Research presented at the Sustainable Microfinance and Development Program - Plan webinar series on the effects of savings groups on education, with case studies from Ghana. https://carsey.unh.edu/smdp/carsey-plan-webinar

1. Savings groups, livelihoods and
education
Stuart Cameron
Eric Ananga
funded by Plan UK
via its Partnership
Programme
Agreement with
DFID

2. Context
•Despite free primary education, households face formal and
informal education costs, especially at higher levels
•Plan and other NGOs facilitate savings groups – low-risk
microfinance that foster a savings habit, smooth income and
build financial assets
Research question
•Does access to better, village-level facilities for saving and
borrowing improve educational outcomes and expenditure?
Approach
•Review of research and evaluations of SGs, mostly from
Africa
•Qualitative research on 2 villages in Ghana where Banking on
Change projects operate
2

3. Possible mechanisms
Share-outs /
loans
Changes in
household decision-
making
Spending on
education
expenses
Increased
attendance /
enrolment
Learn
more
Enhanced
livelihoods
Income
Child
labour
Food and
health care
Nutrition
and health
Women invest more
in children’s
education and health
Changes in patterns
of spending or work
(smoothing)
3

4. Literature review
• RCTs for CARE programmes in Ghana, Malawi,
Uganda, and USAID-funded savings group in Burundi,
Saving for Change in Mali
• Large number of less rigorous evaluations – often no
control group / no baseline-endline comparison
• Most are predominantly quantitative but with focus
group discussions or in-depth interviews to
complement
4

5. Literature review: direct evidence
for impact
• Share outs and loans often used for education
(though not the main use)
• Savings groups  ↑educational expenditure in
some contexts.
• Lack of strong evidence on education enrolment but
small-scale studies (Uganda, Ethiopia) suggest
positive impact
5

6. Literature review: indirect
channels
• ↑business activity
• Mixed evidence on assets and income
• Mixed results on child work: may ↑ or ↓
• Mali – improved food security
• For child health no evidence of improvement
from the strongest studies
• Expenditure decisions shift towards female
household members
• Groups act as sites of collective action,
sometimes favouring education
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7. Little new research since 2013?
• Gash and Odell (2013) Synthesis of RCTs finds mixed
and limited evidence on health and education
spending. May be used to ease timely payments rather
than increasing total.
• Brannen & Sheehan-Connor (2016) Zanzibar: possible
(non-robust) effect on educational expenditure
• Brunie et al (2014) Mozambique - potential effect on
seasonal and transitory food security, but need
supporting interventions
• Lønborg & Rasmussen (2014) Malawi – regressive
targeting
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8. Primary research in Ghana
Village 1 - Upper West region
-Low educational indicators
-More remote
-Subsistence agriculture
Village 2 - Central region
-Better educational indicators
-Connected to urban economy
-More diversified livelihoods
In-depth individual and group
interviews with
-52 adult savings group members
-27 adult non-members
-24 children, 8 teachers, 2 community
volunteers
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9. Context: Livelihoods
- Declining ability to live off the land, some faced food or cash
shortages
- Some out-migration for wage labour and salaried jobs
- Children often work, whether in or out of school
Context: education
- Parents have high education aspirations for children, but also
immediate need for agricultural labour, and school costs:
- informal fees + uniforms + books = about USD 12-18 at primary, USD 30 at
lower secondary … much higher at senior secondary
- Erratic attendance due to combination of not being able to pay fees
and having to work, more common than dropping out altogether
- Many enrol overage and repeat
- Children held back until they could pass exam
- Often not completing junior secondary education by 18
- Eventually drop out to work or marry
When you don’t go to school they won’t even take you to be a cleaner.
(adult member, female, Upper West)
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10. Savings groups
- Oldest in third annual cycle, self-sustaining, supported by community
volunteer
- Weekly savings per member: Central: USD 0.50-2.50; Upper West USD 1 –
5
- Loans up to three times savings, payable within three months
- some vulnerable (poorest, older people, circular migrants) not in savings
groups
Direct educational impacts
- School attendance improving and some attributed to savings groups
- Many took small loans to pay school fees or buy uniforms – this seen as
legitimate reason for taking loans, included in constitution of some groups
- Share-outs also used, but less frequently
- According to several accounts, more children were going to school, and
fewer were being sent home because of non-payment of fees or to work
on farms
- In Central, some movement from public to private schooling
Now any time I go for a loan, it’s for the payment of the child’s school fees.
Whenever I am spending money, I think of the savings group first which I
will have to meet before any other expenses. (adult member, Central) 10

11. Indirect effects of savings groups on education
- Several interviewees said their overall income had increased due to
investment of share-outs or loans in business, allowing higher
expenditure on education
- Some support for idea that savings groups lead to improved ability
to pay for health expenses and for food in lean times, and that
migration – which can disrupt children’s schooling – had decreased
- Unable to determine with confidence whether child work had
increased or decreased as a result of the savings groups – need for
occasional work had not disappeared
- Savings groups may have placed more income in women’s hands,
increasing their de facto decision making power, including over
educational expenses
- Savings groups may have helped increase careful money
management
I use it to hire labour on my farm which increases my productivity. I
now spend more on my farm. I can now also cater for my children’s
educational expenses. (adult member, Central) 11

12. Conclusions
• Many take loans and use share-outs for
education – educational outcomes harder to
pin down
• Evidence from some contexts of increased
education expenditure and enrolments
• Combination of gradual income improvement
with better ability to pay fees on time?
• Possible indirect, longer term effects via
health and nutrition
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13. Suggestions for further research
• Child labour – risk it could increase due to savings
groups?
• Longer term rigorous research needed
• Need to use better education indicators including
overage enrolment
• More consideration of equity effects (e.g. savings
group participation, private education)
• RCTs well suited to this type of evaluation:
interventions are relatively uniform and well-defined
• But large variation across contexts => don’t generalise
• Smaller scale qualitative studies can illuminate
underlying processes
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14. Thank you
Stuart Cameron, Oxford Policy Management (Stuart.Cameron@opml.co.uk)
Eric Ananga, University of Education, Winneba
See also:
•Cameron, S. and Ananga, E.D. (2015) Savings groups, livelihood and
education: two case studies in Ghana. Journal of International Development,
27, 7
•Plan research report http://www.plan-uk.org/resources/documents/saving-
groups-and-educational-investments.pdf
•Plan research briefing http://www.plan-
uk.org/resources/documents/savings-groups-and-educational-investments-
research-briefing.pdf
•Blog post: Savings groups can help reduce the financial barriers to
education
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