The MasterCard Foundation Savings Learning Lab

The MasterCard Foundation works with visionary organisations to provide The MasterCard Foundation Savings Learning Lab is a six-year initiative greater access to education, skills training and financial services for people living implemented by Itad, in partnership with the SEEP Network. The Lab's aim is to in poverty, primarily in Africa. As one of the largest private foundations, its work support learning among the Foundation’s savings sector portfolio programmes is guided by its mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to through increased alignment and effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation, and create an inclusive and equitable world. through the generation, synthesis, curation and dissemination of knowledge.

www.mastercardfdn.org

Itad’s purpose is to provide insight and Itad, as the Learning Partner, will work ideas to drive more effective use of resources across and with the Foundation's partners, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH in international development through monitoring Foundation staff, and with the wider Savings and evaluating what works, where and why. Sector, to support actionable learning, and will: Itad provides independent, professional advice 1 Develop and maintain a dynamic to organisations looking to scrutinise their aid Learning Framework for The MasterCard programmes. Itad’s work provides accountability Foundation Savings Portfolio. to the ultimate funders of the programmes, whether they are taxpayers or philanthropists, 2 Synthesise and aggregate learning as well as learning for the broader international across the portfolio and sector. community to improve the way that 3 Conduct and/or manage development is done. complementary research. WITH SUPPORT FROM

4 Facilitate learning and knowledge sharing with key audiences. WHERE THE LEARNING Morocco PARTNERS WORK

CARE POWER AFRICA CARE Aims to increase the financial inclusion of 480,000 direct Mali beneficiaries and their households through forming savings groups, financial education, and linking mature groups to (4) formal financial institutions in 4 countries in Africa. Senegal

Burkina Faso Benin OPM SAVINGS AT THE FRONTIER (SatF) Nigeria Ethiopia OXFORD Aims to expand the range of savings products and services available to POLICY Code people living in Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia by testing and implementing d’Ivoire Ghana MANAGEMENT Liberia business models that sustainably deliver those products and services to Cameroon (3) savings groups and users of other informal savings mechanisms.

Uganda Kenya CRS EXPANDING FINANCIAL INCLUSION (EFI) IN AFRICA Rwanda CATHOLIC Aims to expand the depth of poverty outreach of Savings and Burundi RELIEF Internal Lending Communities (SILC) so that vulnerable households SERVICES experience greater financial inclusion to increase their resilience. Tanzania (4)

WSBI MAKING SMALL SCALE SAVINGS WORK WORLD Aims to establish the viability of low-balance savings accounts and use of customer- Malawi SAVINGS AND The MasterCard centric approaches to address barriers faced by low-income individuals and Zambia RETAIL BANKING Foundation Savings households in seven countries in Africa in access, usage and affordability of savings INSTITUTE Learning Partnership services. It will do so by working with partner banks to increase savings amongst is a six-year initiative (8) these people, and to reach scale and sustainability with their low balance accounts. implemented by Itad, in partnership with UNCDF MICROLEAD the SEEP Network. UNITED Challenges financial service providers (FSPs) to develop, pilot and scale deposit NATIONS services for low-income, rural populations, particularly women. It works with CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT 18 FSPs in ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa (plus three FSPs in Myanmar). FUND By deploying alternative delivery channels, such as agency banking and digital financial services, and predominantly working through informal community groups, MicroLead is helping to build the business case for FSPs to reach (10) what were previously considered unbankable populations.

