Use and Impact of Savings Services Among Poor People in Zambia

Publication Date: Dec 2001
Published by: MicroSave
Document Type: Paper

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Do the poor save and what are the impacts of savings on their lives?

Paper explores if poor people save, how they use different savings services/systems and the impact of those savings facilities on their household budgets/lives. Drawing from Zambia and using qualitative data gathered from specific micro finance institutions and thier clients it presents lessons for MFIs seeking to develop poor-responsive savings services and examines the

• reality of microfinance in Zambia
• savings services used and those not used by the poor people; perceived advantages and disadvantages of a variety of savings services; social-economic characteristics of the people using these savings services; and explores
• how savings services are used to manage household income/expenditure flow; why some people save in-kind and what financial services might induce them to start monetised savings

• the poor do save and that savings have an impact on them
• poor people make regular savings for financing life cycle events
• savings are important for smoothing out peaks and troughs in income and expenditure

• Zambia?s the legal framework that does not however allow MFIs to accept deposits from the public, offering savings services to the poor represent a tremendous opportunity for MFIs to increase their depth and breadth of outreach
• offering easier access to savings may also reduce dropouts and increases the level of voluntary savings