Access Africa

Impact of VSLA

Evidence from Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi

Brownbag presentation Atlanta June 2012

By Abdoul Karim Coulibaly

Lift 30 million people (70% of whom are

women) and their families out of poverty by

ensuring equitable access to a suite

of basic financial services (savings,

loan, insurance, remittances) over the next

decade in sub-Saharan Africa

Access Africa : Goal

Access Africa: Logic modelE

FF

EC

TO

UT

PU

TIM

PA

CT

Projects Year Target Countries Donor

Sustainable Access to Financial services for Investment (SAFI)

2008 - 2011 108 200 members Rwanda

Master Card FoundationCIDA

SAVE-UP 2008 - 2011 300 000 members

Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

ESCAPE 2007 - 2010 5 400 members Ghana

The Projects

Experimental model: Cluster RCTTime

XIntervention Group

1

3

2

4Control Group

RANDOM

Used in Uganda, Malawi and Ghana in partnership with Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA)

This is a Cluster RCT. Instead of Randomizing the Individual, randomized the community (cluster)

Limitations:

1. The data from intervention and control communities are compared. Risk of dilution of VSLA effect if the take-up rate is low

2. Ethical: control community are excluded from intervention during the time of study. Limit the possibility for a long term impact analysis

Take-up rate:1. Malawi: 22%2. Uganda: 36%3. Ghana: 36%

Sample:1. Malawi: 40002. Uganda: 42003. Ghana: 6800

Time

XIntervention Group

12

Non-experimental model:Pre and Post-test

Panel study

Limitations: Measure VSLA contribution to the change. The change could be due to other factors. We can claim a contribution to the change, but not attribute the change only to VSLA

Used in Rwanda and Tanzania. Internal CARE surveys

Essentially based on quantitative methods, but once combined with qualitative approach, this methods appears to be strong. Sample:

1. Rwanda: 6142. Tanzania: 375

33 months

30 months

27 months

24 months

21 months

18 months

15 months

12 months

9 months

6 months

3 months

0 month

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

First baseline data collection for

the cohort 1. Data are

collected on group created during the first

quarter

Final baseline data collection for the cohort 1. Data are collected on groups created during the 4th

quarter

End of project

Final data collection organized 3 months before the end of the

project. The same groups surveyed during the baseline are

considered in the sample.

Survival groups of the first cohort. During the data collection, the oldest groups will be 2 years and 9 months old (groups created during the first

quarter of the project 1st year) and the youngest group will be 1 year and 9

months old (groups created during the last quarter).

Survival groups of the 2nd cohort. During the data collection, the oldest

groups will be 1 year and 9 months old (groups created during the first quarter

of the project 2nd year) and the youngest group will be 9 months old

(groups created during the last quarter).

Age of the groups

Year of project implementation

Panel study (cont.)

20112009

• Household level data

Demographic of HH membersHabitatAssets ownershipFood Security

• Individual dataSocio-demographic characteristics of the VSL members Investment and expenses of membersCivil society and political participationSelf-image and confidenceHousehold decision making and violence against women

Data Collection Tools

Part 1: Comparative Impact

across the 5 countries

Source and period of the study

RCT RCT RCT Member surveyMember survey

2009-2011 2009 - 2011 2008 - 2011 2009 - 2011 2009-2011Level Domain Malawi Uganda Ghana Tanzania Rwanda

Impact

Assets ownership          

Education          

Habitat          

Food security          

Health          

Effect

Access to loan          

More productive use of the loan          

Business          

Women decision making          

Women community influence          

Area of impact

Strong impact

Perceptible change

Slight change

No impact

Description of the Impact

Malawi Uganda Ghana Tanzania

Asset ownership: Households in treatment villages own an average of 6.2 fowls, a 12 percentage point increase when compared to the control group. Other livestock categories are not affected by the program.Habitat: More expenditure to improve housing condition. But no impact on housing indicators.

Food security: Adults are 4 percentage points less likely to have had to reduce their daily food consumption.

Education: A small increase in investment. Slight increase in enrollment.

