Need a loan? In Ghana, neighbours are helping neighbours
Why It Matters
In Ghana's rural communities, Village Savings and Loan Associations are powerful, neighbour-to-neighbour systems that offer crucial access to credit and foster economic resilience. Community-based finance solutions could lift countless people out of poverty.
In a small Ghanaian village just a few hours’ drive from the city of Kumasi, cacao farmers of all ages and genders gather in a courtyard, waiting to collect money from a grey metal cash box sitting on a wooden table draped in white cloth.
Behind the table sit members of their Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA).
“The VSLA has helped me because I saved money and got a loan to improve my business. We’ve got a school in the community, and I sell food there. I sell garri [porridge] and beans. I also make Indomie,” a woman named Janet said through a translator while speaking Twi, a language common to eight million Ghanaians.
The farmers gathered in the courtyard have made regular financial contributions to the VSLA and are now collecting their investments.
Despite being the world’s second-largest producer of cacao, 90 pe
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