Beyond Financial Services: A Synthesis of Studies on the Integration of Savings Groups and Other Developmental Activities

  • Partner: Aga Khan Foundation (AKF)
  • Publication Type: Case Study
  • Date: April 2011
  • Team: Ben Fowler and Paul Rippey
  • Recommended Citation:

This document summarizes the findings of a Learning Initiative carried out by Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) with support from the MasterCard Foundation, to study the integration of Savings Groups (SGs) and other developmental activities. It looked at nine projects that integrated SGs with other activities such as linkages to agricultural input and output markets, health education, and marketing of social products (i.e. solar lamps). The paper compared genesis, architecture of delivery, programmatic complementarity, results, risk, sustainability and replication of each case study. It proposes a risk continuum and guiding questions that facilitators should consider in designing and implementing integrated programs.

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