Findings of an ex-post evaluation of the Expanding Financial Inclusion (EFI) programme, delivered by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and implementing partners in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Zambia and Uganda, from 2013 to 2017.
Within EFI, Private Service Providers (PSPs) form and support Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC), providing the opportunity for vulnerable families to
access easy, safe and regular opportunities to pool their savings, make loans to each other and earn dividends.
The evaluation aimed to assess the extent to which the PSPs and SILC groups were still functioning 19 months after the programme end, and the extent to which the PSP model has contributed to the sustainability of activities and results.
The programme in Uganda was agreed for this case study as its project sites had not received follow-on support from CRS after EFI, making it the most appropriate selection to
assess post-project sustainability without further intervention.
Some of the findings included:
- There were 56 per cent more reported groups among the sampled PSPs at the time of data collection than there were at the end of the project.
- Half of the PSP networks established within the sample are still functioning (to some extent).
- PSPs continued to receive remuneration for the work that they did, 19 months after project closure. However, there were inconsistencies in frequency and scale of remuneration, as well as variation in strategies to sensitise communities on the need to pay
The evaluators concluded that the PSP model appeared to be highly sustainable.