Asset Recovery and Protection

In the event of an emergency, Save the Children provides resources and support for early livelihoods recovery. Our programs enable vulnerable households to meet immediate survival needs and recover assets. We also provide access to safety nets (provision of cash or food), community-based disaster risk reduction strategies and access to safe savings systems and affordable insurance products, which all help to build resilient households. Examples of Save the Children's livelihoods programs in this area include:

• In Tajikistan, we implement safety net programming which distributes cash, seeds and locally procured food to assist vulnerable households in meeting their food requirements and protecting their assets during reccurring periods of food insecurity.
  
• In Mali, we are helping vulnerable rural households protect assets by developing emergency preparedness and response systems to reduce vulnerability to shocks. Save the Children is also pioneering work with small-scale farmers to increase access to credit and weather insurance. These products reduce risk and increase farm production so families can provide more food to their children while protecting other household assets.
  
• In Haiti, following the destructive hurricanes of 2008, we intervened to rejuvenate livelihoods activities and increase the availability of food.  Our projects included cash transfers, distributions of seeds and agricultural materials, and food-for-work programs to rehabilitate irrigation channels and install soil conservation structures.

Income and Asset Growth

Save the Children provides strategies that assist economically vulnerable households to grow income and assets, helping to strengthen their resilience to shocks. Interventions include improved access to financial services, market opportunities and promotion of key production practices. Farming systems improvements reduce periods of hunger between harvests, improve the variety of nutritional foods available for children and form the basis for improved incomes through crop sales. Examples of Save the Children's income and asset growth livelihoods programs include:

• In Malawi, we have established Village Savings and Loan (VSL) groups, which are increasing access to savings and credit services for small business entrepreneurs. For farmers, Save the Children is organizing marketing groups and clusters to help them identify appropriate market opportunities, select the best crops to grow, diversify production and negotiate with traders to receive better prices by selling in volume.
  
• In Bangladesh, we support the formation of microenterprise groups that help members establish better linkages to markets. The microenterprise groups enable subsistence farmer households to aggregate their produce for bulk selling (at a higher price than they could achieve individually) through the new market channels.
  
• In Mozambique, Save the Children supports intensified crop management practices which have resulted in significant increases in production and a shortening of the "hungry season." Agricultural extension and field-based research activities with farmers include disease-resistant cassava replication, distribution and sale; crop diversification; soil conservation; and expanding market opportunities.

Youth Livelihoods

In many countries, young people make a significant contribution to the economic viability of the household. Save the Children's experience has demonstrated that early introduction of skills and training in cash management and savings practices leads to positive long-term financial habits and improved future prospects, particularly for girls. Save the Children works with youth in both program areas and implements several youth-focused programs. These include:

Youth Savings in Malawi
Save the Children has established youth-run Village Savings and Loan groups, comprised of both girls and boys. The program is helping hundreds of young people save money, establish small businesses and improve their financial literacy.

Strengthening Girls' Voices in Bangladesh

Girls in a savings group in Bangladesh. Credit: Save the Children/Veronica Torres

Save the Children is conducting operational research in order to determine the impact of savings and financial competency on the livelihoods of girls and their families. The project is part of a broader program that provides a number of services aimed at promoting the health, safety and economic security of adolescent girls in Bangladesh. Preliminary findings indicate that the savings groups not only enable girls to pay for school and health expenses, but also to practically apply learning from their financial literacy sessions.