Financial Promise for the Poor: How Groups Build Microsavings

by Kim Wilson (Editor), Malcolm Harper (Editor), Matthew Griffith (Editor)

* Balanced assessment of recent savings-led programs in microfinance
* Contributors include wide range of scholars and practitioners

The entry of the private sector into financial services for the poor is a relatively new development, but already the glossy promises of credit-led microfinance are facing scrutiny from the development community. Policymakers and economists have begun picking through the hype of microfinance to identify where and how top-down loans might fit into broader human development efforts. To many, the answer involves shifting focus to another financial savings. Serving as a strong and perhaps more effective tool than microcredit, micro savings is quickly becoming a lauded poverty-alleviation tool.

Contributors to Financial Promise for the Poor cover current innovations in microsavings happening around the world. They describe how savings group members in the developing world are avoiding many of the financial liabilities and debt of other microfinance programs while gaining skills and finding opportunities in collective enterprise. The turn from credit to savings speaks to the growing empowerment of individuals and communities as they break the bonds of indebtedness and find their own paths to financial security.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Kim Wilson is a writer, speaker, editor, tea lover, culinary historian, gardening enthusiast, and a life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. She is the award-winning author of At Home with Jane Austen, Tea with Jane Austen, and In the Garden with Jane Austen.
A popular speaker, Kim travels regularly throughout the country giving entertaining and inspiring lectures to audiences at conferences, corporate events, museums, botanical gardens, cultural centers, historic sites, literary festivals, bookstores, libraries, literary societies, and garden clubs nationwide. She was a featured lecturer for the Fall 2014 program of the Royal Oak Foundation, the American partner of the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland and lectures regularly for Road Scholar.

Reviews

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative book about microsavings all over the world. After reading this book, I'm convinced that capital accumulation is a key ingredient in fighting poverty, perhaps even more than charity and conventional microlending. Several of the case studies explore savings groups that have evolved over generations through societal traditions, while others study groups that have been promoted by NGOs. Interestingly, some of the case studies look at groups years after external support has ceased; some have thrived and expanded, while others fell victim to corruption or economic turmoil.

Of course, savings groups provide low-cost financing to villagers for emergencies, funerals, weddings and business prospects, where interest and fees accumulate to the group rather than being paid to traditional financial institutions. But they also serve to empower women, promote literacy and education, and offer outside organizations a channel through which they can offer assistance related to finance, public health, education and technology.

The book gets 4 stars because it is very well-organized and well-written. That said, I recommend this book only to those interested in learning more about microfinance and development.

[Tinea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of case studies of different group microsavings development projects around the world by CARE, Oxfam, CRS, and others, assessing methodology and making general recommendations for this kind of project. For practitioners. See also Savings Groups at the Frontier.

[Jennifer Kern · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Provides a useful overview of the current state of practice in an expanding field of approaches that is promoting the savings-led model. It usefully highlight the key questions and issues that this field is currently discussing.”
- Enterprise Development and Microfinance