How CRS savings groups lay the foundation for resilience

Communities around the world face chronic poverty caused by low and irregular income, lack of safe places to save their money, and the inability to borrow money to address challenges and invest in their livelihoods and households. To make communities more resilient and self-reliant, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) promotes Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC), informal groups that provide members a safe place to save money and generate useful lump sums of cash to invest in their livelihoods and families, making them better equipped to withstand crises. This brief outlines CRS’ approach to savings and cites examples from programming where SILCs improved people’s resilience, self-reliance, and well-being.