(NO. OF COUNTRIES) CARE OPM

1 2 OXFORD 1 CARE POLICY CANADA 3 MANAGEMENT 4 3

PROMOTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR 1 COTE D'IVOIRE SAVINGS AT THE FRONTIER 1 GHANA 2 WOMEN'S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT 2 ETHIOPIA Savings at the Frontier will identify high potential business 2 ZAMBIA 3 RWANDA 3 TANZANIA IN AFRICA (POWER AFRICA) models – including the innovative use of technology – and 4 BURUNDI This four-year project aims to increase the financial inclusion deliver support, in the form of funds, technical assistance 2015–2021 of 480,000 direct beneficiaries and their households by 2013–2017 and monitoring to approximately eight selected financial LEARNING TO DATE working across the financial inclusion ladder through forming service providers (FSPs) in the three countries. The FSPs will LEARNING TO DATE Infographic: Savings at the savings groups, financial education, and linking mature groups implement and test the business models to deliver financial Frontier Countries in Context to formal financial institutions. With a strong focus on POWER Africa services to individuals who currently only have access to empowering women and girls, these savings groups provide rolling profile videos informal ones, thereby establishing effective links between Blog: Can Insights from Informal Groups help us move from a platform for additional trainings and community initiatives Participatory Video Research – users of informal savings mechanisms (ISMs) and the formal access to usage? on gender equality and can act as a space for women to share Is VSLA methodology adaptable financial system. It will scale access to financial services for for adolescent girls in Burundi? Blog: From analysis to action: skills and advice. POWER Africa also engages mobile network at least 250,000 rural and semi-urban households. A robust operationalising learning operators to pilot ways of increasing access to financial www.carepowerafrica.com monitoring, research, evaluation and learning framework and adaptation in Savings at the Frontier services, particularly in hard-to-reach areas. In Ethiopia, will capture insights on what works and what doesn’t in Linking users of informal financial the majority of beneficiaries are women and women-headed different contexts. This learning will be constantly fed services with formal financial households, while in Burundi the project specifically targets KEY LEARNING ? back into programme design to course-correct as needed services: A Review of the Evidence adolescent girls (75% of outreach). In Rwanda, the project is QUESTIONS to achieve the greatest possible impact. Learning in the working with mature facilitated savings groups, the majority • What is the household impact programme will also contribute to the wider knowledge base of whom are women, to link them to financial institutions. of formal financial inclusion and on financial inclusion, helping to construct a set of effective, In Cote d’Ivoire, the project works with men and women in linkage for VSLA members? scalable approaches that open the door to meaningful www.opml.co.uk/projects/ rural and peri-urban areas. financial services for excluded populations around the world. savings-frontier • What is the impact of formal financial linkage and VSLA platforms on business development and growth? KEY LEARNING QUESTIONS ? • What is the impact on household • What are the different segments of users/clients of the informal savings mechanisms economic conditions when VSLA is and how do they differ from each other? combined with market engagement • How do the financially excluded and underserved users (e.g. women, young people, strategies? smallholder families and people living in remote areas) of ISMs respond to linkage experiences • Are VSLAs an appropriate platform and opportunities and how can the mutual value proposition of linkage for ISMs be shared for adolescent girls in accessing with FSPs? financial services? • What can we learn from the SatF supported models on how best to serve the financially • Do VSLA members have more resilience excluded and underserved? to withstand drought and/or political • What are the challenges and opportunities for financial institutions to contribute towards instability than non-VSLA members? and manage the formation and acquisition of informal savings mechanisms and how can • What is the business case for FSPs the mutual value proposition of linkage for FSPs can be shared with ISMs? to develop and deliver products for VSLAs and their family members? 1 WSBI CRS 3 1 2 2 WORLD 5 CATHOLIC SAVINGS AND 4 RELIEF RETAIL BANKING 3 SERVICES INSTITUTE 6 7 8

EXPANDING FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN AFRICA 1 SENEGAL 4 MAKING SMALL SCALE SAVINGS WORK 1 MOROCCO Expanding Financial Inclusion (EFI) in Africa is a four-year 2 BURKINA FASO Making Small Scale Savings Work builds on a 2008-2016 2 SENEGAL 3 UGANDA 3 MALI project funded by The MasterCard Foundation whose core ten-country programme aimed at doubling the number of 4 ZAMBIA 4 COTE D'IVOIRE goal is to expand the depth of poverty outreach of Catholic savings accounts for low-income people at partner banks. 5 NIGERIA 2013–2017 Relief Services’ Savings and Internal Lending Communities The new programme will test and apply new business models 6 UGANDA (SILC) to ensure that vulnerable households experience arising from economic analysis around price sensitivity and 7 KENYA 8 TANZANIA LEARNING TO DATE greater financial inclusion to improve their resilience. demand, targeted on low-income unbanked segments, aiming 2016–2022 In order to attain a higher-level impact, EFI Africa aims A Sustainable Approach to reduce the incidence of dormancy and inactivity in banks’ To Community-Based to create approximately 19,000 new SILC groups with Savings in Rwanda customer bases. It will help existing partner banks in three LEARNING TO DATE over 500,000 members across Burkina Faso, Senegal, African countries (Kenya, Morocco, Uganda) reach scale and WSBI’s journey in making Zambia and Uganda. The project has further tested and sustainability with their low balance accounts and support small-scale savings work refined the sustainable Private Sector Provider (PSP) up to four new West African partner banks to dramatically fee-for-service model to make it both more pro-poor and increase savings amongst these segments in their countries www.savings-banks.com/press/ sustainable. In Uganda and Zambia, EFI Africa is collaborating www.crs.org/our-work-overseas/ (Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal). latest-news/Pages with formal financial institutions to explore the development program-areas/microfinance/ of new financial tools for members via mobile platforms. silc-road/impact

KEY LEARNING ? QUESTIONS • What have been the livelihood and welfare effects of participation in SILC?

