Working at Both Ends: Enhancing Supply and Demand for Savings Mobilization in Rural Uganda

Rural SPEED is a USAID-funded program managed by Chemonics International that is designed to improve access to financial services in the rural areas of Uganda. One of Rural SPEED's primary objectives is increasing savings in rural communities. In this interview, Terri Kri discusses how Rural SPEED faces the twin challenge of educating people on the benefits of savings and overcoming the weaknesses of community-managed institutions. To address these problems, Rural SPEED works on both the supply side and demand side of savings mobilization. Rural SPEED promotes the value of savings through massive, multi-faceted promotional campaigns, and it targets SACCOS with training, mentoring and individual support. [Based on Author's abstract]