Today’s Revolutionary 


 
17 May 1954: In Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules that “separate but equal” schools for people of color are unconstitutional. 
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Financial Promise for the Poor 

Financial Promise for the Poor: How Groups Bulld Microsavings is your go-to book on savings groups. Its contributors are authors you often read in this blog. It covers current innovations in microsavings happening around the world.

 

 


Savings Groups are catching on in Europe and North America.

Follow this movement, and maybe get involved yourself, on the Northern Lights page of Savings Revolution!

 

 

Also, don’t miss…

Savings Groups at the Frontier, the book inspired by the 2011 Savings Group Summit!

Buy in UK or US.

Favorite Sites

Here are some other sites that Kim and Paul read, that we think you might enjoy.

The SEEP Savings Led Working Group site. Congratulations to SEEP for putting together this comprehensive, easily accessible go-to site on savings groups. Check out their library, their report on outreach by country, and lots of other goodies.

Making the Road - a blog by Bill Maddocks. “Through honesty, courage and persistent inquiry we learn the way forward as development practitioners and human beings.” Bill brings rich experience not just with development work, but with life, to these discussions. 

Village Finance Blog. Brett Hudson Matthew’s thoughtful posts are grounded in an understanding of oral cultures, history, and social dynamics. Recommended for anyone trying to understand what’s really happening in savings groups. 

Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion at UC Irvine. “Its mission is to support research on money and technology among the world’s poorest people. We seek to create a community of practice and inquiry into the everyday uses and meanings of money, as well as … technological infrastructures”. ‘Nuff said.

David Roodman’s Microfinance Open Book Blog. David Roodman combines intelligence, honesty, and a sense of humor. He attempts to bring intellectual rigor to the analysis of the impact of financial services, and isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers in the process.

Clean Air, Bright Light. This site by Savings Revolution co-founder Paul Rippey contains useful information about lessons learned in using savings groups to promote clean lighting. Still in development but check it out anyway!

The Evidence Project. Chris Dunford was CEO of Freedom From Hunger for many years and probably more than anyone helped FFH earn a reputation of being willing to look closely at what they were doing, and whether they really were meeting people’s needs. Chris continues that role now as a blogger…

Center for Financial Inclusion. CFI supports traditional microfinance to become more client friendly, more inclusive, and generally smarter. They have a long-term vision for the sector, and the blog attracts many good writers and thoughtful comments.

 

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Over the last twenty years, many people have become interested in helping poor people around the world get good financial services. Mohammed Yunus and the institution he founded, the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, won a Noble Prize in 2006 for helping start a movement that has brought financial services to millions around the world. 

Banks and microfinance institutions are one way to bring financial series to the poor. Savings Groups, managed by the members and based on savings rather than debt, are another solution. In fact, we think they’re such a good solution that they really are revolutionary.

Savings Groups are self-selected groups of 15 to 30 women and men who get together to save and borrow. Rather than go into debt to an external institution, they manage their own savings through transparent procedures and all the money they earn through interest on loans stays in their village, and in their group.

This seven-minute video is a great short introduction to savings groups:

A number of international non-profit organizations work with local partners to train people in villages and cities in how to manage their own savings groups. There are now over five million savings group members in Africa alone, and the movement is also growing in Asia and Latin America. (There are even a few groups in Europe and North America).

Savings Revolution is designed to help you learn more about Savings Groups, and to get involved with the most exciting new approach to bringing safe financial services to people around the world.


Wednesday
Feb272013

The very essence of Savings Groups

AuthorPaul Rippey | DateWednesday, February 27, 2013 at 3:09PM

Let’s get serious. Is there REALLY anything particularly special about savings groups? Some people think they see something special, but hard to measure, happening in groups. They try to describe it with words like empowerment or community.

But lots of people, even some savings group promotors, don’t necessarily see the specialness. For them, savings groups are just an efficient way to bring millions of people closer to this year’s hot developmental objective, Financial Inclusion.

Click to read more ...

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Monday
Feb252013

"Moira's network"

AuthorPaul Rippey | DateMonday, February 25, 2013 at 10:31AM

I was recently in the CARE office in Niamey Niger and saw this poster, honoring Moira Eknes’s contribution to the development of savings groups. I thought some of the readers would like to see it.

