CARE's 2024 Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) Annual Report
Resources
About This Report
Over the past five years of our 12-year Scaling Strategy, CARE has led the charge to get the most foundational poverty-fighting asset in the hands of millions of people – savings. The most fundamental resource of money is what makes it possible for 20 million Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) members to establish a stable foundation that then makes it possible to achieve everything else in their lives – better health, education for their kids to get out of and stay out of poverty, the confidence to dream about what else the future might hold for them. But dreaming and achieving are what separates the VSLAs of old and the VSLAs of 2024. CARE recognizes that a woman who is armed with resources is a good thing. But a woman with knowledge, skills, and an equal playing field shapes her own future.
What you will read about in this report is how CARE invests in the dreams of our VSLA members and makes them a reality that can sustain the humble gains that start by joining a group. CARE works alongside our members and does the hard work of changing the norms that limit her, changing the markets that exclude her, and shifting the dialogue on what is possible for her if her skills and resources match her ambition – we found out her potential is limitless.
Please read the many stories of inspiration within these pages. CARE’s achievements are notable, and there are a few mentioned below. But they are entirely built from our 20m member’s hard work and willingness to trust CARE to listen to and invest in them.
What CARE has achieved:
- Savings is just the start: Savings are not an end but a means of impacting all areas of a person’s life. As we continue to innovate with new approaches like collective investment and entrepreneurship, CARE supports our members to graduate into new levels of income growth. Our audacious ambition is for members to move beyond “escaping poverty” to achieving new levels of “economic prosperity.”
- Governments are noticing: What was once seen as circles of women exchanging money is now a minor economy that drives economic growth in rural communities across Africa, and now Asia and the Middle East. Governments like Uganda, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Bangladesh, and many others are taking stock of how they can partner with and scale up savings groups to enact change in communities.
- Making the business case: We heard for years that VSLA members don’t have what it takes to engage in markets. Our members proved them wrong – when women in communities have access to the same resources as other value chain actors, they demonstrate that they can quintuple the quality, quantity, and scale of agribusiness investments.
- Crisis doesn’t have to be endless: We consistently say VSLAs are NOT a silver bullet. And yet, they prove over and over again that they might just be. VSLA in Emergencies (VSLAiE) adapted a tried and tested model to serve those in crisis to traverse shocks and continue to adapt to their evolving realities. And what has emerged is a proven approach to helping people recover from crisis and find a pathway towards stability.
The report is available in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic, with a Summary available in English.