Sylvia set a goal to save for school fees for her children. Despite some difficulty making contributions to her commitment savings plan due to the Covid-19 lockdown, market closures, and loss of income, she met her goal! By the end of November, she had $28. And importantly, she was able to withdraw money from her individual emergency fund to buy medicine for her son who got sick, without disrupting the achievement of her goal. She likes WomenSave because as she says she has “all the access and control of [her] money.” Her long-term goal is to buy a cow!

(January 2021)

Evalyn wanted to send her kids to school. So as a pilot project client last year she saved for school fees. She exceeded her target and saved $42 for her goal, as well as $6 for her emergency fund. This year for her second cycle, she is saving for school fees again. Evalyn is already 62% and 60% of the way toward her commitment and emergency goals respectively. We wish her good luck to reach 100%!

Shillah became a client almost two years ago, when WomenSave launched its pilot project. During the pandemic, she lost her job and turned to farming. Nonetheless, she has saved nearly $110, met two goals (buying a goat and starting a poultry project – pictured above) and maintained an individual emergency fund. Her long-term plans include building a house and financing her daughter’s education. Her favorite part of WomenSave? Financial literacy training, because it taught her how to plan for what is important and urgent in her life. She thanks WomenSave and its supporters for...

Emily joined WomenSave in 2020 as part of the pilot project. At the time, she kept the money she had at home and relied on buying goods on credit and borrowing from family and friends when necessary. While she had heard of mobile money, she did not have an account. With the support of her Savings Officer, Emily opened a mobile money account, made weekly deposits and met her first goal to buy a goat. In 2021, she set a new goal to pay school fees for her son, and met it! In addition, she has an individual emergency fund worth nearly 20% of her monthly expenses, reportedly the most significant change in her life. She extends her gratitude to WomenSave for:

Melani is from the remote village of Karukara in southwestern Uganda. She sells vegetables to earn a living but sometimes struggles to make ends meet. As a result, Melani sometimes finds it hard to save. So she deposits $0.25 on a daily basis toward her goal of paying school fees for her children. Thanks to her dedication, she met her goal last year and is well on her way to doing it again this year. Congratulations, Melani!
(April 2022)

Annah is a resident of Kanungu and member of Itembezo Women’s Group. She is illiterate and lives on < $2 a day, but that does not stop her from meeting important financial goals with the support of WomenSave. Since she joined the program in 2020, she started making bricks (pictured above), traditionally a male dominated business, to earn money to save. With her savings she has purchased two goats and saved over 1/3 the value of her monthly expenses for her personal emergency fund. Her long-term goal is to build a house. We wish her success!
(July 2022)

Harriet joined WomenSave as part of the pilot project in 2020, has already met three financial goals and maintains an emergency fund valued at nearly ¼ her average monthly expenses. She has a tailoring business that she has invested in with additional sewing machines and stock to prepare for the Christmas season. While it has not been easy to save because of economic hardship, financial literacy sparked a passion that keeps her going, as does her newfound trust in mobile money. In her own words, Harriet says that...

Annet joined WomenSave as part of the pilot project in 2020. Over the last three years she set personal financial goals to buy a mattress, as well as cement and brinks to build a house. And she met them all! With her savings plans and deposit reminders. In addition, she has saved 26% of her average monthly budget in an individual emergency fund, which she uses to buy food when necessary. In December, Annet graduated from the program, which she reports gave her the confidence to manage her finances and "very much improved [her] quality of life."
(January 2023)

In her first year, Confidence started saving for a solar lamp but her child got sick. In the past she would have taken out an expensive loan and gone into debt to finance her treatment. Thankfully because of WomenSave she had savings in the bank and was able to use that money instead. The next year, she set a new goal to buy a goat, which she successfully met and then it produced two more! Now in year three, Confidence is the Peer Mentor of Kishenyi Women's Group. This means that she volunteers to advise other members how to save toward their financial goals and will continue to do so after they all graduate from WomenSave at the end of the year, providing a sustainable source of support. What does Confidence like best about WomenSave?

She became a client of WomenSave in 2021 and since then has identified and met a number of financial goals, including buying a mattress and a couch - featured above! In addition, she inspired her husband to start saving too, and together they have purchased multiple goats to increase their household assets. In 2023, Phionah was selected as the Peer Mentor of her group. This means that she volunteers to advise other women how to use mobile banking and save toward their financial goals. She will continue to do so after they graduate from WomenSave at the end of the year, providing sustainable support. Congratulations Phionah! And thank you for everything that you do for your family and for your group!
(October 2023)

Susan has a college degree from a local university, but due to high levels of unemployment, she was unable to secure formal work upon graduation. So she decided to start a small business! While she did not have access to capital, she was able to join WomenSave, attend financial literacy training and meet with a Savings Officer for individual financial advisory services. She set a goal to open her own retail shop and designed an associated commitment savings plan. She started depositing some of her earnings from agriculture and tutoring in her mobile money account and last month she managed to open her shop (featured above) and achieve her financial dream. She is grateful to WomenSave for improving her financial health. As she says...

Before joining WomenSave, the only access to financial services Sostine had was as part of an informal savings group, mainly to help members with burial arrangements in the event of the death of a loved one. She did not own a phone and relied on her husband to save. Now, she is proud to report that she has met several personal financial goals, including buying a phone, purchasing sheep and currently, working toward the construction of a kitchen. In March of this year, her daughter fell seriously ill and needed immediate medical attention. Her husband was not around so she withdrew emergency savings from her mobile bank account and took her to the hospital. Thankfully, she was treated and recovered well. Sostine is grateful that she can get out of emergency situations like this by herself and sites being able to manage her own money, set goals and meet them on her own terms as the biggest change in her life. We are inspired by her achievements and resilience and remain excited to celebrate her continued success!
(July 2024)

Eunice is a married mother of three who joined WomenSave earlier this year as part of Kahoko Women's Group. She reports being so happy to be a client because she has learned a lot about saving and using mobile banking. Previously, she thought she could use her phone only to make calls. Now, she sets aside small amounts of money on a regular basis from selling bananas and coffee. She is very proud that she met her goal to buy a pig ahead of schedule, which she thought would be impossible! It has given her the confidence that she can manage her own savings on her phone and "achieve any goal." Eunice encourages her fellow clients to make budgets and start commitment savings plans. She thanks WomenSave for a wonderful project!