October 1st, 2012

FSD Kenya has been supporting savings groups since 2008 through the Community Savings & Loans (COSALO) project in partnership with CARE. The Savings Groups initiatives undertaken between 2008 -2011 were quite successful. The initiatives had reached over 5,660 groups comprising of over 150,000 members as of December 2011. The two main lessons drawn from this project were:

1. It is possible to bring down the cost of starting groups. While the cost of the initial pilot was $75 per member and the rates reported globally are $25- 40 per member, the average cost in 2010/2011 was $9 per member.
2. Replication of the groups is the norm. A study of 54 groups selected from 2,500 groups showed that three quarters of the groups had replicated (created new groups). On average each group had created an additional two groups.

Citation

FSD Kenya. (2012). Savings Groups Project briefing note. Nairobi, Kenya: Author.

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