Investing in Livestock
IPA and BARA also found evidence that Saving for Change was helping families save cash for longer periods by enabling them to invest in livestock, or “saving on the hoof.” To save for larger expenditures such as weddings, major illnesses, and funerals, families must find ways to access large sums of money without the risk of keeping that cash on hand, where it might be spent on any number of other daily demands.
To this end, investing in animals makes financial sense: they can be a food source, they provide labor for plowing or carting goods, they can literally reproduce and grow, and they make it easier to turn down social demands from a husband, kinsmen, or friends for small cash loans.9 Additionally, because livestock is a traditionally accepted and time-tested method of saving, many Saving for Change members preferred keeping livestock to other forms of banking and credit.10The results were positive. Households in Saving for Change villages spent, on average per year, more on livestock than households in villages without Saving for Change groups.
Also, in treatment areas, livestock was valued at $120 (13 percent) more than in control villages.11
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