Worldwide, about 80 percent of Savings Group members are women (SAVIX 2019). Gendered participation rates in Savings Groups mirror those of the microfinance sector, which set a precedent of em…
2019 |Mansi Anand (Oxfam), Anna Mecagni (Women for Women International) & Maryam Piracha (PRISMA)
There is increasing interest from economic programs to better understand, measure and capture agency across interventions in order to more deliberately pursue women’s economic empowermen…
As Savings Groups increasingly serve as a pillar of gender-focused programs, there is a need to better understand the pathways between Savings Groups and women’s empowerment. The purpose…
2019 |marc bavois and Benjamin S. Allen, Ph.D. (Catholic Relief Services)
For millions of financially excluded individuals worldwide, Savings Groups offer the opportunity to save and borrow small amounts of cash in a convenient, accessible and generally safe manner.…
2019 |Benjamin S. Allen, Ph.D., and marc bavois (Catholic Relief Services)
Over the last two decades, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has promoted Savings Groups – referred to as Savings and Internal Lending Communities, or SILCs – reaching about 3.8 milli…
2019 |Sukhwinder Arora and Ian Robinson (Arora Associates)
What role do governments play in protecting Savings Groups as financial service providers and their members as financial consumers? This brief paper assesses emerging government efforts to reg…
2019 |Katherine Rickard and Amalia Johnsson (Nathan Associates)
This learning brief examines the pathways between Savings Groups and women’s empowerment, the evidence with respect to various outcome areas, and how women’s empowerment outcomes c…
In December 2018, Global Communities began the formation of a multi-country team of twelve MERS ambassadors through a SEEP-facilitated MERS training event for selected individuals from across…
This case study shows how the MERS were applied to a 2018 market study conducted by Catholic Relief Services, following displacement in Congo-Brazzaville.
In May of 2016, conflict triggered by…
This case study focuses on Bonyan, a local NGO based in Syria, and how they adapted the MERS to help with market-based program interventions.
In early 2018, the SEEP Network partnered with the…
This learning brief begins by providing an overview of the key players in the Azerbaijan microfinance sector, followed by more detail on the approaches used by AMFA to build its sustainability…
2018 |Fiona Jarden and Aisha Rahamatali (CARE International)
Savings Groups are community-based financial service providers that deliver basic financial services to millions of members in underserved markets worldwide. Traditionally, the promotion of Sa…
On 25 April 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal. It was the largest earthquake to take place in the country in 80 years. Less than three weeks later, on 12 May, another 7.3-magnitude ea…
