Financial Promise for the Poor: How Groups Build Microsavings

Development scholars, policymakers, and practitioners have begun sorting through the hype of microfinance to identify where and how top-down loans might fit into broader development efforts. To many, the answer involves shifting focus to another financial service: savings. Serving as a strong and perhaps more effective tool than microcredit, microsavings is quickly becoming a lauded poverty-alleviation tool. The authors of Financial Promise for the Poor cover current innovations in microsavings around the world, describing how savings-group members are avoiding many of the financial liabilities of other microfinance programs while gaining skills and finding opportunities in collective enterprise.