Savings Group Builds Livelihoods and Community in Cameroon
It is a cool morning after a light rainfall in the village of Djingliya Montagne, located about 62 miles from Maroua, the capital city of Cameroon’s Far North Region. On a two-acre tract of land, a group of women and men are busy clearing up dried weeds and putting together stone ridges to prepare the ground for the planting season. While they work, they chant songs in their local dialect and banter about recent events in their neighborhood. They are members of a woman-led savings group called N’heschedva, which means “we are striving” in the local language.
Members of the N'heschedva savings group gather after their weekly Saturday meeting in Djingliya Montagne, a village in northern Cameroon.
Photo by Mabel Chenjoh/CRS
The group was created in 2018 and was initially a neighborhood savings group with 14 members. In 2022, membership rose to 22 when it became part of a Catholic Relief Services project that implements the CRS Savings and Internal Lending Communities, or SILC, methodology.
The group holds weekly meetings where each member can deposit between $0.40 and $33 into their shared savings and can obtain loans for a very low interest rate. The project also includes a social cohesion component, which means that during meetings the group discusses not just their savings but the well-being of their members and their families.
"We do not tolerate gossiping,” says Ines Doukoya, the group’s president. Members’ misbehavior may be handled quietly, by gentle reproach, or in some appropriate cases a fine may be imposed.
Ines Doukoya is the president of the N'heschedva savings group.
Photo by Mabel Chenjoh/CRS
In 2022, the members began a small community farm on which they cultivate crops to sell, to make more money for their group. In 2023, the project organized a village-wide contest to identify the savings group contributing most to social cohesion, which N’heschedva won. The group used the cash prize of $245 to increase the size of their community farm and buy improved seeds. They cultivated soybeans and sorghum which they harvested and sold for $122. Adding that to their coffers, the SILC group has saved close to $1,500.
The group also runs a solidarity fund to cover expenses for celebrations, such as the birth of a child, or times of mourning, such as the loss of a loved one. These gestures help strengthen the bonds of the group.
"The group has really helped us to live together,” says member Pauline Nguizaye. "They helped me to resolve a dispute with my husband about starting a small business. The other members advised my husband that it is important for a woman to have a source of income so that she can support her spouse. This helped my husband change his mind."
Though the group is led by women, the men also pay a key role in decision-making.
"The women keep the money in the group, and we are happy with this arrangement," says Warda Kodava, a male member of the group.
Members of the N'heschedva savings group head to their community farm in Djingliya Montagne, a village in northern Cameroon.
Photo by Mabel Chenjoh/CRS
In the 2024 farming season, the savings group will cultivate soybeans, peanuts and millet on about two acres of land. They are hoping to save enough to buy a storage house to safely preserve their crops and sell them during lean seasons.
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The Stabilization and Reconciliation in the Lake Chad Region project, or STaR, is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development via the German Development Bank. Phase I of the project started in 2019 in Chad, Niger and Nigeria. Phase II launched in September 2021and expanded to include Cameroon. The project has activities under four components, including infrastructure development and rehabilitation, economic revitalization, social cohesion, and local governance. In Cameroon, CRS partners with Caritas Mokolo to implement the project. Since 2021, the project has supported about 13,600 people by improving access to basic infrastructure and services, enhancing livelihoods, reinforcing social cohesion and improving local governance.
