Savings And The Poor: The Methods, Use And Impact Of Savings By The Poor Of East Africa

• by Christopher Lwoga, David Hulme and Florence Maximabali
• Jan 5, 1999
• 1 min
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This report is about how the East African poor manage their money, and how microfinance institutions (MFIs) might help them do it better.

This report is about how the East African poor manage their money, and how microfinance institutions (MFIs) might help them do it better. The report provides descriptions of the money management devices and services used by the poor, and with a discussion of the extent to which the poor and very poor have access to them. It also offers a conceptual framework for analysing the role of savings in the money management systems of the poor. The report concludes that MFIs would do well to explore how to broaden their work – to a much wider range of clients, including the poor and even the very poor, using a much broader mix of ‘swap’ services with a variety of term lengths and volumes.