Services

Whom we support and how

 

VSL Associates offers services to donor agencies and international and local NGOs that promote the creation of savings groups worldwide. We have helped to implement programmes in 42 countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa. We provide:

  • Free access to all training materials
  • Strategic planning and programme design
  • Field staff training in the delivery of the VSL methodology and the use of the SAVIX MIS
  • Field staff training to set up federations of VSLAs
  • Training of Trainers (ToT) in the Selection, Planning and Management of Income-generating Activities (IGAs)
  • Evaluation services (programme and impact) 

Programme design services

 

  • Orientation sessions in the VSL methodology
  • Feasibility studies to determine the scope and potential market for VSLA project and programme implementation
  • Development of all the materials required to support the implementation of a programme. This includes the adaptation of the standard VSLA  and VSLF training guides to the specific needs of a partner organisation, but never in ways that diverge from the basic principles of the methodology

Training for implementing agencies

  • Training in the VSL methodology for programme staff
  • Advanced training in creating federations of VSLAs
  • Training in the Selection, Planning and Management of IGAs (SPM)
  • Introductory training in the SAVIX MIS for programme and M&E staff (mis.thesavix.org), focused on field operations, data collection, data entry and operational report generation
  • Advanced training in the SAVIX MIS for programme managers and M&E staff, to analyse overall programme performance and to aggregate and compare project results, locally and internationally

Monitoring and evaluation services

  • Impact evaluation: design of baseline and endline tools, implementation of field surveys and data analysis, mainly based on low-cost scorecard techniques and the use of control groups
  • Programme monitoring to evaluate the quality and efficiency of project service delivery, mid-term and at the end of a project. Substantial use is made of SAVIX MIS data

Formal 'all-comer' training courses

 

 

  • For the last 12 years, we have provided training through the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. These have focussed on VSL and the SAVIX MIS and were carried out in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Togo  
  • For 10 years we provided VSL training at the Boulder Institute of Microfinance in Turin, Italy
  • Regional workshops have been provided in Cambodia, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, Thailand and Togo 
  • VSL Associates has created an online training course for setting up and using the SAVIX MIS
  • VSLA, VSLF, SPM and MIS training are customised to client needs in dedicated workshops