Evidence & Impact
13 Resources
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Research

Research
Digital Financial Services
Digital Transformation
Digitization Benefits
Digitization Risks & Barriers
Digitization of SACCOs in Uganda: Drivers and Impact Study
By David Nanambi Wayiku & Prisca Adong
Asigma & Mercy Corps
2023
Digitization of SACCOs in Uganda: Drivers and Impact Study
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Research
Digital Sub-Wallets for Increased Financial Empowerment of Women
CARE
2023
Digital Sub-Wallets for Increased Financial Empowerment of Women
This resource contains information and research about the Digital Sub-Wallets project implemented by CARE in Uganda. Digital Sub-Wallets was a savings group approach to address the unique needs of women in terms of formal financial services, individual agency, relations, and informal structures such as gender norms. The intervention was twofold. First, participating Village Savings […]
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Brief
Scaling Up Access to Finance in Kigoma, Tanzania
UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
2022
Scaling Up Access to Finance in Kigoma, Tanzania
Under its global strategy of Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Era, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) promotes digital financial services (DFS) as foundational to inclusive social and economic development. In Tanzania, UNCDF’s work under the Kigoma Joint Programme (KJP) highlights the evolution from financial inclusion to inclusive digital economies. KJP interventions […]
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Blog Post
Savings-led Digital Finance: The Dawn of a New Era?
By Philip Acton & Finn Tiedemann
August 31, 2022
Savings-led Digital Finance: The Dawn of a New Era?
This blog explores “savings-led” digital finance apps, such as DreamSave, that use clients' savings capacity as a proxy for the ability to repay a loan, opening up a potential new era for digital finance.
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Blog Post
Digital Incrementalism and Savings Groups: Lessons from the History of Digital Microfinance
By
David Panetta,
July 29, 2022
Digital Incrementalism and Savings Groups: Lessons from the History of Digital Microfinance
In the social sector, much ink is spilled on disruptive change. The social, economic, and environmental challenges of our world are indeed substantial and often daunting, so the search for – and allure of – disruptive solutions is understandable. But the reality is that most sustainable progress is incremental. Incremental Innovation As opposed to disruptive […]
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Blog Post
Truth-testing (and Quantifying) the Costs and Benefits of Digital Savings Groups
By
David Panetta,
May 20, 2022
Truth-testing (and Quantifying) the Costs and Benefits of Digital Savings Groups
This blog post explores the costs and benefits of digital savings groups, and underlines the importance of truth-testing and quantifying them with greater rigor and precision.
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Brief
Evidence Review of Women’s Groups and COVID-19: Impacts, Challenges, and Policy Implications for Savings Groups in Africa
By Eve Namisango et al.
Evidence Consortium on Women’s Groups (ECWG)
2021
Evidence Review of Women’s Groups and COVID-19: Impacts, Challenges, and Policy Implications for Savings Groups in Africa
This learning brief examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s savings groups in diverse African contexts and explores how the shift to digitization impacted these groups and their members. Conclusions indicate that women’s savings groups contributed to resilience to economic challenges associated with the pandemic. For example, households with a female member in […]
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Research
Digital Savings Groups: Rethinking Key Roles
Project Concern International, a Global Communities Partner
2020
Digital Savings Groups: Rethinking Key Roles
This document is one of three research briefs that highlight key insights from a study of digital savings groups (DSGs) conducted in rural Tanzania from August 2019 through February 2020. The research was conducted by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) working with savings groups supported by PCI and their Women Empowered (WE) […]
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Research
The Impact of Gender in Digital Solutions for Savings Groups
International Center for Research on Women
2020
The Impact of Gender in Digital Solutions for Savings Groups
This document is one of three research briefs that highlight key insights from a study of digital savings groups (DSGs) conducted in rural Tanzania from August 2019 through February 2020. The research was conducted by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) working with savings groups supported by PCI, a Global Communities Partner, and […]
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Brief
Comparing “Born Digital” and “Paper-to-Digital” Groups
DreamStart Labs
2020
Comparing “Born Digital” and “Paper-to-Digital” Groups
This research brief highlights key insights from a study of digital savings groups (DSGs) conducted in rural Tanzania from August 2019 through February 2020. The research was led by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) working with savings groups supported by Project Concern International (PCI), a Global Communities Partner, and their Women Empowered […]