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Maria Zacarias Zacarias is pictured at her home. Through Save the Children's GGLs program, Maria has been able to improve her economic opportunities by investing capital into skills she already had. With a loan, Maria was able to purchase material and thread in bulk to make traditional blouses. |
Financial Services for the Poor
Save the Children’s main household financial security approach has historically focused on Group Guaranteed Lending and Savings (GGLS) programs targeted at women. This methodology built upon the best practices of solidarity group and village banking approaches and was specifically adapted to the diverse cultural economic contexts in which we work. Through GGLS programming, Save the Children has created many strong, independent microfinance institutions who are often recognized as leaders in their countries.
The field of financial services for the poor has evolved enormously over the last few years, as growing evidence emerges that poor families’ financial needs are much more complex and diverse than first believed when microcredit was introduced in the 1970s. This, combined with the realization that not every client — in particular the very poor — can run a microbusiness successfully, has led to a move from an enterprise-based model of income support to a household-centered model. In practice, this means that very poor families may need secure savings and insurance services more than loan products. Those women who are disposed and possess the necessary skills, instincts and time to run small businesses need access to markets and information, in addition to financial resources. The Economic Opportunities (EO) office is working with its existing and potential partners to expand the range of its services accordingly.
Youth Employment
Young people often leave school to seek out income-generating activities to support themselves and their poor families, yet have few opportunities to gain relevant knowledge and skills, and few have access to financial services. In the developing world, the number of young people aged 12 - 24 has reached 1.3 billion, the largest number of youth in history. They are, on average, healthier and better educated than ever before, but without much hope of economic opportunity. As part of a growing portfolio of activities in this area, Save the Children is developing a set of market research tools in which the youth can help create non-financial and financial strategies to support their entry into income-generating activities, while supporting country-specific programs focused on youth and economic opportunities.
Where We Work
Save the Children and its partners facilitate access to financial services or other economic opportunity programming in more than 19 countries and territories around the world. In addition to non-financial household economic security programs that assist poor families, Save the Children supports a network of independent microfinance institutions. This Save the Children Economic Opportunity Network currently provides access to financial services to more than 550,000 families, providing almost 2 million children with the benefits of increased household income.
The Network
Save the Children’s Economic Opportunities Network seeks to increase transparency and collaboration among members for the purpose of sharing innovations, best practices, and lessons learned from delivering financial services around the world. Through the Network, Save the Children provides partners with access to technical assistance, fundraising and funding leads, materials, training modules and research as well as study tours and exchange visits.
Members
Save the Children directly implements financial services programs in three countries: Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The Network consists of 16 independent partners and three directly-implemented financial services programs. These include:
MDF-Kamurj – Armenia
Azeristar – Azerbaijan
Hattha Kaksekar – Cambodia
Al Tadamun – Egypt
SFPI – Ethiopia
Constanta Foundation – Georgia
Genesis Empresarial-Guatemala
Microfund for Women – Jordan
Al Majmoua – Lebanon
Soro Yiriwaso – Mali
FDM - Mozambique
Fondation Zakoura – Morocco
Nirdhan Utthan Bank – Nepal/India
Asasah - Pakistan
FATEN – West Bank/Gaza
