A short podcast clip (included in a YouTube video) describing a standardized, NGO-used methodology for small community "own little bank" groups. A trained facilitator helps a self-selected group set roles (treasurer, meeting leader, recorder), enforce a three-key cash-box protocol, and save a pre-agreed amount weekly. Group members lend pooled savings to one another, charge interest on loans, and thereby both grow the collective fund and learn financial-management skills (the speaker refers to "three big things" learned). World Vision and other large organizations are cited as users of this method.
Hey, this is Ben Greenfield. I thought you'd like this little clip of my latest podcast. Are you starting an actual bank or are they just putting all this money into like a, like a central collection storage?
It's like their own little bank. And what they do is, and this is a real, well scripted, standardized methodology. Not only World Vision uses it, but all kinds of other big organizations have, are using it and work together on it. So a group of people will get together and there'll be somebody that'll help train them and lay out all the different responsibilities. Because you have to have a treasurer, you have to have kind of a person who's going to lead the meeting. You've got somebody that's doing all the recording. You got three people who each have a key. And without all three of them, they can't open up the cash box and they can't open up the records for the group. But the heart of it is real simple. They all save money every week. They agree how much money they're going to save. Every week they save that money. At the end of their little saving time, you got a pile of money sitting in the box. And then individuals from that group are going to then lend that money. They're going to lend that money to other members of the group. So I'll put in a couple of dollars and then I'll say, by the way, I need a $5 loan because I want to buy a cow, or I want maybe not a cow for $5. I want to buy a couple of chickens. And so I borrow money from the group. And so I'm as a group member, I am saving money. I may be borrowing, but if somebody else borrows, they're going to pay the group interest. And so at the end of the year, I've got all that money I've been saving, plus all the interest that we've made by charging each other interest. And we're all learning three big things.
If you enjoyed this clip, you should check out the whole episode and a host of other topics over at BenGreenfield Fitness.com have an amazing day.
