1. Global Youth Enterprise Conference,
Focus on Finance September 30, 2009
CRS Rwanda
Empowering Rwanda youth through savings-led microfinance
2. CRS Rwanda and OVC
⢠There are 220,000 children
orphaned by AIDS in
Rwanda
⢠A child is considered
vulnerable if they have lost
one of their parents
⢠Rwanda has a unique
challenge with child headed
households (CHH)
3. CRS Rwanda and OVC
⢠CRS has been operating in
Rwanda since 1963
⢠Under the PEPHAR
program, CRS supports
OVC
⢠CRS Rwanda provides a
comprehensive package of
services to over 3,151 OVC
including micro-enterprise
⢠Support is provided to
vulnerable children and
youth between the ages of
12-18, though some services
extend to youth up to age 22
4. Rwanda: Youth Inclusive
Financial Services
Why Youth-Inclusive Financial Services?
â Youth in Rwanda, especially OVC
have little or no access to formal credit
to start or expand micro-businesses.
â Many child-headed households are
responsible for the wellbeing of their
siblings
â Vulnerable youth are already engaged
in building their livelihood and need
financial resources to grow their
businesses
â OVC are responsible financial
managers once they are taught basic
financial literacy skills
5. Introducing Financial Services to OVC
in Rwanda (the SILC Model)
⢠In 2008, CRS Savings and
Internal Lending Communities
(SILC) methodology was
introduced to the CRS OVC
program
â˘The program was designed to
complement the financial needs
of OVC participating in
vocational training and
apprenticeship program
6. SILC Methodology
⢠Self-selected groups of no more than 25 individuals
⢠Groups operate for a cycle of 8-12 months
⢠Members save weekly and borrow from each other
⢠After the end of the cycle a share-out takes place of savings and
dividend
⢠Groups are made up of both youth and adults to allow for mentoring
and transfer of life skills
⢠Some groups are made up primarily of youth which helps to
strengthen their social networks
⢠No special adaptations were made for OVC participating in SILC
however a more structured financial literacy curriculum is being
targeted for trainings
7. SILC Outcomes
⢠OVC learn basic financial literacy and financial
management skills
⢠Through SILC, OVC have built trust among group
members which has led to greater social cohesion
⢠While OVC receive mentoring support from adults in their
SILC groups, they are able to assist adult participants with
complex bookkeeping
⢠Improved access to financial services has resulted in:
â 90% of participants being able to contribute to the national
insurance scheme
â Improvements in nutrition whereby 81% of participants are able to
eat at least two meals, up from 60.9%.
â Decrease in school drop-outs from 20.7% to 14.8%
8. Integrating SILC and Vocational
training
⢠OVC youth undertake vocational
training courses where they learn
practical skills for self- employment
and gain basic financial literacy
skills through participation in SILC
⢠Formal apprenticeship opportunities
follow the vocational training
⢠CRS provides start-up kits, business
skills training and basic accounting
⢠Costs:
â SILC alone: $50.00
â SILC with integrated vocational training:
$318.00
9. Targeting and Delivery Channels
⢠CRS and Caritas Rwanda invests in large-scale
community awareness events to target youths
and caretakers
⢠Once the youth show interest and are ready to
self-select into groups, CRS provides training
on the SILC
10. The Result
⢠23% of the current 27,233 SILC
group are OVC participants
⢠The majority of participating
OVC are child heads of
households and OVC enrolled in
vocational training
⢠Repayment rate for all other
SILC groups was 99.9%
11. Monitoring and evaluation considerations for youth-
inclusive financial services
⢠CRS has developed an OVC Wellbeing Tool (OWT)
⢠The OWT provides insight on the holistic âwellbeingâ of adolescent
children
⢠The OWT is a self assessing tool from the childâs vantage point
⢠It is used for monitoring change in the wellbeing of a child over a
period of time
⢠Another combined M&E tool to help understand the impact of SILC
on participating OVC and their caregivers is currently being
developed and will be tested in early 2010.
⢠All tools are shareable!