Banking on Bayanihan Savings Groups, It's like bringing ants to sugar!

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Seeing this heterogeneous cluster of savers eagerly handing-over a Php20.00 individual savings contribution to their cluster leaders is a testament that poor disaster survivors have inherent capacity to mobilize their own resources, if driven by a certain purpose.

Savings member brings their individual passbook which serves 
as a proof of their weekly savings contribution. 

 This group is one of the seven (7) savings clusters of Magallanes Survivors Homeowner’s Association (MSHOA) that was organized by Urban Poor Associates (UPA) in early February of 2014. The cluster meets every Sunday for their weekly meeting and savings mobilization activity.
For this savings cluster, the minimum
individual savings contribution is Php20.00

The Bayanihan Savings Program is both an organizing tool and a strategy of UPA in preparing Typhoon Yolanda survivors in transitional shelters and in areas currently covered by No-Build Zone to  become self-sustaining while waiting for their permanent relocation. These include the 550 families to be given permanent shelters at Pope Francis Village.

“Our savings program helped us get through some household emergency situations. In most cases, we use our savings to augment our scarce resources for basic needs like food, payment of electricity and our children’s education", says Letecia Cuevas, one of the active savers of MSHOA.

The UPA has been able to tie-up the Bayanihan Savings to its livelihood program. Any active savings member can avail a loan twice the amount of his or her individual savings from the savings cluster. Sometimes savings becomes a leverage fund to avail the products offered by community-managed enterprises organized by the UPA.

Savings and Loan Policies

The savings and loan policies instituted by UPA vary across the different clusters.  This is usually in terms of individual savings contribution and loanable amount, duration of remittance and loan repayment, service fee and penalty charges for loan defaults.

The community can buy up to 5 shares, the amount per share shall be determined by the cluster members. Savings membership is open to interested members aging 18 to 65 years old. Every cluster has elected a set of officers comprised of a Chairperson, record keeper, box keeper, and three key holders. Although the flow of funds is very fluid within the savings cluster, these officers must ensure that transactions are transparent and properly accounted.

A savings cluster is usually composed of a Chairperson,
a Record Keeper, a Box Keeper, and 3 Key Keepers.

Aside from individual savings contribution which is withdrawable depending on the agreed savings cycle (usually one year), each member also contributes to the two other forms of community funds- the social and association funds. Social fund is withdrawable and can only be accessed when one cluster member or any of the member’s first-degree relative died or needs hospitalization assistance. Alternately, this could be utilized for priority DRR interventions like procurement of relief packs or medical supplies before a disaster strikes. The association fund on the other hand is a special form of savings which is non-loanable and non-withdrawable. It is intended primarily for proposed community projects as determined and approved by the Homeowner’s Association and cluster members.

The same set of services and policies will be replicated by UPA once families moved to Pope Francis Village. Embedding the culture of bayanihan savings offers prospects for further expansion of community-based enterprises and livelihood potentials of the community. Most importantly, saving mobilization  creates a platform for deepening relationships and harnessing community leadership by allowing communities to pool together, discuss common issues and concerns and collectively find solutions to their problems.





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