Mobilising finance for community-based resilience

The report examines the challenges poor and vulnerable communities in the global South face when accessing traditional finance and highlights four sustainable, locally-led financing models: Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) groups, the Tresor Women Warriors profit-sharing model, Kiva crowdfunding via field partners, and the Abalimi Bezekhaya subsidised cost model. It argues that financial access must be paired with capacity building and private sector mentorship to effectively strengthen community resilience.

• Barriers to accessing traditional finance for grassroots communities are categorized into five themes: regulatory/governance (e.g., lack of formal documentation), market (e.g., high transaction costs for small loans), social (e.g., lack of financial literacy and gender-based land ownership norms), economic/financial (e.g., lack of collateral), and technological (e.g., unreliable internet and electricity).
• Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) savings groups provide a participatory, self-managed mechanism where members pool money weekly to access loans for income-generating activities or essential expenses, effectively bypassing high costs and rigid collateral requirements of traditional finance.
• The Tresor Women Warriors (TWW) in The Gambia utilizes a profit-sharing microfinance model instead of interest-based loans, which is particularly relevant in majority Muslim contexts where Islamic law may prohibit interest. The model requires groups of approximately 10 women to develop business plans and undergo two months of capacity-building before receiving loans.
• Kiva's crowdfunding platform, supported by field partners like International Development Enterprises (iDE) in Mozambique, enables unbanked entrepreneurs to access interest-free loans from global lenders. iDE provides essential vetting, technical training, and a 'revolving fund' for in-kind loans to help farmers transition from subsistence to commercial farming.
• Abalimi Bezekhaya in South Africa employs a 'subsidised cost' model, providing training, agri-resources, and market access at below-market prices. Its 'Harvest of Hope' project acted as an aggregator for urban micro-farmers, providing a form of short-term, interest-free working capital by deducting input costs from monthly payments.
• The Khulisa Amafama pilot project demonstrates the private sector's role in resilience by partnering a meal-kit business (UCOOK) with a development organisation (Abalimi) and government agency (PEDI) to provide urban farmers with guaranteed off-take agreements, mentorship, and an emergency 'Farmer Fund'.
• Financial resources alone are insufficient for resilience; they must be integrated with sustained training, capacity development, and mentorship to empower local communities.

APA

Ebrahim, A. (2022). Mobilising finance for community-based resilience. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/VFL%20Mobilising%20finance%20report%20WEB.pdf

Chicago

Ebrahim, Allie. Mobilising finance for community-based resilience. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2022. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/VFL%20Mobilising%20finance%20report%20WEB.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ebrahim |first1=Allie |title=Mobilising finance for community-based resilience |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=August 2022 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/VFL%20Mobilising%20finance%20report%20WEB.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ebrahim2022mobilising, author = {Ebrahim, Allie}, title = {{Mobilising finance for community-based resilience}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2022}, month = aug, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/VFL%20Mobilising%20finance%20report%20WEB.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }