CARE shares results and lessons from adapting their Village Savings & Loan Association (VSLA) model to crisis settings to help extend access to financial services to some of the most underserved communities in the world.

Informal Savings Mechanisms (ISMs) have long been important to many people’s day-to-day money management across Africa. But as formal financial services become much more prevalent in the region, what will happen to these ISMs? Will they fall by the wayside as the digital revolution takes over?