Building the Assets of the Poorest: Savings-Led Financial Services (Discussion Summary and Transcript)

This is a Summary for the Speakers Corner #11 on the subject of Building the Assets of the Poorest: Savings-Led Financial Services. This event took place on July 20-22, 2006.

For years groups like CARE, Oxfam, Catholic Relief Services and Pact and thousands of NGOs in India and elsewhere have pioneered a savings-led approach to providing financial services to the poor, especially the rural poor outside the reach of traditional microfinance institution. In recent years, the methodologies have gathered more attention as they prove effective at reaching the poorest and most marginalized, particularly in Africa and India. This seminar discussed new data that showed that savings led approaches can be effective at reaching special populations, such as people living with HIV/AIDS and orphans and vulnerable children.