NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Over the last 25 years, development organizations have formed about 700,000 Savings Groups composed of 14 million members, across 75 countries. Most projects train and supervise groups for one year; and monitoring and results measurement seldom exceeds the project period, typically 2-3 years. What happens beyond then is mostly a black box.

In 2019, with support from the SEEP Network and FSD Africa, L-IFT revisited more than 300 randomly-selected Savings Groups established in 2010-2011 – by Oxfam America, Freedom from Hunger and the Strømme Foundation in Mali, and CARE International in Uganda. The researchers tracked each group over three months, observing group meetings, interviewing group members, and estimating group survival and replication rates – and collecting standardized performance data and comparing results to the first year of operations.

This study explores the long-term performance and evolution of Savings Groups. Specifically, the study examines the financial performance, institutional performance, institutional relationships and activities of Savings Groups nearly a decade after formation. What’s left, and what does it look like? And for development organizations, what is the long-term return on investment in the formation of Savings Groups?

In this webinar, the research team at L-IFT will present the main findings of the study, followed by a panel discussion with the University of Oregon, the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Uganda, The Share Trust and an independent researcher to triangulate the study results with emerging experience, policies and findings, and their implications…and there may be a few surprises.