Hive COVER
Research
Digital Inclusion Digital Transformation Digitization Benefits Digitization Planning Financial Inclusion FinTech Program Quality Project Design Research Technology Solutions

Digitizing Savings Groups: Rethinking Financial Inclusion for the Poor

Published by
Latif Amars, Sofie Blakstad & Anaïs Ndjavé
2021
hiveonline
View Resource

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 rapid acceleration of financial inclusion in developing countries. It can help solve challenges related to liquidity and access to formal financial services, develop a thorough financial history for groups and members, expand access to other services and support, connect savings groups to each other, address challenges related to low levels of literacy, improve inclusivity and trust, and strengthen remote monitoring.

Leave a Reply

View all comments

Related Resources

Read
Tool
Financial Inclusion
Building Pathways Illus v2_page-0001
Tool
Financial Inclusion

Building Pathways Conference

2025

Building Pathways Conference

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.
Read
Tool
Data Privacy & Security Digital Literacy Digital Transformation Digitization Planning
DSG Toolkit
Tool
Data Privacy & Security Digital Literacy Digital Transformation Digitization Planning

DSG Toolkit: Tools to Support Safe and Gender-responsive Digitization of Savings Groups

By Lauren Hendricks, Dennis Mello, Paula Rudnicka
Global Communities, Women for Women International
2022

DSG Toolkit: Tools to Support Safe and Gender-responsive Digitization of Savings Groups

The DSG Toolkit, also available in Kinyarwanda, consists of seven practical tools to support safe, effective, and gender-responsive digitization of savings groups. These tools include practical guidance for implementers and trainers across multiple aspects of digitization, such as: Each tool can be used by implementers just beginning to think about their first DSG project and […]