Micro-Savings.
In November of 2021 we travelled to Senegal in West Africa to experience firsthand the micro-saving programs in two villages near Ndem.
The trip gave us the opportunity to check in with the participants one-on-on and sit in on a group meeting. The growth and development of micro-saving programs hang on the communities support and is vital to future successes.
Watch the video to learn more on the micro-savings program.
About Micro-Savings.
The micro-savings program is an initiative that supports close to 10,000 people, mostly women in both Senegal and Mali. The groups consist of anywhere between 20 and 30 women, who are typically all from the same village or town. This group acts a bit like a reading club in the US where they get together on a weekly basis and share stories or problems so that you can gain knowledge or insight from fellow neighbors and friends.
The group is very democratic in nature with everyone’s input at an equal level. This is translated primarily through the savings exercise they do on a weekly basis. It acts a bit like a traditional savings account one might have but, because there are no banks or lending institutions in the traditional sense, this becomes a self organized community way of providing the same service.
Each week every member contributes and agreed-upon amount into a savings box, which is monitored by a couple of the members who both have keys. One might act as a secretary and one might act as the treasurer if it were a small company. There are times throughout the year when money is loaned back out of this account to one person. That amount is discussed and qualified by the group. Then that one person can use that total amount to buy materials or supplies for their own small business. In some cases a woman might buy fabric, then make a whole bunch of hats that can be sold in the village. The engagement is always at a very local level so the money gets saved by the group in the village and also spent locally.
It really becomes a great way to foster small business, communication, and elevate the participants who might not otherwise have a voice in the community. This is also complicated by the fact that most of the men will be in the larger city and not participate much in this local economy back home, leaving the women to manage the household and children.
The success of these programs is demonstrated by how they remain intact once one is started. There are examples where the same group of people will be meeting for 8 or 10 years once started. The Full Circle Foundation primarily supports micro-savings by paying for an organizer, which is typically called an Animator, who will help organize, form, and continually train the groups once started. This organizer would go every week in the beginning, and maybe once a month, and maybe once every six months after the pattern is established.
We also provide the transportation for the Animator which consists of a motorbike to get between all the locations and different villages. What’s exciting about this model is, once the groups get started they will continue to run on their own without input, and this is the best kind of solution one could ask for with a foundation's efforts in another country.
Approximately 1/3 of the micro savings have been started in Senegal and the remaining 2/3 are in Mali.
Senegal Micro-Savings Program Gallery
