Savings & Budgeting Story

Saving and budgeting is one of the focal points for our artisans at DuHope; this is even more relevant now as Covid-19 has changed our spending habits. Our artisans fully understand how hard it is to save regularly as individuals, but through an innovative group savings approach, the women have been able to work as a team to save money and hold each other accountable. Since the savings group began on August 22, 2019, the artisans have been finding ways to make the group grow, so that it's profitable and supports them as well as their families.

 

A few months ago they made changes to the rules and regulations of the group and elected new leadership. Among the regulation changes were taking a new loan only when the whole payment of the previous loan was finished. In the past, some of the women would take more than one loan at a time and not pay on time, which led to a significant reduction in their savings.

 

So far they have been able to save 150,0000rwf ($150)! Every woman has been able to save 12,000rwf ($12) every month. This is a huge accomplishment and a huge increase since the early days of their savings endeavors. In the beginning, the women were only able to save 4,000rwf ($4) per month. They diligently withdraw their 12,000rwf ($12) from their bank accounts and put it into the group savings account every month.

 

Group saving has been a huge breakthrough because it always helps them in cases of emergencies. Lately, the prices on the markets have increased, but at the beginning of this year the women have disciplined themselves to continue regularly putting money on their personal savings as well. Budgeting has also helped them know where to spend their money where it matters most and this is helping them to go through this tough season.

 

For a recap on how this savings group got started, click on the picture below!