YouthSave is a consortium project led by Save the Children in partnership with the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis (CSD), New America (NA), CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), and supported by The MasterCard Foundation. The YouthSave Consortium and its local partners - financial institutions and researchers - are committed to developing, delivering, and testing savings products accessible to low-income youth in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal. Through this project, the Consortium will share lessons and resources on delivering savings services sustainably, while improving the life chances of low-income youth in the developing world.
Rationale for Promoting Youth Savings
A third of the global population today is under the age of 19. With 90 percent of these young people living in developing countries, and 45 percent living on less than two dollars per day, there are more youth than ever who need support, tools, and opportunities to become productive, contributing adults. Giving young people the tools to accumulate savings not only opens up economic opportunities, but also affects their attitudes and behaviors in positive ways. Savings can help young people fund future education or start small businesses. They can also improve young people’s self-esteem and future orientation, which may, in turn, help them make positive choices like staying in school and avoiding health risks. Such choices affect young people’s lives for years to come.
Low-Income Youth Can Save How can the potential of youth savings be maximized? A growing number of initiatives around the world are showing that even poor and vulnerable youth can accumulate savings and assets – when the right tools and institutions are available. Unfortunately, many financial institutions have not developed cost-effective products and delivery systems to serve low-income youth. There is also a lack of knowledge about youth savings preferences in different markets, and about how best to educate and motivate them to save. Financial institutions – as well as the governments, donors, and NGOs that could assist them in serving this market – need better information on the development and commercial impacts of youth savings.
To learn more about how YouthSave aims to bridge this knowledge gap and bring financial services to low-income youth, click here.
Consortium Members
Save the Children
Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. As the Prime Grantee and technical lead for YouthSave, Save the Children will bring its expertise in designing and implementing large programs for youth in developing countries, as well as over 15 years of experience providing financial services to the poor. Save the Children has identified savings as one of its main interventions to build and protect the assets of families—a critical tool in its efforts to strengthen the long-term economic security of children. Developing a strong evidence base is central to all of Save the Children's strategies, and the YouthSave program has been designed to generate rigorous evidence of the role of early savings on children’s attitudes, health, education and protection. www.savethechildren.org
The Center for Social Development
The Center for Social Development (CSD) is a research and policy center housed at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. CSD has a strong track record of respected applied research that informs policy and practice in the following countries: Australia, Canada, China, (including Mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau), Colombia, Ghana, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Uganda, and United Kingdom. In the US, CSD research has influenced the development of matched savings programs for children, youth, and families and informed state and federal policy. For the YouthSave Consortium, CSD is leading the design and implementation of the multi-method YouthSave learning agenda. csd.wustl.edu
New America
New America, one of the nation’s premier think tanks, invests in new thinkers and big ideas to address major social and economic challenges. Through the work of its pioneering Asset Building Program and Global Assets Project (a joint project with CSD), NAF has built expertise in the design and advancement of policies, products and programs that build savings and assets, particularly on children and youth savings accounts, for poor and vulnerable populations around the world. More generally, the organization excels in disseminating its policy proposals and research findings to targeted audiences, including senior policy makers; key staff of policy makers; and opinion leaders. For the YouthSave Project, NAF will contribute its research and communications expertise to engage new and popular media on behalf of the Consortium, while increasing awareness and outreach for the Project. www.newamerica.org
CGAP
CGAP is an independent policy and research center dedicated to advancing financial access for the world's poor. It is supported by over 30 development agencies and private foundations who share a common mission to reduce poverty. Housed at the World Bank, CGAP provides market intelligence, promotes standards, develops innovative solutions and offers advisory services to governments, microfinance providers, donors and investors. CGAP participates in the YouthSave Consortium by supporting research on the business case and the policy environment for youth financial products and services and by providing high-level technical and strategic advice to the pilots. CGAP has opened its communications platform to the Consortium to extend the reach of YouthSave research and publications to financial sector audiences, policy makers in developing countries and the donor community. www.cgap.org
Founding Sponsor
The MasterCard Foundation
The MasterCard Foundation is an independent, private foundation with over $3 billion in assets. Its global mandate is to enable people living in poverty to improve their lives – and the lives of their families and communities – by expanding their access to microfinance and education. The Foundation was established through a generous gift of shares from MasterCard Worldwide at the time of the company’s initial public offering in 2006. Based in Toronto, Canada, the Foundation operates independently of MasterCard Worldwide. Foundation policies, operations and programming decisions are determined by its Board of Directors with its President and CEO. For more information visit: www.mastercardfdn.org
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New America