Finance for the World's Poorest

How do the world’s poorest people save money without access to banks or credit? This course explores the power of informal savings systems, such as tandas in Mexico, susus in West Africa, and dhikutis in Nepal, that help hundreds of millions build financial stability through trust, discipline, and community support.

We will start with grassroots savings groups (often called Revolving Savings and Credit Associations or ROSCAs) and examine how they function across cultures. Then we will explore how the social capital that makes ROSCAs successful also underpins newer approaches such as savings groups and self-help groups that generate savings for village women. 

We then turn our attention to cash transfers and remittances that inject capital into poor families and communities.

Later, we discuss the strengths and limitations of institutional financial inclusion, including microfinance, mobile banking, and fintech. The course also features presentations by leaders in soil-building subsistence agriculture and systems for measuring and tracking poverty.

In the course, students also learn how to design initiatives that effectively deliver services to the bottom of the economic pyramid, including setting goals, choosing the most appropriate methodology, staffing, budgeting, and monitoring, and evaluating outcomes.

The class is taught by a pioneer in the field of microcredit and savings whose work has shaped global thinking on financial inclusion and poverty reduction.

Students do not need technical or financial background to take this course, only a large dose of curiosity and a willingness to explore alternatives.