Is There a Performance Difference Between Youth & Adult Savings Groups? Evidence from MIS data John Schiller Plan International – West Africa Investing in African Youth Conference May 22, 2012 Dakar, Senegal

Plan of the Presentation 1.The sources of information 2.Comparison: youth SGs against the general population 3.Some conclusions 4.Q&A and discussion

Savings Groups MIS An Excel-based spreadsheet that depends on 23/24 elements of data generated by individual SGs. It provides performance results on individual SGs and summarizes results by Field Officer/Zone and for the whole project. An aggregator tool allows up to 150 projects to be consolidated into 1 report. A function allows the user to create up to 17 user-defined indicators to track other things.

What the MIS Can Tell Us Program outreach & profile of groups Financial performance of groups Some financial performance of individual members. E.g. – Average savings – Average loan size – Average profit Efficiency of the implementing agency Expresses results in 16 international ratios and converts local currency to external ones BUT … nothing on impact

Savings Groups Information Exchange (SAVIX) A web data base for community-based microfinance groups that use the SG MIS At the moment contains 150 projects representing 1.7 million members & is updated quarterly Gives data for 26 indicators on individual or groups of projects An analysis function allows identification of comparisons and trends

SG Member Population Size NER YMP SEN YMP SLE YMP WAR YMP GEN POP SAVIX Total SG Members10,6427,5326,16024,3341,697,177

SG Member Profile NER YMP SEN YMP SLE YMP WARO YMP GEN POP SG members10,6427,5326,16024,3341,697,177 % female85.1%88.9%72.0% % Number SGs ,21775,451 Average group size Attendance rate86.8%86.4%86.1%86.5%90.5% Retention rate96.8%98.2%97.8%97.5%98.8% % members w/loans 26.5%37.4%45.1%34.5%45.3 %

SG Financial Performance: Balance Sheet (USD) NER YMP SEN YMP SLE YMP WARO YMP GEN POP Average assets Average liabilities (debts) Average equity Cash in other funds Savings Retained earnings

SG Financial Performance: Savings (USD) NER YMP SEN YMP SLE YMP WARO YMP GEN POP Savings/loan ratio174.3%165.2%136.0%155.0%157.7% Average member savings Average member equity

SG Financial Performance: Loans (USD) NER YMP SEN YMP SLE YMP WARO YMP GEN POP Loans per SG N/A Loan amount per SG Average outstand- ing loan size Portfolio at risk N/A1.5%5.8%3.0%0.4%** Percentage of members with loans outstanding 26.5%34.7%45.1%34.5%45.3% Loans outstanding as % of assets 21.7%49.7%58%52.4%49.2%

SG Financial Performance: Earnings NER YMP SEN YMP SLE YMP WARO YMP GEN POP Average profit/member to date (USD) N/A Return on savings to date10.0%20.6%15.4%16.0%N/A Return on assets to date8.4%17.0%12.2%13.0%N/A Annualized return on assets22.6%48.9%19.9%32.0%32.8%

Project Efficiency NER YMP SEN YMP SLE YMP WARO YMP GEN POP SG members per field officer N/A SGs per field officer N/A Cost per member assisted (USD)

Conclusions Youth groups do perform differently than adult groups although country context strongly influences performance SG profile is fairly similar to adults’ although slightly smaller groups and more irregular attendance at meetings SG resources are naturally more limited, but SLE near the low range of adult group asset levels

Conclusions (cont…) Same average propensity for savings over loans as worldwide, but much stronger savings tendency in NER & SEN. However SLE able to mobilize significant savings to fund strong loan demand Overall average tendency to borrow, although weak in NER and strong in SLE

Conclusions (cont’d…) Annualized returns match global norm although SEN pulls up NER and SLE It’s more expensive to work with youth, but cost calculation needs more rigor

Q&A Discussion Thanks for your participation!