What is a Village Savings and Loan Association?

A VSLA is a self-managed group, usually of 15 to 30 women, who save together regularly, lend small amounts to one another from the pooled fund, and share the accumulated returns at the end of a cycle. It requires no bank account, no collateral and no external capital, which makes it accessible to women whom formal finance excludes.

Do you give cash grants directly to women?

Yes, as start-up micro-grants, but at a specific point: after training, once a woman has a viable plan and the financial literacy to manage it. Capital given before skills tends to be consumed rather than invested, so sequencing matters more than the amount.

How are trades chosen for vocational training?

With the community, based on locally assessed demand. Tailoring, soap making, agro-processing and computing recur because they have proven markets in our operating areas, but the assessment is done per community rather than assumed. Training women for trades with no local buyers wastes their time and our funding.

Can a loan or grant put a woman at greater risk?

It can, and we plan for it. Introducing income into a household can provoke conflict or attempts to appropriate it. Our Do No Harm commitments require us to assess that risk with participants, keep savings-group balances confidential, and avoid publicising individual awards in ways that expose recipients.

A Foundation team member speaks into a microphone to an audience in the Youth Centre hall

Women's Livelihoods & Economic Empowerment

Women make up the majority of Cameroon's smallholder farmers and informal traders, yet face systemic barriers to land, credit, training and markets. We build the savings groups, skills and capital that change that.

Village Savings and Loan Associations: year-one target, none formed yet

500

Women in VSLA membership by year three (target)

Women's Economic Empowerment Hubs planned by year seven

The challenge

Doing most of the work, holding least of the capital

Women make up the majority of Cameroon's smallholder farmers and informal traders. Despite that, they face systemic barriers to land ownership, credit, vocational training and market access. Single mothers and widows are among the most economically vulnerable groups in the country.

The pattern is consistent: women carry the labour but not the assets, and without assets there is no collateral, no credit, and no capacity to absorb a shock — an illness, a bad harvest, a death in the family.

The barriers that compound

Land ownership customs that leave women farming land they do not control.
Formal credit that requires collateral women are not permitted to hold.
Vocational training that is inaccessible by cost, distance or timing around care responsibilities.
Market access limited by transport, information and networks.
Financial exclusion, leaving savings held in cash and vulnerable to loss or appropriation.
Climate shocks, which fall hardest on those with the least buffer.

What we do

Savings first, then skills, then capital and markets — in that order, because each step makes the next one survivable.

Village Savings and Loan Associations

Self-managed groups where women save together, access small loans and share returns — with no bank, collateral or outside capital required.

Vocational and skills training

Tailoring, soap making, agro-processing and computing — trades selected with communities for local demand rather than assumed.

Agri-business and market linkage

Support for women farmers to move beyond subsistence: processing, storage, pricing information and routes to buyers.

Financial literacy

Budgeting, record-keeping, pricing and credit management, so that a first loan builds a business rather than a debt.

Start-up micro-grants

Small capital injections at the point where a trained woman has a viable plan but no means to begin.

Women's cooperative development

Helping groups formalise into cooperatives, which unlocks collective bargaining, larger contracts and access to formal finance.

Survivor economic reintegration

Dedicated support for survivors of violence, so that leaving a dangerous situation does not mean choosing destitution.

Who we serve

Who this programme is for

Priority goes to women whose economic position leaves them least able to absorb a shock or to leave a harmful situation.

Single mothers and women heading households alone
Widows
Young women entering the workforce
Rural women farmers and smallholders
Women working in the informal economy
Underprivileged women heads of household
Survivors of gender-based violence rebuilding independence

How we work

Economic programming is delivered with the same accountability as every other pillar, and with particular care that a loan or a grant does not expose a woman to greater risk within her household.

Do No Harm
Core Humanitarian Standard
CEDAW
SDG 1 — No Poverty
SDG 5 — Gender Equality
SDG 8 — Decent Work and Economic Growth
PSEA

What we are working towards

Targets drawn from our organisational framework, with the horizon against which we will report progress.

Year 1 Form and train at least 10 Village Savings and Loan Associations for single mothers and vulnerable women.
Years 2–3 Grow VSLA membership to 500 women with demonstrated savings and access to credit.
Years 2–3 Deliver vocational training linked to locally assessed market demand.
Years 4–7 Establish Women's Economic Empowerment Hubs in at least two regions as permanent training and enterprise centres.
Years 4–7 Influence national policy on women's livelihoods through evidence-based advocacy.

Fund a woman's first step to independence

A savings group, a sewing machine, a first stock purchase. Small capital, applied after training, changes a household's trajectory.

Donate now Get involved