Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC): The Key to Helping Zimbabwean Youth Overcome Poverty
This case study focuses on the experience of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in introducing savings and internal lending to Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and some of the benefits in their engagement.
CRS’s project, Support to Replicable Innovative Village Level Community Efforts (STRIVE) engages a network of partners with extensive hands-on experience in addressing challenges that affect OVC. STRIVE focuses on options to improve the safety and wellbeing of OVC through strengthening the socio-economic capacities of their families and communities that provide for their protection and provision.
Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILCs), one of the interventions used by STRIVE, provides a safe alternative for accessing financial resources. The case study states that:
- CRS and its partners have seen the value of engaging children and youth at an early age in economic strengthening activities;
- By starting first with SILC, participants are taught basic financial management and financial literacy skills which are critical as they transition into adulthood;
- CRS will continue to expand SILC services to youth with a continued focus on tailoring those services to different youth audiences.
