Oxfam America

Saving For Change

Sometimes just having a safe place to save, or access to a small loan, can help a family work its way out of poverty. But many poor people can’t go to banks and credit unions for that kind of help. Often, these services aren’t available, especially in rural areas—and where they are available, poor people may not qualify. Oxfam America has pioneered an alternative microfinance model called Saving for Change, which self-replicates on a large scale and at a low cost, serving those who have been left behind.

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What Oxfam is Doing

Through our Saving for Change program, Oxfam helps poor people in Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Cambodia improve their livelihoods and build a better future by increasing their access to financial services. We accomplish this by:

  • Supporting village groups that act as their own community banks. Savings group members save, lend, and pay each other interest. In this way, they don’t need to take on debt from a credit provider, moneylender, or intermediary.
  • Providing villagers with a safe place to save and easy access to loans. Villagers can use these loans to start small businesses or buy much-needed supplies for their families.

Joining Saving for Change groups also benefits members in other ways. As more women participate in the program, they gradually change how they think about themselves and their place in their family and village. In Mali, group meetings provide a forum for villagers to learn how to prevent and treat malaria. In Cambodia, Saving for Change participants learn about the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a new way of growing rice that increases productivity while decreasing the use of pesticides and harmful chemicals.

Learn more about how Saving for Change works.

Read stories about people participating in Saving for Change.

Saving for Change Success

Since Saving for Change was launched in April 2005, more than 150,000 poor women and men in Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Cambodia have joined savings and lending groups. In 2007 Saving for Change initiated a pilot program in El Salvador that now has over a thousand members. Members in these five countries have saved $2.35 million so far—and the program continues to grow.

Country Groups Members Cumul. Savings (US$)
Mali 4,309 96,605 1,143,202
Senegal 453 10,969 111,188
Burkina Faso 171 3,968 47,309
Cambodia 3,309 49,025 1,037,000
El Salvador 93 1,198 14,410
Totals 8,335 161,765 2,353,109

News & Publications

Read the latest news and feature stories about Oxfam America's work on Community Finance. more »
How much would it cost?
  • One member: $20
  • One group of 20 members: $400
  • One village of 4 groups: $1,600
  • 625 villages, 2,500 groups, 50,000 group members: $1 million
Revisiting Seng Sreila

Revisiting Seng Sreila »

A year later, Sreila is expanding her small business in Cambodia, thanks again to an Oxfam-funded microfinance program.
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