Highly vulnerable children: how their caregivers’ savings group participation facilitated their well-being

ABSTRACT

Millions of Ethiopian children live in poverty. About two out of three attend primary school, while fewer than one in five attend secondary, and two in five are married by the age of 18. To ameliorate these conditions, voluntary savings and loan groups (SG) are implemented to facilitate the wellbeing and livelihoods of caregivers and the vulnerable children in their care. Yet evidence of caregiver SG participation on child wellbeing does not adequately support the assumption that increased income will support children’s needs. This study explores the experiences of adolescents whose caregivers participated in SGs. In-depth interviews with adolescents provide a unique perspective on distal effects of SGs, with rich narratives about their education, health, and psychosocial wellbeing. We graphically illustrate pathways with links between wellbeing domains as described by participants. Adolescents associate their caregivers’ SG participation with meeting their material and non-material needs primarily through increased economic welfare, though sometimes associated with training about parenting given during SG meetings.

KEYWORDS:

• Child wellbeing
• Savings group
• Household economic strengthening
• Wellbeing pathways

Acknowledgments

This study was undertaken under FHI 360’s Household Economic Strengthening Activity with the generous financial support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-066-LA-134-00002. The contents are the responsibility of FHI 360 and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. The authors are very grateful for the efforts of the data collectors, support from Yekokeb Berhan implementing partners, colleagues and peer reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the United States Agency for International Development [Cooperative Agreement No. AID-066-LA-134-00002];