Perhaps the cheapest, most sustainable development program idea in Africa

It all started when I read the book When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert and came across a part where they talk about starting savings groups in churches.  This idea was quite new to me and I wanted to learn more.  I had heard about micro-finance and how lending agencies give small loans to promote business in developing countries.  I heard they were very successful and that the pay-back rate was very high…especially among women.   However, this book did not recommend micro-finance (MFI), but savings groups instead.

I began to talk to some people about savings groups, and it turns out that they are one of the best bang-for-your-buck development programs in Africa right now.  They have a very high degree of success rate (>90%), they do not require any outside funding, they reach the poorest of poor, and they are 100% sustainable…meaning that when the person/NGO that formed the group leaves, the savings group continues for years afterwards.

These people have assembled to participate in a weekly savings group meeting

There is one particular model called VSLA (Village Savings and Loans Association) which I was attracted to the most.  In this model, groups of between 10-25 people meet weekly to purchase shares by depositing money into a metal lock-box.  The price of a share varies for each group, depending on the economic situation, but each member is obliged to purchase between 1-5 shares each week.  Over a short period of time the money in the lock-box begins to grow and (only) the members of the group are allowed to take loans from the box…up to 3 times the amount of shares that they have purchased at a pre-determined interest rate.

There was one weakness with the VSLA model in my opinion.  It did not teach people why they are saving…and why would it?  It is a secular model.  This is why I introduced 8 additional teachings on topics like conflict management, prayer, God’s word, and other Biblical worldview topics to lend purpose and direction to the group members.  The goal is to grow up into all that God has for us, not to simply have more money.

So last January I began the formation of savings groups with FH Burundi.  I traveled to Kenya to take a one week course on the different kinds of savings groups taught by Laura Hunter from FH Washington DC.  It was a great course and very eye-opening.  She had started a bunch of savings groups in Mozambique a few years back and it was great to see her pictures.  I came home from the training with big plans to start 100 groups in 2012.  Perhaps a bit ambitious.

Even the goat is getting in on the action. He probably won’t like the teaching on Matthew 25 though…

It took me about 2 months to finish a 90 page manual on how to form and manage savings groups in Burundi, and the final copy is still not finished.  We have to get the whole thing translated into Kirundi so that the field agents can use it easily.  I also had to travel up to the various FH regional offices in different provinces and do full day trainings on the mechanics of savings groups so that the local staff would have a good idea of how to implement this program.  The ideas were very new to many people but they were all excited to try it out.

There was one problem that I could not get over that kept staring me in the face.  It was simply the fact that I have received trainings on savings groups, read countless pages on their formation, written a 90 page manual, and yet have never started one myself.  I haven’t even seen one in action!  Strangely, this did not bother me at all.  I think I have always been the type of person to throw myself in over my head…after all, it’s the best way to learn how to swim.

It turns out that God provided a flotation device for me.  While I was visiting other NGO’s in Bujumbura to research their involvement in savings groups, there was one particular NGO called CARE International that had just ran out of funding in their savings groups budget.  They had already formed over 7000 savings groups in the country and had incredible amounts of experience with them but unfortunately this was coming to an end.  They told me that they had to lay off 10 field agents who are super-qualified and that I could hire them if I wanted.  Like a child in a candy shop I began to salivate and vibrate slightly.  They gave me all the résumés of the potential candidates and I selected two of them who have been forming groups for minimum 4 years each.  One named Jocelyn who has managed over 2000 savings groups, and the other Patrick who also has extensive experience.  I took a bit of time to show them the difference between the CARE savings groups model and FH Burundi savings groups and they picked up on the differences very quickly.  Now I have two ‘experts’ on savings groups who can teach not only FH staff members, but me as well.  Godsends

As of now, we have 37 groups in the process of being formed.  I could never have imagined that things would be so successful.  There are around 1000 people who are involved in the savings group program with more being added shortly.

She said that savings groups are a great thing for the local population because there is so much poverty on their hill. Nobody there has the opportunity to save or borrow money, so there is a lot of wasted money. She also says to buy clothes for her family she sells things that do not belong to her, but now they will have a ‘social fund’ which will make this practice unnecessary. She is confident that members of this group will gradually improve their living conditions over the next year.

Now that things are underway with the savings groups, I will be turning towards Sunday School curriculum.  There are hundreds of kids (maybe even over a thousand) who gather every week for Sunday School but the teachers have no curriculum so they end up simply memorizing scripture.  So before I return to Canada for the baby, I want to train Sunday School teachers on effective teaching and hand over a usable Kirundi curriculum that will sustain them until I return.

Prayer requests:  Danica has started teaching in the university again, even though she is not feeling 100% yet.  Pray that she would be able to prepare well and teach well so that the students will really benefit from her teaching.