VSLAs: Digital innovation to drive new pathways out of poverty

A close-up of a person typing while using a mobile app on their cell phone.

CARE’s Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) are no longer just savings groups. They are entry points into connected systems that combine digital tools, financial services, and social change.

Our vision is simple but ambitious: to build meaningful partnerships that make financial systems work for everyone. We do this by ensuring they’re easy to reach, relevant to groups without access to financial services—especially women—and built to last beyond any single project cycle.

Our challenge: Testing digital and financial solutions that reach those left behind by formal finance

Over the past few years, CARE’s Global VSLA team has been on a multi-country learning journey to test how VSLAs can serve as the backbone of open digital and financial ecosystems. This has come to life through the Digital CARE PACKAGE® box—an integrated framework connecting digital inclusion, financial access, and social norm change, all anchored on our innovative partnership strategy.

We’ve tested and expanded promising models across Uganda, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Malawi, and Sierra Leone. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we’ve learned along the way what works, what must adapt, and how to move from basic access to meaningful financial connection.

Now, with this foundation in place, we’re ready to launch the next phase—turning lessons learned into lasting systems that go beyond individual projects and into everyday life, so women and their families can shape their own financial futures.

Our approach: Charting the path for VSLAs to access credit and capital to unlock greater opportunity

The journey is structured into seven phases, with each phase mapped to a flagship country pilot:

Understanding barriers

Research how community attitudes and norms affect women’s ability to use and benefit from technology in Rwanda and Uganda.

Reaching members where they are

Deliver short, practical lessons through WhatsApp-based micro-learning and sessions led by community-based trainers.

Shifting harmful mindsets

Run media campaigns that promote safe, respectful, and supportive attitudes towards women’s mobile tech use.

Testing digital tools

Test platforms like MiKashBooks (Sierra Leone) and Sanchay Sathi (Bangladesh) that help groups digitally manage and track funds.

Linking to land rights

Use projects like Commonlands to connect land ownership records with their financial identities in Uganda.

Connecting to national systems

Link VSLAs to national mobile money platforms, such as Mudzi Wathu in Malawi.

Expanding access to formal credit

Partner with tech companies, microfinance institutions, and telecom providers so women in Uganda can access credit and grow their businesses.

This approach shows how VSLAs can grow from informal savings circles into connected, credit-ready, and partnership-driven financial systems.

Projects and learning resources

Resources

CARE hosts the Digital Savings Group (DSG) Hub, a collaborative space for Savings Group practitioners looking to connect and explore new digital solutions.

For more tools and insights from CARE and other international and local NGOs, visit the Resource Library on the DSG Hub.

Current projects

Mudzi Wathu Village Bank (Malawi): Linking VSLAs to mobile finance through a telco partnership.
Commonlands (Uganda): Connecting land rights documentation with financial identity.
MiKashBoks & Sanchay Sathi: Testing context-specific digital recordkeeping platforms.
Credit Sprint (Uganda): Bringing banks, fintechs, and VSLA data together to enable formal credit.

Latest videos

Training Animation

Developed to guide Community-Based Trainers in facilitating digital capacity training for VSLA groups.

DCP Awareness videos CSW67

This promotional video was developed to showcase the impact of DCP pilot projects in Uganda.

Social Behavior Change Campaign

As featured in Financial Inclusion Week 2024, we delved into practical insights and learnings from Uganda.

Partner with CARE to build financial systems that work for everyone.

We’re ready for the next leap: scaling financial linkage models that reach people without access to financial systems, including women and girls, through strategic partnerships.

For donors and investors: Work with us to design and scale financial linkage models that open access to credit and capital for women and communities—proving that inclusion strengthens business outcomes.
For financial institutions and fintechs: Partner with us to reach new markets by connecting your services to trusted VSLA networks and using real-world data to shape profitable products that last.
For governments and regulators: Help embed VSLAs into national systems and co-design policies that extend financial services to your most hard-to-reach populations through trusted VSLA groups.

This is more than a program—it’s a blueprint for reimagining rural financial systems. CARE’s VSLA platform is ready. The next step is to invest in these partnerships and meaningful financial linkages as a core part of our global scaling strategy to reach more people with the digital tools to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

Get in touch!

Interested in learning more? Contact us at Eric.Kaduru@care.org.