Empowering Women: Saving for Change
Goal: $5 million
About 75 percent of rural people in the developing world do not have access to banks or legitimate lenders. This is especially true for women, who are deprived of both credit and a means for saving their money safely.
Through an initiative called “Saving for Change,” Oxfam is helping very poor women in remote areas learn about a new way to save and borrow money. The approach relies on a group of about 20 friends and peers who form savings and lending circles.
Participants often borrow from the group first to help them cover health emergencies. But eventually, women are able to take loans to start—or expand—their own small businesses.
The number of savings-and-lending circles is growing fast. Oxfam is launching pilot programs in Senegal, Mali, and Cambodia, and has plans to reach one million women in the next 10 years.
Savings and access to credit aren’t all that women get out of these programs. The circles also serve as a platform for developing education programs on topics of concern to people in these rural areas, such as malaria in Africa and methods for improving rice yields in Cambodia.
