Paper short abstract:

We report on concurrent impact evaluation of a women’s economic empowerment programme in rural Ghana that combines training with group-based microfinance. A mid-term QuIP study highlighted women’s preoccupation with raising farm incomes, increasing savings and reducing reliance on credit.

Paper long abstract:

This paper investigates Opportunity International’s ongoing programme “Roots of Change: Increasing the economic empowerment of women in Ghana and the DRC through rural financing”. This combines financial literacy and agricultural training with the offer of savings and loans products. Commitment savings to qualify for a loan are expected to lead towards voluntary savings and increased resilience through a business or farming investment generating an increased income. In the frame of a mid-term evaluation conducted in the summer of 2020 in a COVID-19 affected context, we investigated this causal pathway, and the role formal and informal forms of savings play for the intended beneficiaries in pursuing this strategy in the face of Covid-19 induced and other shocks. Respondents reported experiencing two main changes: an ability to save more and to borrow less, relying on both formal and informal mechanisms. Saving more resulted from increased income and membership of saving groups. It had lasting effects, for example enabling them to make business investments and pay for school fees. Borrowing less, in contrast, was not universally perceived to be a positive outcome. For some, it was a consequence of increased income, and associated increased self-esteem from being more self-reliant; but for others, it arose from an inability to repay loans, and associated with reduced resilience to shocks. The paper also reflects on use of the QuIP methodology to elicit self-reported narratives of change, and shares plans for further research on the complex interactions between financial services, training and exogenous shocks.