This is all I know: I would have loved to be part of a program that helped me learn about money before I had to learn about it myself through overdraft, and bank fees, and no savings.
Our Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) program in Gulu, Uganda began in 2009, and consists of groups of rural community members who meet once a week with the goal of saving and loaning money together. It empowers people to take control of their personal finances for the first time, and in their once a week meeting in groups of 30, each member of the group saves, takes out loans, repays loans with interest, and invests. That’s enough – I’m moving to Uganda.
In Nwoya district, the Livelihood team has just started up 45 new VSLA groups. The members of these groups come from small communities, and since the neighbors all know each other, accountability is high and defaults on loans are rare. The groups keep their savings in locked boxes, with three different members each holding a key to the box.
Some Invisible Children Uganda staff members recently traveled out with the team to deliver cash boxes, and it was easy for them to see why using a bank in town would be outside the realm of practicality for most people. It took a good hour of driving on narrow, rocky dirt roads before they reached the trading center where representatives from nine of the groups were meeting. Lameck and Comfort, program assistants for Livelihood, made sure that each box contained everything the group would need, like pens, calculators, and record books. They then drove to more remote areas, stopping here and there to deliver a cash box. In one place, a small group of beaming women came to pick up the supplies for their group, carrying the box and paper supplies back home on their heads.
VSLA participants have been known to save money for their children’s education, investing in livestock, goat and pig rearing and farming, or starting small businesses. For something that takes just one hour a week to manage, VSLA provides members with three benefits: a way to save money, a way to earn interest, and a way to access previously unavailable capital. Scratch that – four benefits: a way to manage their finances better than me. #signmeup
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