Financial Inclusion

A randomized controlled trial in Uganda evaluated the Child-Optimized Financial Education (COFE) curriculum delivered through Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC). Results show that COFE significantly increased caregivers’ ability to pay for children’s school expenses compared to SILC-only groups. However, COFE did not significantly affect health-related spending or financial self-efficacy. Findings suggest that child-focused financial education can improve educational outcomes for vulnerable households.

This learning brief explores how Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) in Northeastern Nigeria help members manage financial shocks and strengthen resilience. Through participatory research and co-design, the study highlights the role of SILC in supporting income stability, social networks, and motivation, while identifying opportunities for further innovation and adaptation.

This report lays out a practical, proportionate approach to regulating savings groups—keeping the strengths of informality while opening pathways to safer savings, better governance, and stronger links with formal finance. Drawing from field research in East Africa and India, it offers a roadmap for policymakers to design light-touch regulation that lowers risk, improves data visibility, and supports women’s economic empowerment without overwhelming groups with compliance.

The Building Pathways conference brought together key stakeholders to address a critical challenge in financial inclusion and poverty reduction: bringing capital and other financial services like insurance to financially excluded populations through village-level savings and loans groups (Savings Groups, SGs). These groups, in which women mobilize their own resources, have provided a vital source of investment and cash flow to people excluded from the formal financial system, especially rural women in Africa.