Book Review - Savings Services for the Poor: An Operational Guide

Although 2005 brought us both the United Nations “Year of Microcredit” and the extension of the “Microcredit Summit”, it also brought us a significant new resource for the oft-forgotten other half of microfinance – savings services for the poor. As we all know, credit services still receive the vast majority of attention and resources, despite our increasing awareness of the importance of savings to reduce the economic vulnerability of the poor. In fact, many experts argue that savings is even more important than credit for the very poorest. So why do we, in practice, continue to focus more on credit than savings? Often it is for lack of knowing how to mobilize savings. As indicated in is subtitle – “An Operational Guide” – this book hopes to change that by reporting on the experiences of savingsled institutions around the world and by providing very practical information on the skills and attitudes necessary to do savings well.

The densely-packed 375 pages of this book are divided into three parts, each with five chapters. Part One is an Overview that covers the rationale for providing savings services, the standards that institutions need to meet before engaging in savings services, and the challenges that those institutions face as they attempt to reach down market. These well-edited and tightly focused chapters already begin to weave in the experiences of some of the forty case studies that add much to the substance and depth of the book.