Asset ownership: it is evident that households acquired more assets between 2009 and 2011.The proportion of household possessing at least one asset has slightly increased.Education: The average amount spent in education by the VSLA members increased from about $55 to $97. There is a slight but not significant increase in enrollment.Habitat: Increase investment but no evidence of habitat quality improvement

Description of the effectMalawi Uganda Ghana Tanzania

Access to loan: 67% of members stated that they took a loan from the group at least once. Respondents in treatment groups are 9 percentage points more likely to receive a loan.More productive use of the loan: Loans are primarily used to finance business investments (40%) and food consumption (20%)Women Empowerment: a 5 percentage point increase in the number of women that report having a strong influence on business decisions within the household. We also find evidence of an increase in the share of women with a high ability to influence other areas of intra-household decision-making, such as food consumption and schooling expenses.

Access to loan: The program increases access to and usage of financial services. 84% of members stated that they took a loan from the group at least once. respondents in treatment groups being 10 percentage points more likely to receive a loan.Business: There is evidence of improvements in business outcomes for women. The percentage of women that take credit for business purposes increases from 8% in the control group to 14% in program areas yearly business profits increase by $12 in treatment areas.Women Empowerment: we find suggestive evidence of a 4 percentage point impact on the same indicator on intra-household decisions for school expenses

Access to loan: The program increases access to and usage of financial services. Half the members stated that they took a loan from the group at least once. Respondents in treatment groups are 12 percentage points more likely to receive a loan.More productive use of the loan: Loans are primarily used to finance business investments (42%) and food con.Business: The number of women that took a loan to fund a business increases substantially in treatment communities, rising from 8% to 16% .

Access to loan: In 2009 less than 1/3 of the members could access a loan. Today we have the majority of the members (78%) who took a loan in the year preceding the survey. It appears that almost the totality of the loan (95%) taken, were from VSLA followed by Bank (3%) and MFI (0.6%).Community leadership: VSLA seems to have contributed to improve the members’ public speaking ability: from 32% of members who spoke up in public meeting to 37% in 2011. The membership into community organizations has strongly evolved between 2009 and 2011: from 27% to 46% of VSLA members joining other civil society organization.

Part 2:

Impact of CARE Rwanda SAFI project

2.a. Description of the study population

VSL Members: Gender

77%

23%

Female Male

Average age of VSL members by gender

Average age of female and male VSL members

4341

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Female Male

Ave

rag

e a

ge

in y

ears

VSL Members: Socio-Demographic characteristics

  Male Female Total

Marital status

Single 12% 6% 8%

Widow 6% 41% 33%

Divorced/Separated 4% 17% 14%

Married 78% 36% 46%

LiterateYes 61% 42% 46%

No 39% 58% 54%

Level of education

No education 36% 55% 51%

Primary 59% 42% 46%

O level 4% 3% 3%

Secondary 1% 0% 0%

Total 100% 100% 100%

3222

6878

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Male Female

Have abandoned Still member

% of member who have abandoned the group per gender

% of member who have abandoned the group per district

0

4933

13 17 18 2438

11 5 7

100

5167

87 83 82 7662

89 95 93

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Kir

ehe

Rw

amag

ana

Bu

ges

era

Nya

gat

are

Kay

on

za

Gat

sib

o

Gic

um

bi

Nya

bih

u

Gak

enke

Ru

lin

do

Ru

bav

u

No longer member Still member

Reasons for leaving the VSLA group

provided by the members who left the group

53%

24%

18%

12% 11%8%

2% 2% 1%

11%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Unable tosave

Groupleadershipproblem

Could notparticipate

to meetings

The groupexpelled me

Conflict inthe group

Sick Did not seeconcreteresults

Notsatisfiedwith thegroup

Difficult topay backthe loan

Other

2.b. VSLA impact onHousehold Livelihood Conditions

With their own words….

“I have benefited a loan of $1333 from the

SACCO because of my membership into VSLA, this allowed me to build

my house”

“We were marginalized such that we could not

even sit with others…”

“Now everyone from our group have a house, cloths, health insurance…”

“No more food problem at home”

“I was in the list of the most vulnerable.

