Savings Groups through Village Savings and Loan Associations

A group of women sitting on the ground facing the ground and a bowl holding items.

Economic Growth

For more than 30 years, community alternatives to banks known as Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) have enabled women to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

CARE’s VSLAs help women take control of their money and build better futures for themselves and their communities.

These savings groups are typically made up of 15-25 people from the same village or community. These neighbors meet regularly to pool their savings and offer each other small, low-interest loans to help grow their businesses, send their kids to school, and handle emergencies when they arise.

CARE has helped nearly 30 million people across 67 countries save and lend more than $11.5 billion—mostly in some of the world’s poorest and hardest to reach places, where traditional banks can’t or won’t go.

Once established, these community-led groups run on their own without outside funding. This makes them one of the strongest returns on investment in global aid: stronger families, steady local trade, and more resilient communities that face crises and recover.

30 years of impact and counting

For three decades, evidence from across CARE’s programs shows that VSLAs help women strengthen their finances and improve family well-being.

VSLA members see their incomes grow an average of 275% within five years.
Members were 50-60% less likely to face food shortages than non-members.
Members are up to 85% more likely to have savings available during emergencies.

Since 1991, CARE has helped more than 30 million people to join savings groups.

Since 1991, CARE has helped over 30 million people to join savings groups

VSLA members experience an average increase in income of 2.75x over five years

A platform for growth

These gains reflect the power of a model that grows with women. What began as a simple way to save money has become a powerful pathway to entrepreneurship, civic participation, and access to formal financial systems. For millions of women, VSLAs are not just a safety net—they’re a launchpad for lasting prosperity.

CARE is working toward a goal of 50 million women VSLA members—65 million people overall—by 2030. Many members are already building on their success, turning personal progress into collective momentum.

With more than 20 million members worldwide, savings groups represent enormous potential as local suppliers, small business owners, and changemakers. CARE walks alongside these women at every step of their journey to lasting economic growth.

Celebrating 30 years of VSLA

Our vision for the future

Building on VSLAs

Using savings groups as the foundation for programs in agriculture, health, education, and more—strengthening results across sectors supporting comprehensive community development in rural areas.

Partnering with Governments

Working with governments to drive policies that strengthen savings groups and expand women’s economic opportunities.

Embedding VSLAs in Markets

Collaborating with businesses to connect savings groups to local and regional markets, creating new economic opportunities.

Adapting for Crisis Settings

Redefining humanitarian assistance through savings models that function during emergencies and help communities recover faster.

Co-Creating Digital Solutions

Collaborating with women, companies, and local tech providers to expand access to digital tools, capital, services, and opportunities.
Learn about our work to connect VSLAs to digital tools

Centering Women’s Voices

Designing programs around what women say they need, ensuring solutions are responsive and locally led.
Learn about our work supporting women's leadership in crisis

From savings to scale: What comes after VSLAs?

CARE’s Women’s Entrepreneurship initiative builds on the success of savings groups like VSLAs by helping women turn small businesses into thriving enterprises.

Women-led micro and small businesses are vital to local economies, yet many women still face barriers to growth—such as limited access to loans, digital tools, and fair market opportunities. CARE’s Women’s Entrepreneurship initiative works with banks, governments, and business networks to change that, creating lasting systems that support women’s success.

By connecting savings groups to training, financing, and digital tools, CARE helps women entrepreneurs move from informal savings to sustainable business growth, strengthening families and communities along the way.

By 2030, the Women’s Entrepreneurship initiative aims to:

Reach 30 million people
Help mobilize over $500 million USD in private capital
Improve financial security for 3 million entrepreneurs and employees

Learn more about CARE’s Women’s Entrepreneurship program.

Our approach in action

Her Money, Her Life

The Her Money, Her Life project is maximizing the potential benefits women receive from their crops through a focus on entrepreneurship and collective investment.

Pennies to Power

The Pennies to Power program will enable women in savings groups to mobilize an estimated $15 billion each year, create new enterprises and dramatically change women’s ability to work together.

VSLA in Emergencies

This program will ensure that CARE's voucher assistance programming is informed by those who are experiencing crisis in order to meet their immediate needs and transform their lives as the situation stabilizes.

Women for Change

The Women for Change project empowers female cocoa farmers and women living in cocoa-farming households to increase their participation in community development and in making decisions on business and livelihood management.

LINK Up

LINK Up connected 10,000 Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) with formal financial institutions in order to build financial inclusion in Kenya and Tanzania.

Journeys of Transformation

Journeys of Transformation works with men and boys to support equality and women’s social, political, and economic empowerment.

Get in touch!

Interested in learning more? Contact Vidhya Sriram at vidhya.sriram@care.org.

Email us

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