Moira is still very present in the hearts of many Nigeriens! 

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Thursday
Feb212013

More on the CARE/Equity/Orange experiment

AuthorPaul Rippey | DateThursday, February 21, 2013 at 7:29PM

We’ve had two earlier posts (this one in April 2012 by Lauren Hendricks, and this one from November 2012 by Sybil Chidiac and Nate Stell) about the interesting experiment that CARE Kenya has carried out linking savings groups to Equity Bank, using Orange phones. It’s a bold initiative, and I recently had the chance to talk to Silvester K’obare, CARE Kenya’s Programme coordinator for the Group Savings and Loans Sector, about it. Silvester brings the story up to date, and he told me a lot of things I didn’t know. VERY interesting!

We captured the conversation and it’s now available as a podcast. Check it out here.

 

 

Click to read more ...

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Monday
Feb182013

Savings Groups Online

AuthorJean Claude Rodríguez-Ferrera Massons | DateMonday, February 18, 2013 at 3:43PM

You may think that a savings group is an awesome idea but something that happens far away and is only useful for people with low incomes. You’re wrong.

Do you need cash sometimes? Do you use your credit card often? Do you pay too-high interest rates? Do you receive a very low return on your savings? Are you upset with banks?

Imagine that you create a small bank with some of your friends. You will be the owners and the customers.

Click to read more ...

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Monday
Feb182013

RoseCity Rainmakers

AuthorPaul Rippey | DateMonday, February 18, 2013 at 7:36AM

The RoseCity Rainmakers is a savings group in Portland Oregon, which just had it’s second savings meeting. I (Paul) helped get it started and now it is completely owned by all the members. 

We loved the video of the Smile savings group in Italy, and that inspired us to make a video too. Keep reading….

In the video, all the Rainmakers introduce themselves, and then there is an affirmation from the Abundance Officer.

Click to read more ...

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Thursday
Feb072013

The Social Life of Money

AuthorKim Wilson | DateThursday, February 7, 2013 at 1:48PM

We hope you as charmed by this wonderful video of an Italian savings group as we. It is sure to warm the heart of even the coldest formalista.

This group, following the ACAF model, is part of a new movement called Northern Lights, coming soon on Savings Revolution.

Click to read more ...

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Saturday
Feb022013

A Double Wealth

AuthorKim Wilson | DateSaturday, February 2, 2013 at 1:37PM

While in Haiti a few years ago, I was struck by how many savings groups and their members, there called Mutuelles, were able to set so much money aside. Members stepped forward to tell their stories, most matching my mental checklist of answers that corresponded to what we evaluators always like to hear: couldn’t save on my own, neighbors not reliable, credit unions fail, banks unfriendly, and so on and so forth. In short, “I need the group – I cannot live without it.”

An old woman spoke up. Her story varied from the norm.

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Thursday
Jan312013

The Physics of Money

AuthorIgnacio Mas and Kim Wilson | DateThursday, January 31, 2013 at 5:44PM


 The Institute for Money, Technology, and Financial Inclusion (IMTFI), one of our favorite sites as well as favorite institutes, recently featured a post we wrote on money as metaphor, called The Physics of Money. We hope you like it. IMFTI conducts research around the world, emphasizing the value of local researchers and local research partners. The institute has a very practical side. Check out their design principles. 

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Tuesday
Jan292013

Are Self Help Groups Responsible Financial Service Providers?

AuthorGirija Srinivasan | DateTuesday, January 29, 2013 at 6:47AM

The Self Help Group (SHG) in India is a savings-led, predominantly women-focused model where members first save, then use the funds for loaning among its members, and then after a period of time (typically 6 months) the SHG is linked to a bank for credit.  Being a member-owned entity, it is presumed that the design and terms of financial services and recovery procedures are consistent with what the members desire.  The SHGs are also seen as an effective check to the growing influence of Microfinance Institutions, and the Government of India is scaling up the SHG model through its National Rural Livelihood Mission. 

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Monday
Jan212013

Happy Birthday!

AuthorPaul Rippey | DateMonday, January 21, 2013 at 1:28PM

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. 

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