, and not just with money. If you’re looking for evidence, it’s pretty easy to prove that women in Savings Groups have more money. But what about other issues? Are Savings Groups really giving women a platform to change the rest of their lives?
With funding and collaboration from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CARE set out to answer two key questions:
We drew from an extensive literature review, in-depth case studies of 12 cases in East Africa, and Key Informant Interviews and Round Table Discussions with women’s rights groups, the private sector, and governments to answer these questions.
This research highlights that successfully creating WECs on a national scale will require collaboration between a variety of different actors, forging partnerships not seen before. Here’s a few key recommendations:
This blog shares key insights from CARE’s recent publication, Assessing the Viability of Savings Groups as a Vehicle for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Africa with findings from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia. If you’re interested in how Savings Groups and their members are responding to COVID-19 and building back better, please check out the learning agenda at the 2020 SEEP Annual Conference.
Emily Janoch is the Director for Knowledge Management and Learning at CARE, focusing on ways to better learn from, share, and use implementation experiences on eradicating poverty through empowering women and girls in order to improve impact. With 15 years of experience, she is an expert in designing systems to capture and share information across many sources, and facilitating conversations with practitioners and decision-makers. She has a BA in International Studies from the University of Chicago, and a Masters in Public Policy in International and Global Affairs from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Categories: Financial Inclusion Women and Girls Health Savings Groups English Savings Groups Blog Blog Womens Economic Empowerment Blog 2020 WebinarsBlogs
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