This playlist contains eight videos introducing – and providing guidance on how to use – the “Digital Savings Group (DSG) Toolkit: Tools to Support Safe and Gender-responsive Digitization of Savings Groups,” published by Global Communities and Women for Women International in 2022. The playlist includes the following videos: Digital Preparedness Checklist Project Staffing Monitoring and […]

This brief, user-friendly guide helps program design teams understand and prioritize the Digital Principles most relevant to their work. Through a series of leading questions and worksheets, the digital activity design checklist provides actionable guidance for each Digital Principle and shares additional resources for ensuring that programs are well-designed and effective.

This tool is designed to improve digital savings group (DSG) implementers’ understanding of the impacts of digitization on groups and their members using gender-sensitive indicators and monitoring approaches. The tool includes sample indicators and a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework.  This tool is a part of the Digital Savings Group (DSG) Toolkit: Tools to Support […]

This blog series looks at the most common mistakes that microfinance institutions (MFIs) make when digitizing so that other MFIs can avoid them. The articles examine the common pitfalls of not getting the business case right, not listening to the customer, getting bogged down in technology, underestimating change management, and overlooking the regulatory environment.   […]

This resource is designed to help development actors increase the effectiveness of digital tools and data, while reducing the risks and the potential for harm. We often assume that data protection is the job of informational technology (IT) specialists. IT has a role to play, but so does operations staff. Operations staff determine what data […]

This white paper, from hiveonline, explores the case for digitizing savings groups. The paper examines the challenges of reaching remote, poor populations and provides a brief introduction to the history, scope, and basic elements of the Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) methodology. The paper notes that digitization of savings groups can result in the […]

This learning brief examines the design options and essential tradeoffs in solution development based on a survey of 12 digital savings group (DSG) solution providers. The findings are outlined in six sections: 1) Introduction; 2) The benefits of savings groups; 3) User experience; 4) The business of DSGs; 5) Consumer protection, and 6) What will […]

The purpose of this training guide is to prepare mobile money agents and digital literacy change agents to educate people in their communities about the benefits of mobile money services and how to use them. The guide has seven modules with clear lesson plans and guidance for trainers. Participants will learn about the different ways […]

This article shares key findings from qualitative research conducted by UNCDF Tanzania and CARE International on the digital financial services (DFS) that are most appropriate for informal savings groups. The authors outline two key findings. First, while mobile money is appropriate for individual accounts, there are difficulties around the validation of group accounts. Also, agent […]

Developed by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), this online course discusses key concepts in digital savings groups (DSGs) and provides a detailed orientation to AKF’s DSG platform. The course is designed for those who wish to support the implementation of DSGs, including project managers, trainers, and village agents. The course consists of 49 short videos. […]