Marginal savings mobilization and credit for lowest income women in Ghana

The mobilization and reinvestment of even small amounts of savings would be an essential component of any self-help or income-generating program for this group. Accordingly, this study examined the savings patterns of the lowest-income women in Ghana, in order to identify the problems these women face in mobilizing and utilizing savings and to formulate people-centered strategies for solving them. The study focused on lowest-income women in three settlement areas -- a district capital (Offinso), a regional capital (Tamale), and the national capital (Accra) -- and collected data on their demographic and economic characteristics and on the relative advantages and disadvantages of informal (susu) and formal financial systems. The study found that the flexible and convenient susu system is the preferred mode of savings among lowest-income women. Major recommendations are to strengthen the susu system and to revise the savings and lending procedures of formal financial institutions to suit lowest-income women"s needs and lifestyles.