Now I can’t even accept being in such

list”

Evolution of the Poverty level of the VSL members’ household

63%

77%

97%

62%

76%

97%

54%

70%

90%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

% of People below nationalpoverty line

% of people below $1 a day % of People below $2 a day

Baseline 2009 Final 2011 Rwanda national - 2006

Change in Quantity and Quality of the meal:

Perception of the households on the change on the quality and quantity of their meal during the last 2 years and the contribution of the VSLA to the change

Sig. i

ncrea

sed

Slightly

incr

ease

d

Staye

d the

sam

e

Slightly

dim

inis

hed

Signifi

cantly

dim

inis

hed0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

20%

44%

27%

5% 5%

19%

37%

0% 0%

% who declared the change % who attribute the change to VSLA

Change in the revenue of the household:

Perception of the households on the change on the revenue of their household during the last 2 years and the contribution of the VSLA to the change

Sig. i

ncrea

sed

Slightly

incr

ease

d

Staye

d the

sam

e

Slightly

dim

inis

hed

Signifi

cantly

dim

inis

hed0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

23%

48%

23%

3% 3%

22%

43%

0% 0%

% who declared the change % who attribute the change to VSLA

Change in access to education for the HH children: Perception of the households on the change on their children’s access to

education during the last 2 years and the contribution of the VSLA to the change

Sig. i

ncrea

sed

Slightly

incr

ease

d

Staye

d the

sam

e

Slightly

dim

inis

hed

Signifi

cantly

dim

inis

hed0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

15%

33%

51%

1% 1%

13%

28%

0% 1%

% who declared the change % who attribute the change to VSLA

Change in access to health care by the HH members:

Perception of the households on the change in access to healthcare by their members and the contribution of the VSLA to the change

Sig. i

ncrea

sed

Slightly

incr

ease

d

Staye

d the

sam

e

Slightly

dim

inis

hed

Signifi

cantly

dim

inis

hed0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

32%35%

29%

4%1%

25% 23%

1% 0%

% who declared the change % who attribute the change to VSLA

Change in households’ assets over the past 2 years

Baseline adjusted

2009

Final

2011

% who have purchased asset during the last 12 months 31% 63%Average amount spent (in USD) to purchase assets $11 $41

Significant and positive trend

Significant but negative trend

Not significant

Legend for this table and the following ones

Evolution of the % of households possessing each asset over the past 2 years

Cow Sheep Goat Pork Poultry Rabit Bee hive0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

4% 4%

15%

4%

13%

7%

1%

21%

11%

41%

9%

18%

9%

2%

2009 2011

Evolution of the % of households possessing each asset over the past 2 years

Bicycle Radio Television Cell-phone Matress Bed0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

3%

27%

0%3%

7%

18%

10%

38%

2%

19%

24%

36%

2009 2011

Change in the quality of housing over the past 2 years

Baseline adjusted

2009

Final

2011

% of VSLA members who did house improvement 15% 39%Average amount (in USD) spent for house improvement $7 $56

Change in Food Security over the past 2 years

Baseline adjusted

2009Final

2011

% of HH without food for 1 day during the last 3 months 57% 29%

Number of meal in 2 days 2.1 3.2

Food quality index 37.1 46.0

Change in children’s education over the past 2 years

2009 2011

% of VSLA members who have invested in their children education during the last 12 months

60% 54%Average amount spent into education (in USD) during the last 12 months

$8.9 $9.5

Change in access to health over the past 2 years

2009 2011

% of VSLA members who made medical expenses for their HH during the last 12 months

75% 61%

Average amount spent (in USD) into Medicare $5.9 $10.7

2.c. Economic impact on the members

“We were wasting money without saving” women

“Before we thought that when you are poor you can only

work for others. Now many women are conducting IGA.”

women Gicumbi

“My entire life I could not imagine possessing $17, but now I am capable of asking a

loan of $17 and even more being able to reimburse it”

women in Gicumbi

“VSLA has awakened us, it gave us a light,

helped us to save. We have benefited from advises on how to

move out of ignorance …”

women of Kayonza

“Now I can even challenge money

…” women

With their own words….

