Making People the Subject: Community-Managed Finance Systems in five Asian Countries

This paper presents the findings of a two-year study of community finance systems (including community-based savings and loan groups, and larger city-based funds) that are operated by established urban poor community organizations in five Asian countries (Cambodia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand), with support from their partner organizations. These five groups are the principal national urban poor organizations in their respective countries, and their community savings and city funds – as well as their other development initiatives – have all grown to national scale. The study, in which the chief researchers, data-gatherers and analysts were community members themselves, was managed by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR). It was conceived as an opportunity to look in greater detail at the different models of community finance these important groups have developed, in their very different national contexts, and to compare their various aspects, draw out some key elements and lessons, and see how these people-driven finance systems can be strengthened, scaled up and brought into the formal finance and development structures in their countries.