Income Asset and Growth

Livelihoods assists indigent families in developing strategies to grow income and assets, helping to strengthen their resiliency to distress. We assist in improving access to financial services, growing market opportunities, and promoting key production practices. Advancements in farming systems reduce periods of hunger between harvests, supply more nutritional foods for children, and boost incomes through crop sales.

In Bangladesh, through the support of Livelihoods, microenterprise groups help members gain better access to markets. The groups enable subsistence farmer households to sell their produce in bulk, achieving higher prices than if sold individually.

In Malawi, we have established Village Savings and Loan (VSL) groups, which increase access to savings and credit services for small business entrepreneurs. Save the Children also helps farmers there identify market opportunities, select best crops to grow, diversify production and negotiate better prices by selling in volume.

In Mozambique, Livelihoods supports intensified crop management practices, resulting in significant increases in production and a shortening of the “hungry season.” Agricultural extension and field-based research activities include disease resistant cassava replication, distribution and sale; crop diversification; soil conservation; and expanding market opportunities.

Last Updated October 2010