The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading, and the situation is changing quickly in many countries around the world. This brief covers what VSLA groups are doing differently to meet the COVID-19 crisis.
The SOAR III project, which uses the UDAAN model, integrated Youth Savings and Loan Associations (YSLAs) into education programs to help girls overcome financial barriers to schooling and foster a savings habit. As a result, out-of-school girls re-enrolled in education, started businesses, and gained confidence in their potential as leaders. Gender-transformative impacts were driven by community sessions promoting gender dialogue, girl-led collective action, and the involvement of fathers, religious leaders, and teachers to support girls’ education and raise awareness of gender-based violence. Read More
The Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment in Vietnam (AWEEV) project works with VSLA members and their communities in poor rural and ethnic minority areas to increase women’s participation in paid economic activities. VSLAs are central to the projects efforts to address barriers to gender equality and inequities in markets. Read More
This learning brief explores Multi-Stakeholder Platforms (MSPs) as a potential solution to sustainably address existing organizational and institutional challenges in agro-sylvopastoral value chains in the delta area (Mopti-Tombouctou). The brief highlights how these platforms are increasingly at the forefront of all marketing events to foster sustainable markets linkages between different value chain actors, negotiate contracts, and access financial services to create inclusive and profitable market opportunities for small-scale farmers and businesses. Read More