(Drawing on Financial Diaries Photo: Edward Hedley data from Northern Zambia) • What has been the extent KEY LEARNING QUESTIONS of poverty outreach by the ? • What are the causes of such a high degree of account inactivity in the target countries programme and which of the (and worldwide)? What are the most effective drivers of usage and which innovative variants adopted by the project approaches (e.g., apps, gamification and other novel ideas) are most successful in have been most effective? stimulating account activity among financially disadvantaged people? • Which refinements to the • To what extent do different pricing models stimulate demand for financial services from banks? PSP model have had the most impact on the sustainability • Does greater customer centricity (via deeper knowledge of the customer, offering usable, affordable of the approach? and accessible services, integration of the WSBI/MCF programme into bank strategies, and institutional and cultural change) lead to customer growth accompanied by more active customer bases? • Which business models result in sustainable business cases for financially disadvantaged segments?

Photo: Jacques Kabore UNCDF SEEP UNITED NATIONS 2 CAPITAL 3 DEVELOPMENT 1 4 5 6 FUND 7 8 9

MICROLEAD 1 LIBERIA 10 The SEEP Network is a global learning network that SEEP is a global learning network 2 BURKINA FASO dedicated to creating new and better MicroLead aims to increase economic growth through promotes inclusive financial and market systems, through opportunities for vulnerable populations, inclusive finance, by providing customer lifetime value 3 GHANA knowledge mobilisation, actionable learning opportunities, especially women and the rural poor, 4 BENIN to participate in markets and improve to over one million low-income rural people, particularly and strengthened partnerships. SEEP provides the Learning 5 CAMEROON their quality of life. The SEEP Network women, through properly designed products offered via 6 UGANDA Partnership with a structured platform to capture, share has extensive experience in facilitating learning and collaboration in Savings- convenient channels at affordable prices. MicroLead aims 7 RWANDA 9 TANZANIA and advance knowledge through its practitioner networks Led Financial Services. SEEP works with to contribute towards the achievement of the Sustainable 8 BURUNDI 10 MALAWI and events. a broad spectrum of stakeholders such as international capacity development Development Goals (SDGs) through reaching the ‘furthest 2011–2017 As a learning and dissemination partner within The organisations, regional and national behind’. In particular, it targets the goal of ending poverty, microfinance networks, global foundations, MasterCard Foundation Savings Learning Lab, private sector actors, international and the goal of consumption smoothing for ending hunger, LEARNING TO DATE SEEP will lead activities in three main areas: local NGOs, governmental entities, and achieving food security and promoting sustainable research & academic organisations. 2017 MicroLead Partner agriculture, and the goal of achieving gender equality Workshop 1. Global Savings Groups Conference – Since 2009, and economic empowerment of all women and girls. SEEP has led the Global Savings Group Conference series. Savings-Led Financial The global learning event engages a large and diverse Services Working Group It uses a human-centered design approach to product 2016 MicroLead Partner Workshop community of stakeholders, develops and promotes development, effects change management throughout its improved standards of practice, mobilises knowledge, partners, supports deployment of digital financial services, How to succeed in your strengthens partnerships and alliances, and creates www.seepnetwork.org and institutionalises financial education within the partner digital journey toolkits opportunities for learning. With support from the institutions. The initial target was to reach 450,000 new Learning Lab, SEEP will host the biannual depositors; as of December 2016, MicroLead has reached A Framework for Small Balance Deposit Mobilization conference in 2018, 2020 and 2022. over 750,000 active depositors, over 70% of whom are women and the vast majority live in rural areas. MicroLead Expansion 2. Peer Learning Groups – A Peer Learning Group is an Programme Mid-term Evaluation action-oriented learning methodology, developed by SEEP, to address opportunities and challenges in dynamic contexts. www.uncdf.org/microlead/homepage KEY LEARNING QUESTIONS ? 3. Knowledge Sharing and Dissemination – SEEP will • How to sustainably serve low-income rural establish the SG Learning Hub, design and host webinars on populations, particularly women, with small balance topics of shared and emerging interest, and convene national savings accounts? What are the success factors of stakeholder meetings to support the effective exchange and different business models for providers willing to expansion of knowledge across diverse stakeholders. serve underserved populations, particularly women? • What products and services best meet the needs of both FSPs and the unbanked? • How do financial needs, perceptions and financial behaviours of each underserved customer segment CONTACT change as they become more included in the formal James Robinson Emmeline Henderson sector and/or with their increasing use of alternative Senior Consultant Communications Officer delivery channels? [email protected] [email protected]