Change in access to loan over the past 2 years

2009 2011

% of VSL members who have accessed a loan during the last 12 months

20% 83%

Average number of loan contracted during the last 12 months 1.5 2.6

Average amount of loan taken (in USD) $4.4 $43.8

Source of loan taken by the VSL members in 2009 and 2011

2009 20110%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

25%

93%

56%

VSLA MFI Family/relatives SACCOBank Local associations Cooperatives ChurchGovernment Other

Main use of the loan in 2009 and 2011

IGA/B

usin

ess

Housin

g

Live

stock

Food

Agricu

ltura

l inpu

ts

Health

exp

endi

ture

House

hold

equ

ipm

ents/

asse

ts

Schoo

l fees

Cloth

s

Buy la

nd

Socia

l exp

ense

s

Trans

port

Other

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

20092011

% of loan contracted during the last 12 months, mainly used for …

Change in Income generating activities

over the past 2 years

2009 2011

% of VSL members who are conducting IGA 19% 43%

Amount of money invested into IGA (in USD) $5.7 $25.1

Relationship with formal financial institutions: saving and loan services

2009 2011

% who have benefited from saving services with formal financial institution (individually or through their group) (***)

1.5% 46.0%% who have benefited from loan services with formal financial institution (individually or through their group) (***)

0.2% 17.8%

2.d. Social effect of VSLA: Gender and Community Leadership

With their own words….“There is a change in women

involvement into decision making. Some husbands

discuss household expenditure decisions with

their wife, because they know that it’s her who take the loan”

Women

“Today I can express myself freely and being

understand by my husband, while before he

used to hit me” Woman of Rubavu

“At the baseline in 2009, the VSLA members from Gicumbi

was even afraid to approach us and talk, they were visibly very

vulnerable and lacking confidence. I cannot imagine

they are the same people I have met 2 years ago”

Beata enumerator at baseline and Final survey

“Our husbands are happy because the

charges of the household are now

shared”Women of Gicumbi

“At the first share-out we bought goat, at the second

share-out we bought a mattress; it was the first time we slept on mattresses. Our husband appreciated it, and realized that we women are

capable” Women of Rubavu

VSL and community leadership over the past 2 years

2009 2011

% who are member of any other community based associations 17% 15%

% occupying leadership position in the community 5% 4%

% who plan to run for office during the next local election 15% 11%

% who spoke at a public meeting during the last 12 months

39% 38%

Change in women self-esteem over the past 2 years

  2009 2011

I can always resolve problems if I try hard enough

31% 41%

If somebody opposes me, usually I can find a way to get what I want 19% 22%I always find some way to deal with problems that confront me 27% 42%I can influence my husband’s decision making

30% 37%

I can take action to improve my life 37% 51%I can influence important decisions in my community 15% 16%

% of female VSL members reporting a “full agreement” with the following statements :

Change in women’s decision making over the past 2 years

  2009 2011

Children’s schooling 30% 44%

Health 36% 42%

Food 38% 48%

Housing 13% 27%

Equipment 33% 31%

% of female VSL members reporting a “high contribution” in decision making

Change in women’s contribution to household expenditures

over the past 2 years

  2009 2011

Children’s schooling 25% 33%

Health 32% 33%

Food 33% 36%

Housing 15% 27%

Equipment 31% 32%

% of female VSL members reporting a “high contribution” to HH expenditure

Where else are we currently doing similar survey ?

TANZANIA

BURUDI

EQUATORIALGUINEA

ANGOLA

REP OFTHE

CONGO

Zanzibar

MALAWI

ZAMBIA

MO

ZAM

BIQ

UE

MA

DA

GA

SC

AR

ZIMBABWE

BOTSWANA

SWAZILANDLESOTHO

SOUTHAFRICA

NAMIBIA

ANGOLA

1000 Nautical Miles5000

© Copyright Bruce Jones Design Inc. 2004

NIGER

CHAD

SUDAN

ETHIOPIA

DJIBOUTI

ERITREA

UGANDA SOMALIA

KENYADEMOCRATICREPUBLIC

OF THE CONGO(ZAIRE)

CENTRALAFRICANREPUBLIC

RWANDAGABON

NIGERIA

CAMEROON

TUNISIA

WESTERNSAHARA

ALGERIA

MALI

LIBYAEGYPT

BENIN

TOGOCOTED’VOIRE

BURKINA

GUINEA

SENEGAL

GHANALIBERIA

MAURITANIA

SIERRALEONE

GAMBIA

GUINEABISSAU

THE

MOROCCO

Countries with an ongoing VSL member survey initiative

ASIA

• Vietnam• India• Indonesia