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NexThought Monday – Second Chances in Global Development: How savings and lending groups can achieve what microcredit hasn’t
Jeffrey Ashe’s early research on behalf of USAID helped make microfinance a global development phenomenon. He now believes that savings and lending groups could have an impact that’s just as profound, but with a key difference: while microfinance struggles to reach the very poor, he says, savings and lending groups are expressly designed to meet their needs.
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- Uncategorized
- Tags
- savings
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Weekly Roundup – 12-14-13: Is wishful thinking sustaining or stopping global development?
In this week’s roundup, a $64 million (plus) year for off-grid solar investments in developing markets, the inspirational story behind Doorways to Dreams, and The New Republic essay that wants to put an end to wishful (scalable) thinking in development.
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- Energy
- Tags
- impact investing, savings, solar
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Converting Short-Term Remittances Into Long-Term Investments: Global Fund explores ways to build in financial inclusion and sustainable funding for health care
As many countries face mounting pressure to identify additional sources of domestic financing, The Global Fund ponders how individual remittance and savings accounts can play a larger role as an innovative solution for public health.
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- Education, Health Care
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Survey: Banking growth has not boosted savings in South Africa
The number of banked South Africans has grown to 27.4 million over the past ten years, or about 75% of the total adult population. But this increase has not translated into a higher incidence of saving, with only 20% of banked adult South Africans saving either in banks or non-bank financial institutions.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Financial Capability + Savings: IPA explores their impact on school performance and other areas
The theory behind financial education is that by learning financial concepts from an early age, children will make welfare-enhancing financial decisions when they grow up. But does it work? Innovations for Poverty Action runs down the results of programs in Uganda and beyond that are offering savings accounts, financial capability training or a combination of the two.
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- Education
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Saving for Change: Why is it so difficult for people of all income levels to save money – and how can financial institutions help?
Saving money is hard - particularly for the poor. And with a lack of formal savings options, many poor people end up hiding cash, investing in assets such as livestock or land, or engaging in informal savings arrangements. Yet for those who can stow away even a little money, the benefits can be enormous. Roxanne Bauer explores why saving is so difficult, and what financial institutions can do about it.
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- Uncategorized
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Achieving ‘Resilience’: Financial services beyond the scramble to survive
Since the Microcredit Summit Campaign began in 1997, the world of financial services for the poor has shifted from microcredit to microfinance—a broader range of formal and informal products and services. Resilience: The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2014 reflects these changes with an interesting discussion of innovations that go beyond credit.
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- Education
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Seven Strategies to Attract 40+ Million New Customers: How U.S. banks can serve immigrants today and tomorrow
The surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S. border has put the immigration debate back in the headlines. But CFSI’s Thea Garon argues that the more important issue is whether the millions of immigrants who already live in the U.S. have what they need to succeed. She lays out new research from CFSI on how financial service providers can serve immigrants - both now and if comprehensive immigration reform is passed.
- Categories
- Investing