“I now have my own account and do not need to save under my mattress anymore...”
–13-year-old boy in Kenyatta Market
“It felt good to use my card to deposit. It made me feel like a grownup and not a child.”
–14-year-old girl in Nanyuki
“The money that was used to buy small things like sweets is now being saved.”
–A mother in Kitui (expressing a similar sentiment to many other parents)
A quarter of the world’s children—about 600 million—live in extreme poverty. Being born into a poor family dramatically reduces a child’s chance for a bright future, as poverty is often passed on from generation to generation. Families need new ways to provide for their children and break free from the cycle of poverty. And children need access to financial tools like savings accounts, so they can cultivate sound financial habits and lay a solid foundation for their futures.
Save the Children Canada runs two livelihood programs: YouthSave and Food Security & Economic Growth. Through YouthSave, we help young people access basic financial services such as savings accounts to enable them, with support from parents, guardians and educators, to cultivate positive savings behaviours.
Through Food Security & Economic Growth—as supported by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)—we are building the capacity of the Ethiopian government to help rural households in the Benishangul Gumuz Regional State grow more nutrient-rich foods, improve household incomes, and increase their resilience to naturally occurring disasters such as droughts.
YouthSave operates in four countries—Colombia, Ghana, Kenya and Nepal. Among last year’s results:
A youth-friendly savings account was pilot-tested.
New ways of communicating with youth were developed, such as comic books that discuss savings.
Events were held for youth to sign up for savings accounts.
75 percent progress toward account-holder targets was reached.
Save the Children is the lead agency for a six-member consortium of Canadian NGOs that aims to directly reach 20,500 households in Ethiopia. The project’s objective is to improve household food security and strengthen economic growth in a way that equally benefits women and men. This project launched in February 2011. Among first-year results:
Tree seedlings and vegetable seeds were distributed.
Families were trained on livestock care, beekeeping, forest protection, and crop storage.
Agricultural tools were provided.
Bamboo production and processing were promoted by distributing seedlings, establishing bamboo nurseries, training farmers and exploring markets for bamboo products such as tables and chairs for schools.