Savings and Credit Association Specialist

Did I mention that my new job title is Savings-Led Specialist? I start work Monday and my job title has changed; it's ok, it still means the same thing. Savings and Credit Association and Savings-Led refers to a type of microfinance service designed for the very poor to build some financial sustainability.

Background:
When HOPE launches a new microfinance institution to empower the world's poor, they do so with a technically proficient and economically sustainable model that requires million dollar investment. Great news for the economically active poor who have no access to the financial services necessary to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty! This class of financial clients may range from small business owners to medium sized enterprises, and loan products could be in the $50 to $5,000 range, or for small/medium enterprise (SME) it could be $5,000 to $50,000.

Let's take a step back, then. Yes, the world's poor have resources and income. Why is there a cycle of poverty that keeps these poor vulnerable to famine and illness, oppressive labor, violence? One huge factor is capital. What can a lump sum of money do that small increments cannot? I think my brother - who worked in banking for a while - may have got it best when I said we are going to bring banking services to poor people who have no access to anything like that. He knows, as most of us do when we think about it, the value a bank brings to revitalizing community, building local businesses, supporting families' health and education.

Back to my job:
Ok, so HOPE provides financial services to the world's poor, and does so in an economically sustainable way so that growth can spread. As a missionary organization, HOPE cares for poor people stuck in hard places; my job is to help reach a poorer class of people.

Savings and Credit Associations (SCAs) provide efficient delivery of financial support. SCAs train communities to perform financial services using their own resources through savings groups, thus the "savings-led" title. The typical HOPE financial institution is credit-led using outside investment instead of savings-led using the communities resources. The SCA model empowers smaller, poorer, more rural communities to take steps toward independence and confidence managing financial resources.

Rwanda and India are the main areas where HOPE employs the SCA model, and so Rwanda is where HOPE will soon employ me.