Village Savings and Loan Associations
At World Renew, we’ve taken the need for a bank or predatory lenders out of the equation and put the opportunity into the hands of the community itself.
The Village Savings and Loan (VSLA) program is an integral part of World Renew’s work. Our model is vital to helping families improve their income security and build a better future.
But too many people, in too many communities, are still facing barriers to basic financial services, leaving them impoverished and their dreams unfulfilled.
As people who live in poverty often do not have access to banks or formal lending programs, VSLAs assist communities directly. The purpose of the VSLA program is to provide services that banks won’t provide to people with low incomes, including savings and educational loans, business loans, emergency loans, and more. Through World Renew programs, local families learn to manage their VSLA group, pool their money in a joint savings account, approve small business loans at reasonable interest rates, hold each other accountable, and build a solid financial foundation for themselves.
When you give a gift to help start a Village Savings and Loan Association through World Renew, you can help families launch their dreams by helping them build small businesses and invest in their futures.
Fizzy Drinks and Determination are Giving Heizi a Good Start
Through Village Saving and Loan Associations, young people, like Heizi in Nicaragua, are seizing the opportunity and setting themselves up for a better future. Heizi joined a VSLA in her community to start her own small, home-based shop, which helps her pay for her everyday needs and save for her future studies.
“I already had one loan and invested it to buy chicken, meat, and fizzy drinks,” she says. “I paid it back quickly and made a good profit.”
Because she is a young woman from a remote, low-income community (and only 17), it would be nearly impossible for Heizi to get a bank account, much less a small loan. Even if she did, it would likely be from a predatory lender at an outrageous interest rate.
But thanks to the VSLA program, local partners on the ground—and generous people like you—Heizi is creating a good foundation for her future. Will you join us in giving more people like Heizi a chance to build a better life through Village Savings and Loan Associations?
