Safe and Smart Savings

Safe and Smart Savings is a Population Council–developed program to help vulnerable adolescent girls build assets, support networks, and savings in order to break the grip of poverty. The program combined weekly group meetings facilitated by a female mentor, financial education, health and life skills education, and formal individual savings accounts. The quasi-experimental study evaluated the impact of the pilot program in four sites in Kenya and Uganda. The program increased girls’ social, health, and economic assets. Girls who participate are significantly more likely than other girls to have financial goals and accurate financial knowledge, to know about HIV and reproductive health, and to discuss financial issues with parents. They are also less likely to be sexually harassed.