You Cannot Save Alone - Financial and Social Mobilization in Savings and Credit Groups

Savings and credit groups are becoming increasingly popular, both as a cost-efficient alternative to mainstream microfinance and as a mean to mobilize people around individual and common challenges. Whether donors should promote and support Self Help Microfinance Groups that confine themselves to financial intermediation only - the specialist, or minimalist approach - or if they should support those pursuing a more integrated approach and incorporate a broader set of activities, is increasingly being debated. The study proposes a framework to better analyze and understand the different group-models, their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, the study outlines how social and financial…