We recently published a blog post about the resilience study Khulisa conducted as part of the German Development Corporation (GIZ) Employment and Skills for Development (E4D) program in South Africa. Khulisa evaluated the resilience of SaveAct savings groups during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

The COVID-19 pandemic struck in the middle of the second phase of the E4D program, forcing all of the program’s grantees to pivot in multiple ways. But the pandemic also provided a unique and unexpected opportunity to conduct the resilience study of SaveAct savings groups, which are designed to help members cope with exactly the kind of crisis that the pandemic created.

The resilience study was able to identify which savings groups weathered the financial effects of the pandemic and which ones didn’t, offering important insights on how the savings groups can best prepare for similar challenges in the future. The study also highlights the importance of getting creative with evaluations when a challenge like the pandemic arises. 

Learn more about the resilience study in the fact sheet below: 

And to read more about how we conducted the resilience study, check out the full blog post.