Thanks Getaneh for those reflections and resources. Indeed it is also my experience that savings groups and saving & lending associations etc. provide a great entry point for a gender transformative approach like GALS. But it really works 2 ways: a gender transformative approach (GTA) really increases the impact of interventions related to saving and credit. Often, I heard both women and men say "now we finally know what we save money for" as they developed their household visions for better livelihoods and gender equality. The typical behaviour changes (as a result of GALS and other gender transformative approaches) include changes in decision making power between women and men about income, assets and expenditures, directly contributing to "financial health". The changes in the gender division of labour, social acceptance of women's increased social and political participation and mobility and the reduction of gender based and domestic violence further enhance the "good marriage" between saving groups and GTA. In every project I did with Oxfam that had a financial services / savings component this was confirmed.
Apart from the GTA Compendium and the Gamechangenetwork that you mentioned Getaneh there are many examples, assessments, guides and manuals available at https://empoweratscale.org/hhm-gals/
Thanks and best regards,
Thies Reemer
Thanks Getaneh for those reflections and resources. Indeed it is also my experience that savings groups and saving & lending associations etc. provide a great entry point for a gender transformative approach like GALS. But it really works 2 ways: a gender transformative approach (GTA) really increases the impact of interventions related to saving and credit. Often, I heard both women and men say "now we finally know what we save money for" as they developed their household visions for better livelihoods and gender equality. The typical behaviour changes (as a result of GALS and other gender transformative approaches) include changes in decision making power between women and men about income, assets and expenditures, directly contributing to "financial health". The changes in the gender division of labour, social acceptance of women's increased social and political participation and mobility and the reduction of gender based and domestic violence further enhance the "good marriage" between saving groups and GTA. In every project I did with Oxfam that had a financial services / savings component this was confirmed.
Apart from the GTA Compendium and the Gamechangenetwork that you mentioned Getaneh there are many examples, assessments, guides and manuals available at https://empoweratscale.org/hhm-gals/
Thanks and best regards,
Thies Reemer